Blackwood is as cultural as f**K. And if you need proof, check out the Velvet Coalmine Festival, which takes place each September. It features fifty live bands, DJs, film screenings, workshops and much more.

Highlights for the 2015 festival, which takes place between 1st and 6th September, include gigs with Dub War, Slaves, Commander Boom, Houdini Dax, The Johnstown Flood, the Noses and a massive coup in the shape of US legends The Meat Puppets playing their first ever Welsh gig. There will also be film screenings with Don Letts and Viv Albertine will be doing a Q+A.

We had hoped to get Iain Richards, the driving force behind the event, to join us on the radio show, but it clashes with the opening of the festival (some people need to get their priorities right). So instead we headed to the pub for a chat about the 2015 festival. We picked early evening on a quiet night in a quiet pub? What could possibly go wrong? Well a birthday party for a start. Anyway — here is an audio recording of the chat warts and all.

Peppermint Iguana meets the Velevet Coalmine in a pub by Peppermintiguanaradio on Mixcloud