Denver metalcore band Suicide Cages have been busy since we last checked in with them in November of 2023. Suicide Cages have been playing shows around their region and released a skate deck via Ritual Skateboards.
Their label, Braeburn Records, in December also released a cassette compilation of Suicide Cages' past releases. The collection includes material from the band between 2023 and 2024: The Mother of Thousands EP, Cascading Failure LP, and "Charm Offensive" remix.
Suicide Cages have been putting in solid work, opening for such bands Snot, Weekend Nachos, and Skinlab in Denver, and they're currently gearing up to release a new EP called Live Without which was mastered by Will Putney.
I was fortunate enough to listen to the entire Live Without ahead of its release. This EP will be in continued rotation throughout the Summer! Will Putney's attention to detail is apparent as these four songs sound flawless. I love how nasty sounding these guitar riffs are at times; like Swamp Thing smoking cigarettes in the house! Pick harmonics, cowbell, ballsy breakdowns, and perfect distortion are featured throughout.
There is a nice touch of early metalcore influences on this EP. I can hear flares of classic Ferret Records band Scarlet and '00s metalcore bass tone similar to Drowningman. Live Without is an animal all its own. While the influences are there, they are a small part of how well written and creative all four tracks are. Live Without is controlled chaos with well-planned breakdowns and intensity.
I caught up with Devin, co-founder and vocalist of Suicide Cages, to talk Live Without, the upcoming Unhinged festival, and as a bonus, we're premiering the band's new single, "Exit Interview."
Can you tell No Echo how the crowd response has been to playing songs from Live Without?
We've been playing the songs from Live Without since February and the response has been wild. We initially planned to only play the songs in Fort Collins the night before we hit the studio to record but the response was so strong at that first show we had to keep them in the set. The amount of stage dives "Exit Interview" received was wild!
Speaking of "Exit Interview," we'll be premiering it along with this interview. What can you tell us about the song?
Thank you! This is the first song we wrote with our current bass player Matt. He brought an element and tone of heaviness that really hits this song.
Lyrically, it's about understanding that you are not welcome somewhere and embracing it. Truly finding peace in not fitting in and moving forward with your life. It's where I was in my life when we wrote this song and really molded much of the EP.
What was the experience working with Will Putney and the unique sound that was achieved on Live Without? Do you feel Putney has nailed the band’s sound?
This is the second time working with Will. He also mastered the Mother of Thousands EP in 2024. This time we didn't give him notes, just sent him the tracks and asked him to do what he thought best. He's such an incredibly good guy and his attention to detail is wild.
He sent back the masters and we immediately thought, "no notes, holy shit this sounds massive." We opened for Better Lovers in late 2023 and we've talked off and on since. The care he takes on all projects regardless of size is a testament to who he is.
Much of the credit for Live Without also goes to Felipe Patino at Green Door Studios in Denver. Hands down the best recording engineer we have in Colorado. We took seven days with him to really dial this in and the results even before mixing was done were massive. We wanted to give Will the best product we could knowing he'd take it and knock it out of the park.
What influenced you outside of music while writing Live Without, or the band in general? Does the band have a collective movie or series that helps influence the music?
What really influenced us as people over the process was radical change within the band and our personal lives. I left a career of 11 years and went in a very different direction. Rico, our drummer and I work in the trades together now. Our original bass player left and Matt joined the fold mid year which sparked a lot of change and growth for us. Mhyk and Matt write incredibly well together and it really presents itself in the growth from our 2024 EP to Live Without.
Mhyk writes much of the music and then brings it to us to flush out our parts and refine. He watched a ton of Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and Oblivion while writing. Thematically, we're all in this dystopian mindset, even more so now.
Suicide Cages has a big festival date coming up in July. Tell No Echo's readers about Unhinged festival and how you expect Suicide Cages to be received with names like Converge, Body Count, Lamb of God, and The Dillinger Escape Plan?
We are the literal first band of the Unhinged festival, opening the main stage on day one. We're incredibly honored to play with so many iconic bands. It's going to be an incredible day.
Live Without comes out 19 days before Unhinged and we're hoping folks check it and us out and come early. We will play the new EP in its entirety as well as a few setlist favorites from the last two albums.
We've been grinding regionally for the last four years and this is a huge opportunity for us. We'll have copies of the new album available as well as free Braeburn CD samplers we'll be handing out all weekend.
What are some of your favorite pizza places in Denver?
This was the hardest question you asked [laughs]. Collectively we all love Blue Pan Pizza, Marquis Pizza, Cart Driver, and Hops & Pie.
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Live Without will be out this July via Braeburn Records in North America and distributed by Best Life Records in Europe. Physical formats are Compact Disc, Vinyl, Cassette and even 8-track. Pre-orders are available now from Braeburn Records.
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