Failstate landed what they described as the “best slot of the weekend” as they opened up day three of 2000trees festival with absolutely no clashes and a valuable spot of shade on the fiery Friday. These fortuitous circumstances surely played to the young band’s favour as plenty flocked to check them out, and I had the opportunity to catch up with them on their thoughts afterwards.
Despite the shade, there was definitely still plenty of heat to be shared under the shelter of the Neu stage. A problem only worsened by the decisions of the four piece, as vocalist and guitarist Tom Gibbons explained: “We stupidly implicated a no shorts rule, well I stupidly…”, with drummer Leah Davies interjecting: “Not us collectively, it was you”, clearly not a fan of the decision which left them sweating on the festival pedestal.
Gibbons conceded that “I feel like we could have retracted that rule”, so we may see a slightly less formal approach to festival shows in the future.
While many may have been new to the fresh band before them, they certainly didn’t watch with scepticism. The style of the Wales-based quartet is perfectly in line with the sonic demographic of the 2000trees festival.
“Are we heavy enough?” asked Gibbons, showong some reservations. “Maybe we should grab some more breakdowns in our songs? But no, the crowd is amazing.”
On the thought of where Failstate’s sound belongs, Gibbons explained that “we kind of branded ourselves as emo punk for a long time. But I think we take a lot of inspiration from a lot of new Metal, kind of like Deftones meets Basement, I guess. Like that kind of grungy sort of sound, and yeah, and a bit of light and dark.”
There has been a real resurgence in the Welsh rock and Metal scene over the past few years, with older bands like Funeral For A Friend and The Blackout returning and newer bands like Holding Absence, Punk Rock Factory, and Dream State making huge names for themselves.
What is notable about this rise is the sense of community and shared success that has been created. There is almost a unionisation of Welsh bands against the world. The two members of Failstate believe this sense of unity tracks right down to the local scenes.
“It’s more of a collective,” Gibbons said. “We’ve done a few shows, you know, Newport, Le Pub, and you just get a real mix of bands and everyone’s just so welcoming and lovely. Like, it’s great!”
“I’ve noticed as somebody who lives in Newport at the moment,” Davies said. “The music scene in Newport just feels like it’s always been present, but it just seems to be having a real resurgence. And people are turning up for shows. I don’t think I’ve been to Le Pub for a while where the crowd hasn’t been big.”
Coming off the back of a brief tour and today’s jubilant 2000trees festival appearance, the band look to consolidate in the remaining months of 2025, aiming for a busy schedule next year.
“We’ve just done a little tour with some mates,” Gibbons explained. “We did like a Headline Revolving tour with Sunday Best, Love As Always, Spiralling from Birmingham, and that was great fun. No plans to tour sort of later in the year, we’re going to take a bit of time off to finish some more songs and then hit it heavy next year.”
It sounds like Failstate have really found their footing as a band and are laser-focused on the future. The crowd that amassed for their conquering set was evidence alone that there is an appetite for their polished sound.
With the suggestion of new music in the new year, I would consider it extremely likely that we see them back at Upcote Farm in the near future with an even bigger stage and crowd to match it.
2000trees Festival is being held from 9–12 July 2025 at Upcote Farm, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. You can read all of MetalTalk’s 2025 coverage here.
