Building up to their second single of 2023, ‘22 Degrees & Sunny’ (aptly out 22nd June), Wolforna have had a busy month on the gigging circuit. Although based in Leeds, the hard-rock four-piece occupy rehearsal space at Prospect Studios in Bradford, so they’re comfortably placed within the West Yorkshire music scene.

They wasted no time getting June off to a flying — an enormously loud — start, at Square Chapel in Halifax. The auditorium-style venue, right next to the revered Piece Hall, swelled as jangly support act, Grow, opened the evening for the lads in front of a packed-out room. Then, the hour-long headliner saw Wolforna unveil the brand-new, politically charged, alt rock banger, ‘Zombie Knife’, while tenderly reviving an old fan favourite, ‘The Fleet’, amid a series of other acoustic numbers. 

A serious bout of beer-garden weather ascended upon Cleckheaton’s very first instalment of The Longest Day, a multi-venue festival that saw a plethora of artists take to stages across the town. After enjoyably catching Eyebright at Mead Hall (at The George), Wolforna had just enough time to soundcheck ahead of their set at The Loft. The sweaty room was flooded with darting, technicolour lighting as a shorter, angstier setlist than at Halifax was delivered. 

Next, one of their more unique events was the student-run BA Introducing in South Kirkby, not far from Wakefield. Production Park was the infamous site, where, incidentally, major household names such as Beyoncé have had global tours filmed. And similar can be said for a film scene Def Leppard featured in. It was Wolforna’s time to shine there on 16th June, the afternoon before their next date in the diary: the scorching Barnsley Live.

The annual must-attend day had become something of a regular on the Wolforna calendar, with this year’s gig in the upstairs club, Opium. The small room invited in a wanting crowd of pint-supping punters to cheer as the band might as well have blown the windows out. They totally understood the make-noise memo, and people were all too eager for an encore.

If you’ve had the pleasure of checking out one of their gigs or festival slots, you’ll know just how explosive and electric these lads are. You’d better be glued to the edge of your seats to see what else Wolforna have in store for 2023!