Words by Lucy Mounfield
On Friday 30th June, Cabbage will take over the main stage at the 02 institute Digbeth, with support from The Blinders and Strange Bones. Doors open at 6pm with tickets priced at £11.50 (advance). For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.
This summer the Manchester five-piece are taking to venues across the UK in their biggest headline tour to date, following their recent stint with fellow Manchester band, Blossoms. Coming from the Scala in London (June 29th) to the 02 Institute in Birmingham (June 30th) and then onwards North to the Ritz Manchester (July 1st), expect to see Cabbage to pitch up at some major venues. For full tour details from SJM/Gigs and Tours, click here.
Cabbage have recently announced their new The Extended Play of Cruelty EP – set for a digital release on July 21st, with a physical release on August 25th via Skeleton Key records. Cabbage have previously released their new single, ‘Celebration of A Disease’, which is out now and the opening track from the EP. The Extended Play of Cruelty EP comes after a short recording session with producers James Skelly and Richard Turvey at Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios. According to a post Cabbage’s Facebook page, “The Extended Play of Cruelty is our revisited conquest to our pop psychological platitudes. The deceit of man tests all in a moment of clarity and we deliver our position in a long search for Utopia. Our blend of fervent disdain is focused on local frustrations, whilst celebrating those who shall rise through the ashes.”
What looks like Cabbage’s thoughts on their The Extended Play of Cruelty EP does in fact read like a cultural and musical manifesto. Certainly, their new single is a seething comment on society’s unnatural fixation with social media that spreads like a ‘disease’ with ‘the corruption of technology’ breaking our ‘dreams’. Deep stuff, but not unexpected from a band who are known for their politically and socially charged lyrics, and during the run up to the 2017 general election had the words ‘Vote Jeremy Corbyn’ on their drum kit.
The Extended Play Of Cruelty comes hot on the heels of their collection of early EP’s, called Young, Dumb and Full of… in January 2017; twelve songs of hard-hitting post-punk that bubble away with an energy that is not so far removed from The Sex Pistols. However, the darker, more punkier sound is somewhat lacking in their new single, ‘Celebration Of A Disease’ which still retains the heavy throng of the drums but lacks the slicing guitar that made some of their classic songs like ‘Uber Capitalist Death Trade’, ‘Necroflat in the Palace’, ‘Indispensable Pencil’ and ‘Terrorist Synthesiser’. But Cabbage are proving they have a lot more material to give and are by no means a flash in the pan. It will be interesting to see how their new song fares when played live, especially as Cabbage can deliver a ferociously intense set on stage.
(Lucy Mounfield last saw Cabbage playing at the O2 Academy in March, as part of the NME Awards Tour with Blossoms and Rory Wynne. Read her BREVIEW here)
Support band The Blinders are a three-piece alternative group from Doncaster who are now based in Manchester. Combining political punk-rock with ‘psychedelic poetry and tones’ to create visceral ‘punkedelic’ sound, the band seem an equal match for Cabbage’s raw yet thought provoking punk. Equally so, Blackpool rockers Strange Bones are putting a modern twist to punk with their stand out tune ‘God Save the Teen’ – a nod and a wink to The Sex Pistols’ punk anthem.
‘Celebration of a Disease’ – Cabbage
Cabbage play the O2 Institute on Friday 30th June, with support from The Blinders + Strange Bones. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
For more on Cabbage, visit www.ahcabbage.bandcamp.com
For more on The Blinders, visit www.soundcloud.com/the-blinders
For more on Strange Bones, visit www.soundcloud.com/strangebones
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For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham
For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com
