‘Hand Me Downs’ deals with growing up in a post-punk sprit.

It’s not easy to walk steadily on the bridge between childhood and adulthood so Birmingham-based noisemakers, Cage Park, give us a few pointers on their new single ‘Hand Me Downs’. Met in secondary school, the band flourish on the friendship grounds, inspired by the London scene (groups like FEET or Sorry) and old school 90s beats.

In a break from planning on releasing a bunch of freshly baked tracks this year, Cage Park sat down with Still Listening to ponder over the teenage nostalgia, mayonnaise-hate and youth-linked nuisances.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

Hi!  We’re Cage Park an indie band from Kings Heath, Birmingham (UK) - as a band our influences are bands like Sorry, FEET and Pixies. We have also enjoyed taking inspiration from the current Post-Punk scene for some of our more recent songs.

How did it all start?

It started when we met in secondary school and played in a school band together, but the band properly started when we became closer friends and began working on our own music as a four.

Can you tell us a bit about your new single ‘Hand me Downs’?

‘Hand Me Downs’ is definitely one of our most sentimental songs, it looks at our friends going off to university and the bridge between childhood and adulthood. There’s a nostalgic feel with a couple of classic childhood memories like having nits and wobbly teeth. Basically, feeling pressure to grow up, but still ending up on the sofa watching cartoons.

What other themes you explore in your music?

We usually explore themes that we come across in our lives like growing up, the music industry and relationships.

If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?

I would describe our music as a combination of modern UK post-punk, and some old school 90s music – with lots of interesting dynamics, structural and vocal changes to keep the audience on their toes!

What inspires your music?

We’re inspired by lots of things. We like writing about youth and what it’s like to be a young person at the moment, but also everyday sort of things that you might forget about, like furniture in your house or riding the bus.

What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your band?

Our advice would be – just practise loads together, find a place where you can rehearse for free and meet up as much as possible!

If your music were a film or TV show which would it be?

A really good season of horrible histories.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?

‘Alright Still’ by Lily Allen is a masterpiece and how articulate but blunt she is on it inspires a lot lyrically.

What do you hate right now?

Personally, I (Leo) REALLY hate mayonnaise – however I know some of the others would highly disagree with me, and even go as far as dipping pizza in the terrible condiment!??

What do you love right now?

Right now, we’ve been loving writing new material – we have been working on some of our best songs ever, which is very refreshing and rewarding.

What comes next in the Cage Park’s story?

Over 2022 we will be releasing a batch of very special songs – some of our best to date, we will also be playing some shows in the UK. In our shed where we practise through, our main focus has been writing new songs – so hopefully we can look at getting these recorded and released after the ‘Hand Me Downs’ run of releases!

What upcoming 2022 music releases are you most excited about?

We really liked Wet Leg’s singles so we think their album will be really cool! Also, DONDA 2 obviously.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

 Please go and stream our new song Hand Me Downs!! We promise you’ll like it xx