Photo: facebook.com/thevestals

The Welsh music scene might have seemed fairly quiet in recent years. After a massive boom in the mid 90s that saw the emergence of the Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers, among others, the scene appears to have spent a few years in recession.

But now indie-poppers The Vestals, inspired by the 80s era of goth-pop, are hoping to change that with their brand of beefed up pop music.

"It didn't start out with the intention of becoming a band," explains frontman Adam.

"We'd all played in bands before and a couple of us knew each other already. We just got together to record this one song, in the winter of 2011. We're all from South Wales, it was all friends of friends sort of thing. It just went from there."

The Vestals have kicked off 2013 with a tour supporting Frank Carter's new project Pure Love, and have a AA-Side, Perfect Pain/Seventeen, released this week.

"We're really excited about this year," Adam admits.

"At the moment we're all about this single, but hopefully another release won't be far behind.

"'Seventeen' was that first song we recorded together, so that was what started it all for us really. The other side, 'Perfect Pain', is one of our dancier and more upbeat songs."

Watch the video for new track 'Seventeen'

Indeed, 'Perfect Pain' is a ruckus slice of intense guitars and fast paced pop music, while 'Seventeen' is a perfect sampler for the sort of musical tendencies the frontman says characterise the band.

"We just try to write big pop songs. We use guitars in them, so they edge a guitar-ier way sometimes, but big pop songs is what we try to do."

The Vestals took quite a conservative approach to their career following their inception in 2011. Last year saw the band play just 15 shows in the whole 12 months. Their tour with Pure Love will see them play roughly the same amount before the end of February.

"Last year we tried not to play too many shows, but I think this year will be a bit bigger," Adam admits.

"But we just try to tackle everything one step at a time. We've got a lot of material written and in the bag, but at the moment we're focused on this single and this tour."

It might seem to the rest of us that things have been a little quite in Wales for a few years, but according to The Vestals the scene there has always been a strong one.

"The scene in South Wales has always been briliant. There's a great community feel, especially in South Wales, where everyone helps each other out.

"You'll often find members of different bands playing in multiple bands with other people. And it's great to think that we can all help each other out and go to each other's shows and buy each other's records. I think South Wales will always have a strong scene, but maybe you have to be there to really experience it. I guess if you're in London you might not think there's much going on."

One the other hand, the online community is not something Adam's particularly eager to be involved with. "I'm not a fan of Twitter and Facebook myself. I wouldn't say we're being deliberately mysterious, but we only give what we need to. The whole point of being in a band is the music, and that's what we're interested in doing.

"We don't hide ourselves away; it's just a case of letting the music do the talking."

Watch the video for 'Perfect Pain'

While this might be a year filled with exciting release in music, comebacks and new arrivals alike, The Vestals are only really concerned with getting their business done.

"This year is all about this band, our band, for me, I'm excited to tour and put music out. That's the main thing for me. I'm definitely still a muso, I'm on top of what's coming out, but I'd be lying if I said I was excited about any other band's release more than ours," Adam admits.

And while much of the music press might've predicted 2013 would be 'the year of the guitar bands', that's not a bandwagon The Vestals are keen to jump on.

"It could be the year of the guitar bands, but I try not to think abut that stuff too much. At the end of the day it's just what the radio decides to play," the singer explains.

"We use a lot of synths and drum machines in the studio , so I wouldn't pigeon hole us as a guitar band. We're a pop band, and the more stuff we release and th more stuff we do I think people will start to see a variant in there. We're a pop band, that uses guitars."

Will there be an album this year? Will we see The Vestals at any festivals? The band are evasive when it comes to their own plans for the rest of 2013, preferring to stay firmly focused on the task at hand.

"I don't want to give too much away, but we've got a lot of songs in the bag. Who knows what the future holds, we'll have to see how it goes, but we're definitely excited to be getting started."

The Vestals are currently on tour with Pure Love. For more information, visit Gigwise Gig Tickets. Full tour dates are:

18.02.13 BRIGHTON - HAUNT
19.02.13 SOUTHAMPTON - JOINERS
20.02.13 NEWPORT - LE PUB
21.02.13 BRISTOL - CROFT
22.02.13 BIRMINGHAM - TEMPLE ROOMS
23.02.13 BEDFORD - ESQUIRES