Out of Middle Tennessee comes Clay Cages, the emo-punk outfit in Murfreesboro, Tenn. have been steadily gaining attention across the south. Working with large scale producers for an upcoming release, the band is ready to perform and grow. Recently, we sat down with the group of Danny Fields, vocals, Matthew Schumacher on guitar & vocals, Hayden Wadell at guitar, Austin Rolison on drums and Daniel Farrin at bass to talk about what’s next for the squad.
Listen to Clay Cages new track: “Burning” here.
How did Clay Cages come together, and how did you all meet?
Danny: “It was our freshman year Fall semester at MTSU, Hayden lived on the same floor as me and we met on our second day of move-in. Matt lived one floor above us and we found out he played guitar early on. A mutual friend of ours introduced us to Austin and from there we began jamming and creating songs.”
Talk to me about your 2014 release, what were some of the driving forces behind it and what impact did that record make on your careers?
Hayden: “Our sound has changed a lot. If you look at the first stuff we wrote, which I don’t think is even online, we’ve changed directions. Then from our release of Tension to our single “Rust.” it’s becoming easier to write music together and make tracks beginning to end.”
So now that you have your sound solidified, talk to me about the release of Tension, was that a culmination of all your progress for a debut?
Danny: “The whole album was written outside, since we all lived in the dorms our first year, we didn’t really have a place to practice, so we ended up rending one a storage unit to play and write. We were in there multiple days a week from September 2013 to May 2014, and we wrote all of Tension. It was written through winter so we were dealing with numb fingers, negative degree weather, all sorts of nasty things. Tension was a good representation of that time and us growing away from living at home to become our own person.”
Your single, Rust, was engineered by Josh Manuel, drummer for Issues, how did you decide to work with him?
Danny: “We have some weird connections with Issues, we reached out to them through some mutual friends, and they responded really interested so we went down to Atlanta to record. We wanted to at least record drums with Manuel, but ended up recording everything with him. We really connected with him as an engineer and it was a good experience for Austin to work with a drummer like Manuel. They really motivated us to be our best.”
With the Single being mixed by another engineer and the rest of the upcoming album with another prominent and experienced engineer, are you expecting any major differences?
Matthew: Surprisingly enough it flows really well. At first it was it was a concern for me. We had part of it tracked at Century where Matt Goldman mixed, and then we tracked the rest with Blackbird in Nashville. Another engineer, Seth Henderson put his master onto the mix, and it made for a great transition with subtle differences.
What can listeners expect from your upcoming release?
Hayden: “As far as songwriting goes, we set out with a concept and a purpose before we started out writing. We set out to write this one, and let it grow over time. Instrumentally we experimented a good bit more. We developed a new, matured sound. Even though we got to this point, it never stops. It’s a constantly moving cycle and we have to keep working and growing.”
What has been the biggest lesson you all have learned as a band?
Danny: “Nothing comes easy, you really got to work for what you want. You have to be grateful for every opportunity, even if you’re playing in a basement you have to be excited. We quickly realized we’re not just a band, we have to put in work and effort for things to happen. You have to build your relationships between each other and to your fans.”
