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“Hitting customers with hidden fees is illegal. It’s not fair to draw people in with what looks like a good deal, only for them to find the real price is higher when they get to the checkout due to extra charges that can’t be avoided,” said Emma Cochrane, executive director of consumer protection at the CMA.

Inspired by musical icons who came before them, from Poly Styrene to Joan Jett and Kim Gordon, and surfing a wave of appreciation for seasoned feminist punks after the success of last year’s BBC drama Riot Women, south Wales sextet The NaNaz aren’t a work of fiction – they’re the real deal. Three of the band spoke to Emma Way.

What does it mean to embrace your inner punk?

Anne-Marie Bollen [bass]: As an adolescent, I always felt like I wanted to express myself, feel part of something, be creative, vent frustration, and even rage at some things that were going on in life, and I found in punk, people that were definitely demonstrating a way of doing that with total style and massive charisma. I went to see the UK Subs last week – Charlie Harper, the frontman, is 82 and still incredibly cool. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that when I’m 20 years older than now.

Who are some of your favourite punk icons?

Anne-Marie: We all absolutely love Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex – we’ve covered one of their songs, Germfree Adolescence. Lots of us like The Raincoats and The Slits. We adore Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Blondie, all those well-known people.

Jade Ball [drums]: Even the likes of Cyndi Lauper, as well – even though she was pop, she still had that punky edge in the way she dressed and how outspoken she was.

Claire Symons [guitar]: I’m loving a lot of modern stuff as well, like Soft Play and Mudrat, at the moment. 

There’s a range of ages between you – Jade’s 30 and the rest of you are between your fifties and sixties – so how did you meet?

Anne-Marie: We practice at a space in Newport. The owner, Julian, gave me Jade’s number, and that’s how we met.

Claire: There’s a little community around The Cab in Newport which is absolutely amazing. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of a barrier or age limit. If you go to one of their days on a Saturday where they have stalls, there’s kids there, 16 all the way up to us, and everyone in that community has been super supportive.

Do you get tired of the Riot Women comparison?

Claire: We’ve been lucky really with the timings! We’d already been doing the workshops [named Nana Punk, and where the NaNaz started] and all this was underway before Riot Women even came out. So it didn’t influence us to start the band. Having the show come out in various countries around the world, at the point we’ve been releasing and doing interviews – that’s been useful. You can’t buy that. People have had a reference for understanding what we’re doing because they’ve seen it in a TV programme.

Anne-Marie: We’re riding the wave of that, I think – we were already happening, because the Nana Punk project happened before us, and then in March last year we formed the NaNaz. So when Riot Women came out, a few people messaged us and said, “This is old news – you’re already really doing this!” We think [the show’s creator] Sally Wainwright’s a phenomenal writer – we’ve all been fans of her work previously, and really enjoyed the series. The scenes that were coming up week after week – invisibility, reckless behaviour, addiction, dependency, caring, all the sorts of things life can throw at people – resonates with us. And of course people can relate to those issues globally. I think there’s a definite need for representation of this age range of women. It is absolutely great to be able to speak your mind, as we’re doing, but it’s also an age I don’t think I was prepared for, in that it’s incredibly complicated.

Your songs touch on pension inequality, menopause, affordable care home fees. How do you choose your subject matter?

Claire: When we did a workshop on lyrics, we started it by writing a list on the board of things that made us cross. That’s the oldest technique for writing, isn’t it, that you write about what you know.

Anne-Marie: Our new songs are on absolutely crap chatup lines from older men to women my age, and also about ADHD symptoms brought on or exacerbated by the perimenopause. They’re things that are happening to us.

The NaNaz play The Weekend Rumble, Great House Farm, Usk (Fri 3 July. Info: here); Caerleon Festival Big Weekend, Hanbury Quay, Caerleon (Sun 12 July. Info: here); Green Gathering, Piercefield Park, Chepstow (Sat 1 + Sun 2 Aug. Info: here).

Info: Instagram

words EMMA WAY

With the Cardiff Coffee Festival selling out its debut event well in advance, there’s no doubt it will be returning next year. A new, key event in the Cardiff cultural calendar, in the eyes of attendee Emily Gillbard the day was everything it was cracked up to be and more.

Encompassing all there is to do with Welsh coffee culture, the inaugural Cardiff Coffee Festival highlighted that coffee is not the only thing behind a successful café. From the bakeries whose sweet goods fill the displays, to the ceramicists who create the cups and mugs, the day sought to highlight those whose hard work in the café scene often goes unnoticed.

Held in the idyllic Insole Court, the festival spanned the entire day, providing plenty of time to enjoy the extensive coffee selection as well as the many talks from industry professionals. There were opportunities to learn about ethics and sustainability, how a coffee bean can be transformed into an iconic brand, and how to dabble in a career in coffee yourself. The chance to learn from industry professionals in such a personal setting gave the event a certain warmth and created a relaxed atmosphere, setting the tone for a day of all things caffeine.

Insole Court itself was home to a huge variety of Wales’ most loved coffee brands and roasteries for the day. From Canton’s Hard Lines to independent cafes like Sibling and Rhostio, and the many unique tasting blends by Skylark, the historic rooms within the gothic mansion created a caffeine-induced maze. With over 30 exhibition stalls, the different blends and enticing flavours of coffee were endless, with chances to try and buy those that took your fancy and rinse the professionals of all their knowledge.

The Stable Yard Courtyard housed numerous bakeries selling cinnamon rolls, brownies and Welsh cakes, while the lawn offered street food and even a tiramisu truck. The Peach House Lawn was the hub of the festival, with live music, food stalls, a ceramics market and even an artist painting with coffee. The ceramics market featured several independent artists showcasing their many unique hand-crafted creations, including mugs, plates and vases.

The time and effort that went into each item was evident, as well as the artists’ passion and creativity in what they do. It is items such as these that often go unnoticed in cafés, so having a dedicated space within the festival for them created a newfound appreciation and admiration for the hard work behind each unique design. The ceramicists were eager to share their own processes and inspirations behind their designs, creating both a friendly and inspirational environment where artwork and coffee collided.

To say you got your money’s worth would be an understatement. The chance to sample dozens of Wales’s best coffee blends and interact with those who are experts in the field, whilst also learning about wider café culture and everything that encapsulates it, is what situates Cardiff Coffee Festival in a different realm to its Bristol or London equivalents. I’m excited to see how it grows in the years ahead. 

words EMILY GILLBARD photos NICOLA GRACE

“As we approach the one-year anniversary of Back to the Beginning, it feels fitting that Ozzy’s throne, which has now become synonymous with his final performance, would be placed in the museum, where it can be seen by the fans who loved him,” she said.

Tree, who died at the age of 32, had just begun a world tour, with his most recent show in São Paulo, Brazil on 6 June. He was next scheduled to perform in Lisbon, in Portugal, on 1 July and had been due to play dates in Glasgow, Manchester and London in September.