Algernon Cadwallader Says What They Mean in Emo Revival Comeback Album

Algernon Cadwallader is a midwest emo band originally from Pennsylvania. They took a hiatus back in 2012, and now they’re officially back with their first full-length album in more than a decade, Trying Not to Have a Thought.

KEXP’s Meerah Powell spoke with some of the members about the band’s revival, their newfound connections to the Pacific Northwest, and how their lyrics leave little room for ambiguity.

“I think we’re at a point where there needs to be a little more ‘get pissed’ in everything that people are making,” drummer Nick Tazza says in the interview. “Everyone feels it, and I think we need to stop shying away from it.”

On this record, Algernon Cadwallader directly confronts complicated events in America’s political history, from the 1985 bombing of the Philadelphia organization MOVE to the more recent placement of boulders under freeway bridges in Portland to deter homeless people from camping there.

“We used to spend so much time in between songs talking about [political issues],” vocalist Peter Helmis says. “Well, now, it just comes along with the music. Anytime someone plays it, they’re hearing the message.”

Tazza adds: “We’ve all put a record together that stands for something and it means something. All the bands we loved growing up were super political, and that’s what we cut our teeth on, so to see it come full circle is kind of cool.”

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Photo credit: Scott Troyan

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