INTERVIEW: Cabbage

Having formed 24 months ago, I can only describe the pace in which Cabbage have grown at as rapid. Formed from a variety of back grounds in the northern hemisphere with their uniquely satiric lyrics focusing on the political and social standards, Cabbage make sure societies culprits are held accountable in songs that should be taken with a pinch of salt. Prior to Cabbages highly anticipated ULU show I sit with Cabbage’s Joe to talk the future and what we can expect of the new album about to drop.

How did the band form and gain it’s own rights?

I’m from the Yorkshire dales originally and I was obsessed with music really. I was doing journalism at the time. We made an EP called Le Chou and had a bundle of ideas came together. We started doing gigs, it was such a relief to play together with our energy and being such good friends. Right from the get go it was going to be based on punk and was going to include bad jokes, tales, drunkenness, politics and social activism. We knew it was going to be creative and now the band is a combination of things for what I’d like to think as a Nobel cause. It’s an outlet for our emotions and thoughts.

How did the band name occur?

It’s the result of meaningless band names. There’s too much emphasis on the band name rather than the music. We put a lot of time into the music and the lyrics and the band name was secondary to us. It’s a complete joy when people say you’re a good band but the names a pile of s*** as that’s what we wanted but I do think it has taken on its own entity.

Let’s talk political reflections within the songs, do you think it’s important as an artist to have and use your voice on day to day reflections of life?

It’s natural for us. We believe as an artist it’s important to be artistic but genuine to yourself and un forced. We don’t mind any bands singing about anything if it’s not contrived and it’s genuine to them and who they are. It’s kind of worrying when you get bands that don’t say anything, especially with the state the countries in. It’s terrifying that people have become so passive and don’t say anything. Being in a band is a good position to be in to create positive change. It’s a great platform to utilise and get the message across. However, we’ve laced it with humour at the same time.

What are your inspirations?

Spoken word comes first for me. That’s my favourite form of art. I’ve done a few nights in Salford, including an open mic night where everyone gets one turn each. So, it’s not a long dried out night as everyone has undivided attention. I love it. We all like a combination of different influences.

What does the future look like?

We just released a new EP, exploring new realms musically. It’s got a song called A Network Betrayal which is about the wrongful privatisation of the train services. It’s fairly tongue and cheek and should be taken with a pinch of salt. But at the same time public services like that shouldn’t be privatised for profit. Like the NHS being sold off, which is pretty poor.

We’ve also just finished an album which we will release next year with all new songs. We’ve currently released more songs per month than the length of time we have been a band. We’ve been a band for 24 months and we’ve released more songs than that. We are going to try and keep up with that. Some bands choose not to release any music for like two years but we prefer to release it then move on. It can be then viewed as a progression in our truest form.

What can be expected of the music on the album?

I think some of it is atmospheric, it’s hard to describe sometimes. It’s more developed and we’ve worked extremely hard. I think people will be surprised, it sounds entirely different to what we’ve released in the past. Some of the songs we are playing tonight are two years old so I think It would be strange if we weren’t progressing, there’s still politics in there and country and cinematic themes but it’s a developed progression.

Cabbage have a clear following with ULU packing out within a half hour of the doors opening. Fans waited, enjoying the support acts before Cabbage graced the stage. Within moments of their first track starting, fans were dancing and chanting with hands in the air.
The energy of the room continued throughout the set with Cabbage politically charged and ready to give the crowd one hell of an experience. There’s no doubt that when the new album drops, as different as it may be, fans will stand with the band in not turning an eye to the desperate state the country is in.

Alice Gee
@Alicesgee