Cages didn’t go into the studio to make something clean. That was never the goal. “Better Mistakes” is exactly what it sounds like—a record about fucking up, about trying, about not always getting it right, but pushing forward anyway. It’s six tracks of scraped-up, early 2000s-style hardcore, recorded rough at Fieser Schwan and mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios. No gloss, no polish, no pretending things are better than they are.
The band—Serkan, Felix, Micha, David, and Uli—know their way around hardcore. They’ve been in bands like We Had A Deal and Schönleben. They’ve played DIY spots, basement shows, places where sweat drips off ceilings and every note feels like it might come unhinged. That kind of urgency is all over this record. Some moments hit fast and frantic, others slow down just enough to let the weight of it all sink in.
Lyrically, it’s personal, but not in a self-indulgent way. It’s about anxiety, about how easy it is to get trapped in your own head. About how people cling to their own self-righteousness like a lifeline, even when it turns them into the very thing they claim to hate. It’s about alienation, how friendships fade into something unrecognizable. It’s about pushing so hard to be better that you lose sight of why you’re trying in the first place. But there’s still a pulse under it all—some kind of defiance, some refusal to just give in to the weight of it.
“Better Mistakes” is coming out February 21, 2025, but today, we’re stoked to give you a special early listen, and a special track by track commentary below.
The album comes out through a patchwork of DIY labels—Through Love Rec. (Germany), New Knee Rec. (USA), Shove Rec. (Italy), Fireflies Fall (France), Slow Down Rec. (Finland), Rufen Publishings (Japan), and Mevzu Rec. (Turkey). Digital, limited tapes, one-sided 12-inch vinyl with a screen-printed B-side.
The full track-by-track breakdown is below—Cages walk through every cut, every lyric, every messy, unfiltered thought behind the record.
1. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE:
Asthe record’s opening track, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE was written to be fast, short and engaging. Personally, it feels like our song writing approach where we try to combine the unrelenting drive of 90s-screamo with melody-driven riffs and strong 90s-emo vibes is best demonstrated here. Lyrically the song deals with self-righteous claims to absoluteness arising out of narrowworld views. A lot of times it seems like paternalistic megalomania hides behind “knowing what’s right for everyone”, a false righteousness that defiesa nuanced vision onto the world.
2. THERE’S NO LAUGHTER IN A CLOWN SCHOOL:
Starting off with a more vocal-centered opening-section, this track leans heavily into fast paced and captivating tempo shifts. While containing one of the fastest choruses on this record, the song’svibe changes towards the end, closing in on a more solemn note.
Lyrically THERE’S NO LAUGHTER IN A CLOWN SCHOOL revolves around coming to terms with feeling lost and overwhelmed by embracing self-perceived shortcomings. The record’s title BETTER MISTAKES derives directly from this song, promoting ideas of self-acceptance, learning from one’s own mistakes and, by doing so, finding the strength to grow, on a personal, social or political level.
3. DON’T THANK THE ACADEMY, YET:
To be totally honest, this was one of the toughest songs to finish and we couldn’t be happier with the result. The track’s overall structure was changed several times over. We ended up with aconstant build-up that adds emphasis on the song’s bitter theme but, in contrast to most of our songs, doesn’t include a chorus.
DON’T THANK THE ACADEMY, YET is driven mainly by delay melodies and a pummeling bass-rhythm to create a dense atmosphere of bitterness and cynicism. Complementing this, the lyrics dissect how dwelling inyour own misery can become such a defining characteristic that it almost feels like a person creates their own narcissistic stage play. Since this play centers only around itself,in my experience these persons make it almost impossible to build a meaningful connection to such a person.
4. THE METAPHYSICS OF LOSING A FRIEND:
More often than not it seems like alienation has become a more or less underlying theme of our lives. At least partly it can feel like even the notion of “authenticity” has become”inauthentic” in itself. In some cases that boils down to watching someone close to you becoming this hollow yet perfectly functional shell that’s distancing itself further and further from the person you used to know each day.
Musically THE METAPHYSICS OF LOSING A FRIEND brings one of our most favorite hook-lines on this record to the table. What we like the most about it, is that the whole song carries a noticeable emo-vibe focusing strongly on guitar melodies and consistent shifts in dynamic.
5. MY WRISTWATCH TELLS ME WHEN TO SLEEP:
Angry yet melodic, MY WRISTWATCH TELLS ME WHEN TO SLEEP on the heavier side of our musical spectrum which makes it one of our favorites in our current live sets.
With a tone of disillusionment, the lyrics unpack the tangled relationship between the obsession with self-optimization and the weight of shame. To take this one step further one might also say this culminates in a constant struggle to defeat entropy by quantifying more and more aspects of human life.
Musically we wanted these themes to be backed by driving guitars and a rhythm that practically demands some aggressive swaying. That’s contrasted by an extensive intro-section and chorus evolving around a guitar-riff packed with melodies.
6. LET’S NOT KEEP OUR HOPES UP:
Even though this song has been a consistent part of our live sets for quite some time now, its vibe didn’t seem to fit into our first record. But for BETTER MISTAKES the song’s emotional closing section felt like the perfect ending to this record. LET’S NOT KEEP OUR HOPES UP is the first CAGES-song ever written. So, to just let things flow and see what happens plays a key role in the song’s evolution.
Maybe that’s why the track ended up with some elements that are unconventional for our repertoire, e.g. almost pop punk’ish transitions into the chorus. In the recorded version there’s also an additional bell wreath in one section.
Lyrically LET’S NOT KEEP OUR HOPES UP promotes the idea of constantly questioning everything and everyone, including yourself. So the song is almost an ode to doubt instead of craving the certainty of one’s own goodness and ultimately becoming an arrogant saint, a holy figure blinded by the light of its own self-righteousness.
