“Basement Emo” act CAGES from Ludwigsburg, Germany is under our microscope today. Blending radiant melodies with perturbing thoughts is an art-form where CAGES has set a new standard. Emerging from catchy riff delivery and coupled with passionate vocals of distraught poetry, there's a glimpse of hope shining throughout CAGES’ newest release Better Mistakes.

The record's title [Better Mistakes] addresses a positive understanding of mistakes, shortcomings and failings as necessary parts of every learning process, and in doing so, finding the strength to grow on a personal, social, or political level. The lyrics in the opening track “masters of the universe” immediately set the distressed tone, “every attempt to erect a paradise will prove to be a nightmare in the end, Utopia is asleep and it’s dreaming monsters”.

“So despite the downhearted lyrics addressing personal anxiety and mental health as well as social and political issues, we hope that at their core our songs remain melody-driven and almost optimistic” states their vocalist Micha. “On the one hand our songs are an exploration of our deep love for melody-driven diy-hardcore of the late 90s and early 2000s, but on the other hand we want to avert becoming a ripoff or convey some kind of retro-nostalgia. So we aim for a varied song writing approach”.

Ex-Members of WE HAD A DEAL, SCHÖNLEBEN & RÊCHE formed CAGES in 2022 and cite influences from Amanda Woodward, Funeral Diner, Raein, Ampere, La Quiete & Yage. Yet despite their cited influences from screamo bands, their sound is taking 90s emotional hardcore into our modern world and they’ve upgraded the older style to make a sound that’s very notably their own.

“WHAT FASCINATES US ABOUT A LOT OF THIS ERA’S ‘CLASSIC’ BANDS IS THEIR SOMEHOW CATCHY AND YET ANGRY OVERALL FEEL WHICH FITS US PERFECTLY TO EXPRESS OUR OWN IDEAS ON OUR OWN TERMS.

THAT BEING SAID, ALL IN ALL WE TRY NOT TO OVERTHINK OUR WRITING PROCESS, AS CHEESY AS IT MIGHT SOUND, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUUT CAGES IS BEING IN A ROOM TOGETHER EXPRESSING OURSELVES BY COLLECTIVELY CREATING AND PLAYING MUSIC WE LOVE.”

- MICHA @CAGES_BAND

“Our goal was to create a record that captures our live sound and conveys a sense of urgency without overproducing the recordings.” Better Mistakes was recorded and mixed at Fieser Schwan Recordings. Furthermore the record was mastered by the master himself, Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.

The album was released in physical formats all across the globe on February 21st by the band with the help of Through Love Rec in Germany, New Knee Records in the states, Shove Records in Italy, Fireflies Fall in France, Slow Down Records in Finland, Rufen Publishings in Japan, and by Mevzu Records in Turkey digitally as well as on one-sided 12inch-vinyl with a screen printed b-side and on limited tapes.

ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO SAY ABOUT THIS RELEASE AS A WHOLE?

“Since we took care of every aspect of this release ourselves, it's amazing to share these recordings with the world. We sincerely hope that some of you out there can relate to these songs and get something out of them and make them your own.”

SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR CAGES NOW?

“To be honest, there are no milestones or anything in terms of success we set out to achieve. Writing songs that mean something to ourselves, playing them live, meeting new people, seeing places we've never been before and spending time together are the band's main purposes.”

Closing out the release is the track “let’s not keep our hopes up” that starts off with a quote by Dennis from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, (my favorite comedy sitcom of all time), regarding his atheist views, that has to be the absolute best way I’ve ever heard a sendoff into a final wrap up. The closing track itself might be one of the catchiest and prettiest well written compositions I’ve ever heard as well, which doesn’t hurt. It was truly an honor to spend time with this release and try to find the words worthy of explaining how much I loved this.

Check out the band at the links listed below and grab yourself a copy of Better Mistakes if you can, grabbing a physical will definitely not be a mistake.

CAGES is Micha on vocals, Serkan & Uli on guitars, Felix on bass and David on drums,