Following our review of their latest sonic endeavor, we sit down with the Llanfyllin-based innovators, Mascot Moth. With their third album, “MOTHerSHIP,” set to descend this Solstice weekend (June 19, 2026), the band is ready to share the secrets behind what they describe as the “pinnacle” of their recording career. From the “hedge-row” of Powys to the outer reaches of Experimental Rock, let’s dive into the mind-bending world of Mascot Moth.
Welcome to Progressive Rock Journal! To start at the beginning, Mascot Moth formed in 2015 in Llanfyllin. Looking back over the last nine years, how has the band’s core mission or “philosophy” changed since those early days in Powys?
In many ways our formation in 2015 was more of a re-formation. Sioned, Jack and Dave had all been members of an experimental space rock band called Strap The Button in the early 2000s (Eric and Gavin were also members). When the opportunity arose for us all to get back together again to make some new music (once we had all returned to the valleys), we couldn’t resist the chance. Rob joined us after he invited Mascot Moth to play a gig in Swansea in 2022 and decided he wanted to get involved in our sonic adventures as well, and he has been with us ever since. Strap The Button’s musical and artistic philosophy was quite anarchic, experimental, sometimes anti-pop, and very resistant to neat categorisation. Mascot Moth carries a lot of this philosophical orientation forward, albeit in a much tighter and (perhaps) more accessible format. It is possible to dance to much of our music!
You’ve been described as “hedge-row prog innovators.” This is a fascinating term—does it reflect the rural landscape of Wales where you are based, and how does your environment influence your sound?
It does indeed. Our music is influenced by the hills, valleys, rivers and rocks. We travel to band practice down narrow country lanes flanked by high hedgerows, like leafy-green tunnels. We are surrounded by non-human beings, seen and unseen. If you are quiet you can hear the songs of the birds and the babbling of streams – the language of the land – and it gives us ideas to experiment with.
Your music is an eclectic fusion of Psychedelia, Prog, Jazz-Rock, and Krautrock. Was this genre-bending approach a conscious decision from the start, or did it evolve naturally through jamming?
Jamming and improvisation have always played an important part in our music-making process. In the early days, when we were playing as Strap The Button, the music was much less conscious – we naively played what we came up with, especially when we were just starting out, and we each had our own musical influences that we brought to the table. It was once we began to play gigs that other people started to say things like “you sound like a krautrock band.” I think we were introduced to lots of new music in that way, by following peoples’ recommendations for bands that we reminded them of in some way. We came to be labelled in certain ways not because we were necessarily trying to sound like any particular band, or to fit into any specific genres, but because we were naturally quite eclectic and experimental in our music making. Gradually, though, as we became more musically aware we began to consciously play with elements of different genres, to deliberately build on certain ideas, such as the use of repetition and phasing, and started to experiment with different rhythms and time signatures, which has continued with Mascot Moth. MOTHerSHIP has a good balance of these natural and cultural influences, and is probably our most concisely refined offering to date.
With six members in the lineup—incorporating flute, saxophone, synths, and trumpet alongside the standard rock setup—how do you manage the “sonic space” during the songwriting process?
The basic structure of the songs is usually worked out by Jack, Dave and Sioned. We have regular practice sessions at the Workhouse in Llanfyllin, where we develop new song ideas and dive deep into improvised jamscapes. Recorded tracks are sent down to Rob in Swansea so that he can work on flute and saxophone parts. We do the same for synth parts with Eric and Gav. This is a good way of working in general, but it was also important for all of us to get together in the studio space to record the album tracks in the same room. This is vital for really getting the feel of the music, and to allow us all to bounce off each other creatively. Once the essentials of the tracks have been recorded we can begin to add other layers, textures and instruments into the mix with overdubs. We also have a shared ‘concept bank’ (titled ‘More Concept, Less Album’), where we can store ideas that come to us to be developed at a later date. These might be ideas for song titles and lyrics, or more high-concept ideas for worldbuilding in the Mascot Mothiverse. This has proven to be an invaluable resource, and a good creative practice to maintain. One of the most expansive concepts that we have been developing is the idea of the Mind Maze – a labyrinthine network of interconnected consciousnesses with emergent psychic properties. Dare you enter the Mind Maze?
Since 2015, you’ve “circumnavigated Cymru, gig-by-gig.” Do you have a favorite or particularly strange anecdote from those early years of touring the Welsh circuit?
We have had a magical time travelling up and down Wales, discovering delightful venues in beautiful locations run by wonderful and passionate human beings – The Cellar in Cardigan, CWRW in Carmarthen, Hangar 18 in Swansea, Magic Dragon in Wrexham, Y Ring in Llanfrothen and Hafan yr Afon in Newtown, are just some of the venues that immediately spring to mind. We usually meet a wizard or two on our gigging adventures – a wise person who emerges from the throng to impart psychedelic wisdom, or to regale us with stories of space rock’s past. Wizard encounters are one of our favourite aspects of gigging around the country, and are a special treat that we really look forward to.
“MOTHerSHIP” is your third album, following releases like 2024’s “Nôl i Annwfn.” How do you feel your sound has evolved from your previous records to this new one?
