Hidden away behind an old abandoned theatre, a new business is trying to do things differently.
Creature Sound is a 'secret' music venue that hopes to be the launch pad for exciting new music...and help homeless people have a nice shower at the same time.
Based in the former martial arts centre, Ken Bu Kan, in Bethesda Street, it's been created with the owners' own money, along with equipment recycled from a former Swansea music venue.
And it will celebrate its first anniversary later this month with the launch of further not-for-profit initiatives, as well as an online radio station.
The venture is run by couple Kaz and Allen Chambers. Allen is a composer and studio engineer, who has worked with Rudimental, and is due to team up with Michael Randell, who has worked with Pink Floyd and Killing Joke, to record Swansea band King Goon.
Their venue provides a recording studio package for bands, which means they can use the studio with no hourly rates and get unlimited studio time.
All the staff there are volunteers, who give their time for free.
Kaz said: “We are totally independent, we get no funding or grants, we have done everything with our own money.
“We give the entire door take to the bands, plus ten per cent of the bar, and we use the rest of the bar revenue to pay the bills.
“We aim to be the incubator for building acts and new ideas.
“It’s taken us a lot of effort to get here. We acquired a lot of stuff from Monkey bar in Castle Street after that closed down.”
The venue provides numerous services to musicians, including free use of a tour bus, which is insured for everyone to drive, its own branded guitar strings, branded beers, and it's launching a not-for-profit merchandise and graphic design project.
In its garden, it has a fire pit and a small swimming pool, for artists to use to cool down following their performances.
But it also works with Swansea homeless and mental health charities, allowing people living on the streets to use the venue’s showers.
And it raises funds for LGBT charity Unity, based close-by in High Street.
Being an independent business, it had launched a crowdfunding scheme, which recently gained the support of Bill Bailey.
The award-winning stand-up visited the city’s Grand Theatre earlier this year as part of his nationwide tour, Larks in Transit, but found time during his stay to seek the venue out and record a video appeal backing the venue’s crowdfunder campaign.
Kaz said: “Often, there are venues that pop up which are great for a time but are then forced to close, usually due to private developers.
“Lots of venues are rented, and we are renting but have a very manageable rent. We have no bills to pay, and no debts.
“And if we are able to buy the freehold it will mean no landlord can kick us out, and hopefully the venue can survive long past our time.”
The venue will celebrate its first anniversary with a show on September 28, featuring Malumsky, I fight bears, I am Gravity, and Icantdie.
