This time 2 years ago, Llandudno’s Billy Bibby was riding the juggernaut of success as lead guitarist with Catfish and the Bottlemen.

After years of plugging away, it was all beginning to pay off, yet Bibby made the huge decision to step back from it all and channel his energy into establishing himself with his solo project Billy Bibby & the Wry Smiles alongside Rob Jones, Mike Pearce and Matt Thomas.

Opting for a more acoustic/blues/Americana feel to the songs, he was able to showcase his vocal talents more than in his previous band. It may appear to be a disservice mentioning his previous band, but when you consider that he helped write and record ‘The Balcony’ which was commercially a huge success, the way I look at it is, it would be a disservice to him by not mentioning it.

Things have moved on a lot since then and Billy looks like he’s onto a winner with his latest single and video for ‘Substitute’.

There’s an extensive amount of confidence and swagger about the track. The western influenced video was produced by Paul Cameron at Cameron Media.

The arts council of Wales have recently given the band a grant for touring and audience development so you can look forward to seeing these guys in a town near you soon. For a full list of dates visit billybibby.com