Hiya Cargos, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
Thanks for having us. We are Cargos predominantly from Sheffield with members also from Sunderland and London.
Family and friend influences were a big part in our music journey but initially after Arctic Monkeys played Hillsborough Park in 2023 and watching them, we realised it was something we wanted to actually pursue.
What’s the live music scene like in Sheffield right now?
Right now music, especially rock, is in a great place in Sheffield. There’s so many upcoming bands and venues playing live music, it’s amazing to see how it’s growing so local to us.
Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
In Sheffield, ‘Cruz’ is a live band we’ve heard great things about and their music doesn’t disappoint either. ‘The Tivolis’ are also a great upcoming band, their single “One by One” is a song we definitely recommend.
What are your ambitions for the band?
In terms of our ambitions, the sky is the ceiling. We love the progression we’ve had so far as a band and we want to keep bettering ourselves musically and with our milestones. If we had to pick one though, it would be playing Tramlines festival for sure.
We believe it’s essential to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram and X to introduce yourself to all the different types of audiences out there, what’s your thoughts on that?
We definitely agree. It’s so important to make sure we’re branching out to as many different audiences as possible and we’re extremely lucky to have platforms to do that. Unfortunately because of that accessibility, it’s a very saturated pool where it’s easy to get lost with the amount of good upcoming bands so we’re constantly trying to come up with ideas to make us stand out. Definitely pros and cons.
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
Unfortunately, with the rise of “Tiktok music” it’s definitely harmed the music industry as mainstream music relies on 30 second moments to determine the quality of a song, disregarding the rest which we think has taken a lot of the soul out of the music industry.
It’s a shame as you never get 6 or 7 minute songs unless you’re delving deep into discographies. Nevertheless, indie, rock is better than ever and it’s amazing to see it growing.
Whats your thoughts on AI generated music?
To put it simply, it’s a stain on music and everything it represents. Music is an art form created through emotion that a person or people have felt translated into a sound that the same people have spent countless hours, days, weeks and months curating and perfecting to share and relate to other people. AI has no emotion, takes no skill and exists only from plagiarism. There’s no place for AI in music or in any art forms.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
It’s only been 9 months as a band so far, over that time the biggest and recent thing we’ve noticed is not to spend too much time on 1 song. Early on we spent a lot of hours trying to change songs to make them sound better when the best option was probably to reserve it and work on something new and that alone has helped us progress a lot quicker.
What’s currently in all of your ears and on rotation at the moment?
We all have quite varied music tastes which all uniquely influence our playing. Some bands that have been on rotation for each of us include: Archie (Vocals) – Muse, Evan (Lead) – Wolf Alice, Jadon (Bass) – Emery, Zak (Drums) – Geese, Connor (Rhythm) – Title Fight.
With our different music tastes we all share love for indie rock and combining our styles with this makes it great to find different sounds for new songs.
What was your worst experience on stage? Any funny stories to share?
We’ve played on stage only around 4 times so we can imagine the worst is yet to come. So far, our second gig would probably be our worst experience, the speakers wasn’t working properly so half the room had vocals too loud and the other half had none on top of the drum kit being on its last legs!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
We have a new song coming out on 2nd October. It’s titled “Gone Too Far” and is our second single and the first song we wrote entirely. In comparison to our first single: “Incomplete” this song is big step up and a lot more representative of who we are as a band, our sound and where we are musically. Inspired by Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and Muse, it’s heavier than our first single and very much to our music taste which is our main goal when it comes to music: to create what we would listen to ourselves, and we’re very proud on how it turned out.
What was the recording process like?
The recording process was arguably our favourite part about the experience of creating the song. We already had a brief idea of how we wanted it to sound, but the addition of certain ideas and spontaneous spins we threw on different parts made the process much more exciting and we was buzzing to hear back each mix of the song. When it was finally finished, we couldn’t believe it.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
After listening through so many times, there’s always “nitpicks” and little improvements we’d all make to each of our parts and will probably be many more as months pass but how we were with ‘Incomplete’, we wouldn’t change anything as that represents where we are right now as a band and we’re all very proud with ourselves and each other with how the song turned out.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Apart from our newest single “Gone Too Far” which is out on all platforms on the 2nd October, we are playing The Foundry in Sheffield supporting Matilda Shakes on the 3rd October. We promise it’ll be a night you won’t forget and you’ll be the first to hear ‘Gone Too Far’ live after release!
FOLLOW THE BAND HERE
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