Nôl i Annwfn is a very experimental album with long sections of totally improvised music interspersed with a few songs. MOTHerSHIP, by contrast, has a much more structured feel with a more deliberate compositional style throughout. We have been working on some of these songs for about 10 years (on and off), performing them live and tweaking them gradually over time. Some of them have gone through multiple iterations before reaching this point (and likely will continue to evolve into the future as we play them live on stage). Our sound is constantly evolving, but is generally pretty rocking, likes to explore unusual rhythms and sonic textures, and experiments with different styles.
The new album is being described as the “pinnacle” of your catalogue. What makes “MOTHerSHIP” stand out as your definitive work so far?
We pride ourselves on having a DIY ethic, and enjoy the challenge of creating an album from scratch – from initial conceptualisation through to recording, mixing and mastering – and making something epic with limited resources. We learned a few studio skills early on with Strap The Button from the legendary Welsh drummer and producer Gwyn Maffia – our first studio guru – at Stiwdio Bos in Llanerfyl. We remember the work experience boys at the studio having to mic up pieces of broken piano and cymbals for us on the yard in the rain. Good times! Each musical project that we complete teaches us new approaches to composition and new recording techniques, so they all feel like a ‘pinnacle’ in their own way. On MOTHerSHIP we have tried to pull together what we have learned on our musical journeys so far to create something that we feel is an honest and accurate expression of whatever it is that we are trying to say. It isn’t the final pinnacle of our creative endeavours though – we have lots of new ideas for future projects bubbling away, and will be drawing on what we have learned creating MOTHerSHIP to continue to explore new musical landscapes going forward.
The album arrives on Solstice weekend (Friday, June 19th). Is there a particular significance to this timing, or does it reflect a “cosmic” theme within the music?
It feels right to try to synchronise with cosmic cycles and to release new music into the world at potent points in the ritual year, such as solstices and equinoxes. The summer solstice is a time of the year that is associated with life and the celebration of all that is good in the world – it is a time for positivity, creativity and enjoying the company of others, and so seems a fitting time for the MOTHerSHIP to land.
The tracklist includes titles like “The Inimitable David Lynch” and “Lullaby in Giliminour“. Could you tell us about the inspiration behind these tracks? Is Lynch a significant influence on your creative process?
David Lynch’s films and music have been a major influence on several members of the band. The song ‘The Inimitable David Lynch’ is actually the very first tune we wrote as the newly formed Mascot Moth in 2015, and we have been playing it ever since. It has taken on a new significance since his passing last year, but we were venerating him with our music long before he died. Lynch was an explorer and conjuror of other worlds and a huge creative inspiration. He could combine cosmic horror with a great sense of humour, and embraced the light as much as the dark. ‘Lullaby in Giliminour’ had its origins in a bedtime song that Dave sang to his kids one night. At somepoint the word ‘Giliminour’ came to be attached to the title, it refers to a region of the Mothiverse with shimmering oceans, crystalline cliffs and scintillating gulls circling overhead. In the land of Giliminour you can always hear the sweet sounds of distant synthesizers floating on the breeze, and there are occasional showers of 8 minute guitar solos that rain down from the heavens.
Your third single, “Whatever It Was,” has been described as more introspective and meditative. How does this track fit into the wider “sonic architecture” of the album?
‘Whatever It Was’ is a song about forgetting what you were just about to say – those moments when your mind completely draws a blank. It is frustrating at the time, but it is also curious how mystics and other contemplatives may spend many years in meditation or prayer trying to enter into just such a state of total non-verbal emptiness. Minds are very strange things. It is probably one of our more concise tunes at about 4 minutes long, and has a tight structure with a lovely middle groove.
“You’re On Your Phone” is another intriguing title. Does the album touch upon modern themes like digital isolation or social commentary, or is it more of an abstract journey?
‘You’re On Your Phone’ is definitely a commentary on digital isolation and the increasing dependence of humanity on technology. The song also plays with the idea of a kind of super-intelligence that might emerge from these interconnected information networks to feed on human beings, sapping away real-world creativity and connection and replacing it with a pale imitation. But human beings have always been ‘cyborgs’ – extending our capacities with tools, and outsourcing our cognitive processes to systems outside of ourselves. Much of what is happening now seems to be a hyper-acceleration of long-standing very human traits.
The closing track, “Dros y Bwlch,” has a Welsh title. How important is your heritage and the Welsh language to the identity of Mascot Moth?
We draw huge inspiration (awen) from the land, language and cultures of Cymru. Having access to different ways of conceiving and expressing thoughts through other languages opens up new spaces for creativity. There are some ideas that are more accurately and precisely expressed through the Welsh language, for instance, and it is hugely valuable to have access to that other way of communicating thoughts and concepts. We live in an area that borders England, known as The Marches in English and Y Gororau in Welsh. Borderland areas like ours are often crucibles for cultural exchange, where new modes of living emerge that are neither fully one thing nor the other. Rich traditions emerge that draw from both Welsh and English culture – we have a strong musical heritage in our area, for example, and an ancient culture of poetry and spoken words. We like to play with language – our songs are often bi-lingual, and occasionally completely instrumental – and to draw inspiration from older traditions so that there is a continuity between our music and art and the local culture, even if we take it in new directions.
