VRï Chamber Folk Trio

VRï are Aneirin Jones, Jordan Price Williams and Patrick Rimes, who answered the questions on behalf of the trio

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music?

There was always quite a lot of music to be had at home (mostly coming out of the radio, but there was an upright piano which I was allowed to mess about on as well) and my mum was good at taking me to concerts…whenever the BBC National Orchestra of Wales were in Bangor we’d be there, as well as going to Bangor University Orchestra concerts. The University Orchestra was the first time time I remember being totally gripped – I would have been about eight years old, and they perfomed Leoš Janáček’s ‘Sinfonietta’ with all 12 trumpet soloists lined up across the back…I was sat on the front row of the balcony having my face melted by this wall of sound and thinking “yep, I fancy a bit of this”. 

Who or what have been the most significant influences on your musical life and career?

In general I’ve been quite lucky to get chucked into the deep end of stuff at an early age, and either sink or swim. My mum was taking me along to traditional music sessions in a pub while I was still in primary school, where I’d get parked in a corner with a J2O and my fiddle and told to just get on with it. I joined the band Calan aged 13, and Huw Williams (who headhunted me and remained our manager for the next 20 years) was a massive influence on me – he helped us with writing musical arrangements, made sure we were disciplined in our rehearsals and guided us through the tricky early years in the music industry…I owe him a lot. 

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

For someone like me who loves live performance and feeds off the energy of interacting with others through music so much, I have to say that the months of covid lockdowns were extremely tough for me – of course one has to keep a sense of perspective and I appreciate how privileged I was to have a roof overhead and be healthy enough not to fear for my life, but suddenly losing that outlet to express yourself and the opportunity to let your ideas mix with those of your colleagues was something I really struggled with. 

Of which performances/recordings are you most proud?

With VRï the nature of how me make music with no tethers (either melodic like fretted or keyed instruments, or rhythmic such as a drum kit or percussionist) makes the whole thing like a high stakes game of poker – massive risk with very big potential rewards. That means that live performances are always memorable, but sometimes the stars just align and we go all in and hit the musical jackpot; one that sticks in the mind as the platonic ideal of our high stakes chamber music was a show a few years ago at the CatStrand – a tiny little arts centre in Dumfries and Galloway where all three of us came off stage and were just crackling with positive energy. A similar thing happened last year at the Edinburgh International Festival, it was the absolute high that we’re always chasing…I think the fact that it’s often in Scotland is just a coincidence! 

As for records – we’re very proud of our 100% record of winning ‘Best Album’ at the Welsh Folk Awards…pressure’s on for the next one!  

What do you do offstage that provides inspiration on stage?

As a group, we place a lot of importance on the idea of the living tradition; that means looking both forwards and backwards simultaneously, honouring the traditional tunes and songs of the past and seeking to innovate with them in a way that excites us. That means we spend a fair amount of time with our noses stuffed in tune and song collections, scouring the internet for new ideas and occasionally getting to visit Aberystwyth to see the motherload; the various collections housed at the Llyfrgell Genedlaethol (national library) which will always get the creative juices flowing!

As a musician, what is your definition of success?

Making a human connection with the people on stage and in the audience…you need to make yourself vulnerable in order to let it happen, but when it does the whole world outside goes away for a minute and it’s absolutely magical. 

What advice would you give to young or aspiring musicians?

Make the music that excites you – it might not necessarily get you a million clicks on the internet straight away, or ever make you particularly wealthy – but your audience (not ‘the’ audience at large, YOUR audience, the people who value you and what you do) will connect with it for real, and that’s what counts. 

What’s the one thing we’re not talking about in the music industry which you really feel we should be?

Oof, so many to choose from! If I had to pick one, I’d probably say environmental sustainability – one of the things I love the most about doing this job is having the chance to travel the world, meet and work with people from different cultures and have experiences that are totally alien to me. But I can’t say that there isn’t a pang of guilt when I’m lining up for a fifth flight in as many days, or even driving to Scotland and back for 45 minutes work…I think it’s great that bands like Coldplay are carbon-offsetting their tours (whether or not they’re having a material impact, at least they’re highlighting the issue and starting the conversation) but ultimately it’s very costly to do that and lower down the foodchain we’re operating with such fine margins that we have to use budget airlines etc if we want to keep performing our music. I’m not sure what the answer is, but it’s certainly something we’ll have to confront in our lifetime, so I’m interested to see what answers we come up with.

VRï appear at this year’s Cowbridge Music Festival. Find out more

https://www.vri.cymru/