Four Acts, One Night: La Violette Società Returns to Ten Streets Social
La Violette Società 54 artwork by Pascal Blua
March 25th sees La Violette Società's 54th gathering at Ten Streets Social, bringing together four distinct artistic voices for one unmissable evening.
Yesterday's Flowers deliver dreamy cosmic rock from Folkestone that's already caught BBC 6 Music's attention. Pys Melyn bring their twice Welsh Music Prize-nominated psychedelia from North Wales. Liverpool's own BITE blend psychedelic exploration with dancefloor-filling grooves, while poet Melanie Banim cuts through with unflinching narratives that honour the city's storytelling tradition.
This carefully curated lineup creates a journey through sound and word, continuing La Violette Società's commitment to meaningful artistic experiences in intimate settings.
Pys Melyn
NORTH WALES' BEST-KEPT SECRET GOES NATIONAL
From the rugged peninsula of Pen Llŷn in North Wales comes a band that refuses categorisation. Pys Melyn – Ceiri, Sion, Owain, Owain and Jac – create music that's simultaneously rooted in place and expansively universal.
Since their first singles appeared in 2018, they've built something remarkable on their own terms. Their debut album "Bywyd Llonydd," released on their own Ski-Whiff Records in 2021, drew from global influences while remaining distinctly Welsh in perspective, earning them their first Welsh Music Prize nomination.
Their 2023 follow-up 'Bolmynydd' saw the band refining their approach, drawing more explicitly from 60s and 70s touchstones while maintaining their distinctive voice – and earning them a second Welsh Music Prize nomination. The subsequent touring took them from London's Garage to Tough Trade Bristol and across the channel to Brittany, expanding their reach while maintaining their artistic integrity.
2024 has seen the band accelerate further, releasing their third record 'Fel Efeilliaid' (Like Twins), recording a BBC6 Music session for Riley and Coe, and supporting both Gruff Rhys on his 'Sadness Sets Me Free' tour and Spiritualized at Focus Wales. Summer festival appearances at Green Man and The Great Escape cemented their reputation as one of the UK's most compelling live acts.
What makes Pys Melyn special isn't just their musical prowess – it's their authenticity. They sing in Welsh because it's their language, not as some marketing angle. Their music transcends linguistic barriers through sheer conviction and imagination.
Melanie Banim
LIVERPOOL'S UNFLINCHING POETIC VOICE
In a city built on storytelling, Melanie Banim stands as one of Liverpool's most vital contemporary literary voices. Her work doesn't just observe – it excavates, revealing the hidden narratives and uncomfortable truths that conventional poetry often sidesteps.
Banim's writing focuses particularly on stitching silenced women and children's histories back into our collective memory. She explores how place impacts identity and how families both create and heal wounds, with Liverpool itself often serving as both backdrop and character in her unflinching narratives.
Her growing national recognition includes selection for the London Library's Emerging Writers Programme, shortlisting for the Manchester Poetry Prize, and recognition from the Creative Futures Writers' Award. The Southbank Centre has featured her work, acknowledging her as an important emerging voice in British poetry.
What separates Banim from many of her contemporaries is her refusal to soften difficult realities for palatability. Her poetry cuts to the bone – family wounds, silenced histories, Liverpool's beauty and brutality all rendered with precision and unexpected moments of grace.
At music events, poets often get relegated to background status – the bathroom break before the band you came to see. Melanie isn't that kind of poet. Her performances command attention, creating moments of reflection that complement rather than interrupt the musical experience.
Experience Melanie Banim at La Violette Società 54 at Ten Streets Social on March 25th, where her words will serve as the connective tissue between the evening's musical acts, creating a complete artistic experience that honours Liverpool's rich traditions of both sound and language.
BITE
LIVERPOOL'S ALCHEMISTS OF GROOVE, FUNK AND PSYCH ROCK
In a city with Liverpool's musical pedigree, standing out requires something special. BITE have managed precisely that – cutting through the noise not with gimmicks or scene politics, but with a sound that refuses to be easily categorized.
This emerging four-piece has been methodically working their way through Liverpool's venue circuit, leaving impressed audiences and bookers in their wake. What separates BITE from countless other bands is their understanding that musical exploration and dancefloor movement aren't mutually exclusive concepts.
Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Fleetwood Mac's harmonic precision, Steely Dan's meticulous arrangements, Curtis Mayfield's social conscience wrapped in irresistible grooves, and Pink Floyd's sonic expansiveness, BITE aren't revivalists or nostalgists. They're alchemists – transforming these disparate elements into something that feels entirely contemporary.
Their sets have developed a reputation for turning even the most reserved venues into proper dance floors while keeping the cerebral listeners engaged with textural depth and thoughtful progressions. It's a rare band that can satisfy both the head and the feet, but BITE manage this balancing act with apparent effortlessness.
As they continue their ascent through Liverpool's musical ecosystem, BITE represent something increasingly precious – a band more interested in musical communication than scene credibility, more focused on creating genuine moments than Instagram-friendly posturing.
Yesterday's Flowers
COSMIC ROCK FROM THE KENT COAST
In the unassuming seaside town of Folkestone, something unexpected has been brewing. Yesterday's Flowers – Lucy (vocals), Tom (guitar), Matt (drums) and Ollie (bass) – have been crafting a sound that feels both intimately familiar and startlingly fresh.
Their music exists in that perfect twilight space between waking and dreaming – hypnotic chord structures and shimmering vocals built atop a rhythm section that keeps everything grounded just enough to prevent complete astral projection.
Since forming in 2023, the quartet has moved with remarkable intent. A series of sold-out hometown shows quickly led to support slots for established acts like DAIISTAR and Congratulations, while BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing both picked up on their distinctive atmospheric approach.
Their debut EP 'There's Only Love', released in December 2024, revealed a band already comfortable in their own sonic skin. The launch show, backed by Arts Council England funding, hinted at bigger stages to come.
What makes Yesterday's Flowers worth your attention isn't just their dreamy cosmic rock credentials – it's the sense that you're witnessing something at the beginning of a significant trajectory. This is music made with genuine conviction, by people who understand that the spaces between notes matter as much as the notes themselves.