“MOTHerSHIP” is designed as a “unified listening experience” of about an hour. Was it difficult to maintain that sense of cohesion across 10 diverse tracks?
While MOTHerSHIP is not strictly speaking a concept album with a unified theme (it is more of a ‘concepts’ album), a loose narrative structure did naturally emerge out of the songs as we arranged them for the final release. There is a thematic journey through the music, even if the music is quite varied from one track to the next. The album proceeds as if travelling in the MOTHerSHIP through different states of consciousness – from waking to sleeping, and in and out of dreams as the album progresses, before finally heading off into the distance to explore strange new worlds at the end of the album.
Could you share some behind-the-scenes stories or anecdotes from the studio sessions for this album? Were there any “happy accidents” during recording?
We recorded the album in our practice room at Y Dolydd – the old Workhouse in Llanfyllin. The building was originally built in the 1830s to house the poor. Today it has been completely transformed into a vibrant community and arts space, with workshops, galleries, a cafe and a practice room for musicians. Being at The Workhouse is very inspiring for us, and working on our music amongst other artists and creators has led to some wonderful collaborations. We have worked closely with punk artist Brian Jones, for example, who has designed our album artwork and merchandise. We have also recently worked with multimedia artist Liz Neale, who has a studio in the Workhouse and is creating a giant Moth effigy for us.
How do you view the current experimental and Progressive Rock scene in Wales and the UK? Are there other local bands you feel a kinship with?
There are a few bands that we feel a close affinity to: Z Machine, of course – a great jazzy progressive rock band from Swansea, from whom we poached Rob (who has also released two excellent albums of his own). We are also related to the stoner rock band Big Hammer from Bristol who feature several Strap The Button alumni. We are also connected to the anarchic Welsh-language band Twmffat through our drummer Sioned, who plays percussion with them. Another cool band that we have had the pleasure of meeting in recent years is the Epileptic Lizards from Swansea, who play groovy psychedelic rock. Eric Heath, who contributed synths to MOTHerSHIP, also releases some great music through his Plenty Wenlock record label. It has been really exciting to expand our gigging beyond Offa’s dyke, to reach out to other communities of like-minded musicians in the UK. We recently performed at the Radioactive Lemon festival in Reading, for example, and felt very warmly welcomed into a well established community of ‘wonky music’ aficionados. It was an honour to be invited to play. We were also overjoyed to have the chance to perform our music at Kozfest in 2024, a festival celebration of all things psychedelic and space-rock. In January of this year we were invited to play at Arfordir Amgen – Alternative Coast – a new Welsh language alternative music festival in Colwyn Bay, which was fantastic. Our spiritual home, though, is the Workhouse Party in Llanfyllin, a wonderful celebration of grassroots community and culture held every year around the summer solstice. We seem to be able to straddle different scenes – from experimental, progressive and psychedelic crowds to festivals, and from Welsh language to English language audiences – but don’t quite fully belong to any one camp in particular.
You have a very “visual” and Atmospheric sound—described as everything from “tribal stomp” to “guitar-led ambience.” How do you approach translating these complex studio textures into a live performance?
The live performance usually comes before we begin recording in the studio, so the eclectic sonic worlds we conjure also come through in our gigs. We enjoy stylistic and atmospheric jump-cuts, so that you are never quite sure what is coming next, whether on stage or on an album. The music is occasionally quite bluesy and brooding, and often builds on a particular mood or feeling, and then the next song will be very energetic and up-beat as a counterpoint.
With the “MOTHerSHIP” descending soon, what can fans expect from your upcoming live shows? Are there specific release shows or a tour in the works?
We are releasing MOTHerSHIP on June 19th and are celebrating by performing the whole album (or most of it anyway) live on stage at the Workhouse Party in Llanfyllin. Because the album is so song-based it is going to be fun to be able to play it live from beginning to end in a way that we have not been able to with our previous releases. If all goes well, and we are able to get ourselves organised, we are hoping to do a live-stream broadcast of our performance of the album on our social media accounts, so keep an eye out for that!
Finally, after reaching what you call the “pinnacle” with this album, where does Mascot Moth go from here? Is the trajectory already set for the next mission?
We do indeed have a trajectory set for the next mission, though exactly where it will take us is another question. We have a concept for a new album tentatively titled Bwganeuon (in Welsh Bwgan = a spook/spirit, and caneuon = songs, so Bwganeuon would mean something like ‘spook songs’), which will, in some way, tap into our local spirits of place – characters from the folklore and traditions of the valleys in which we live – to give them a new musical voice and expression. Well, that’s the plan anyway…
We would like to thank Sioned, Rob, Eric, Jack, David, and Gavin for taking the time to guide us through their creative universe. “MOTHerSHIP” officially launches on June 19, 2026. Be sure to catch their mind-bending journey on Bandcamp and live across the country soon!
Read our review of “MOTHerSHIP” here: [Review] Mascot Moth – MOTHerSHIP