Haggard Cat: Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked
If you have paid even the vaguest bit of interest into the British alternative music scene over the past 10 years then you will have likely come into contact with the HAGGARD CAT duo. With the vocals and guitars handled by Matt and the energetic rhythms by Tom, the duo were formally noise makers-in-chief for HECK, the post-hardcore unit that became synonymous with sheer chaos thanks to their live shows. Having created some truly incredible momentum behind themselves, the band quickly came to an end after performing a volatile and excellent final performance at ArcTanGent Festival. Coincidentally, the same festival where a band called HCBP played.
HCBP soon dropped the BP to simply become HAGGARD CAT moving forward, and things quickly grew legs. After recording their debut album and landing a record deal with Earache Records thanks to the boys proactively posting their album to them, the Challenger chapter of the band was well and truly underway.
And now, the duo arrive at the next chapter. Common Sense Holiday is every bit an extension of what the band did on Challenger as it is a unique collection of diverse and exciting British punk. There is so much brought to the table here it becomes difficult to believe these are the same people who helped write songs such as Powerboat Disaster. It comes to the point where you have to wonder if this is the music they have always wanted to make?
“This is the music we naturally make,” explains Tom. “We pushed ourselves in HECK to create the most disgusting thing we possibly could. There wasn’t any consideration into if we wanted to listen this back.” Matt continues “Like Tom says it is what comes naturally to us with HAGGARD CAT, and more so on [Common Sense Holiday] it’s kind of the most considered version of that.”
Matt goes on to mention a feeling of pride about the latest release that hasn’t really been felt during any of his prior works. It goes a long way into furthering the sentiment that HAGGARD CAT is a different beast entirely for both Matt and Tom. And yet the band’s debut very nearly didn’t get a chance to receive the wide praise it did. “We were that close to releasing the whole album for free,” Tom says, before Matt explains, “then the record label thing happened and it was like okay, we’re going to give it the release at least these people think it deserves.” Followed by two years of touring and HAGGARD CAT have a swelling fanbase and a second album even more adventurous and incredible than the first.
Feeling motivated by the confidence boost that came with all the positive praise Challenger would receive, Matt and Tom would spread the sphere of influence even further for their writing for Common Sense Holiday, a record birthed in some of the most tumultuous times ever experienced by UK touring artists thanks to the changing face of the political landscape. With cries against the current state of the world, Common Sense Holidayevolved over time into a more conceptual creation, made up of 10 songs each housing a different view or perspective on the current world climate.
“Our original mission statement was for every track to be in the form of almost a different band for each song, almost to the point of it being a revolving door of musicians,” Matt explains. “Lyrically I wrote what came to me at the time, because we wrote all the music first, but those kind of themes of different perspectives about what’s going on in the world around us more came as we were writing. I crammed a lot of writing into two months, just sitting there thinking ‘how am I feeling today?’”
“We’ve always been a fan of the, I don’t know, kind of romantic way of looking at the album as a ‘thing’ rather than just a collection of songs,” Tom follows up. “You’ve got a chance to make something with a beginning, middle, and an end. You don’t just have three ideas on an EP you’ve got 10,11,12, and you’ve got the scope to do what you want. The thing that I like about this band is there is no one in our way to tell us ‘that’s a shit idea” which potentially could be bad. If I like it, and Matt likes it, yeah cool, crack on.”
With an album that bears this much freedom and creativity, you can’t promote it in a normal way. And with HAGGARD CAT being made up of two people who will quite literally do anything they set their minds to, you can guarantee there were some wild ideas being thrown around. If you have followed HECK, you’ll be aware of their excellent DIY music videos, and HAGGARD CAT took that concept to a logical extreme. The duo built a concrete box that they then sealed themselves in for 24 hours, live streaming the whole thing and turning it into a music video for their song European Hardware, as well as being a protest against the idiocy of Brexit. “That video came about very naturally. We were sat in Spoons, and we said ‘how on the nose do we want to make this music video?’” explains Tom. “And then obviously ideas snowball, and it got turned into the thing it was.”
Alongside a hardworking attitude and an innate ability to walk the walk as well as they talk the talk, HAGGARD CAT have quickly become one of the standard bearers for British alternative and British punk. Point us to a band who would be willing to literally build their own tomb before locking themselves in for 24 hours just to try and get a message across and we will happily eat our own shoes. Integrity this intense and strong into the artwork and the message it bears within is so few and far between, any bands that display it stand out like a golden sheep in a herd of white. With their past successes giving them the energy and the passion to trust their instincts, HAGGARD CAT are quickly approaching the same legendary veins being mined by bands like CLUTCH. The musical veins that bear endless creativity that simply require fearless artists to channel and mould with.
It is a damn shame that Matt and Tom aren’t able to take their Common Sense Holiday album out on the tour it deserves at the moment. As the world stands still thanks to the pandemic currently smothering it increases daily, the thought of gigs returning is one of the shining lights at the end of the currently pitch black tunnel. For anyone who has seen HAGGARD CAT live already, the very idea of new content being injected into their set is one that will likely bring a shit eating grin across their faces. With this being one of the very, very few times the duo have had to cancel, we wanted to end by finding out just how Matt and Tom are able to gig as frequently as they do. “Just get on with it,” Tom says, before Matt follows up with, “there’s always a wall between something you want to achieve and you achieving it. There’s always something in your way, or something that’ll crop up. And we have troubleshooted every eventuality that could come by this point.”
Whilst we all sit in eager anticipation for them to hit the road once again, this time of isolation does allow us to appreciate just how impressive Common Sense Holiday really is. And also to appreciate just how far Matt and Tom have come from their days in HECK, blossoming from chaos into a more mature and confident outfit over time. With a near cult status and a reputation for being some of the hardest workers in the world, HAGGARD CAT have nothing but ascension in front of them.
HAGGARD CAT are known for their protests and forward-thinking nature. So, we asked Matt what are his favourite songs with righteous messages!
War Pigs – BLACK SABBATH: Anti-war song, and also the only song that rhymes ‘masses’ with ‘masses’, which is just genius song writing.
Testify – RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE: There had to be a RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE song in here, all RAGE is amazing and I wanted to pick the one with the strongest statement, but then I thought go on Tom Morello and Testify is just so good.
The Refused Party Programme – REFUSED: This is about upheaval and making a movement and making a stand and no matter what that stand is, believing in it.
Fortunate Song – CREDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: That’s a song that’s anti-’Nam. Any movie ever that talks about Vietnam has to play Fortunate Son, and it’s just such a good song. It’s an iconic noise. It’s the sound of what American’s think freedom sounds like.
Alright – KENDRICK LAMAR: It’s a banger and the most positive KENDRICK LAMAR ever gets, I guess it was really quickly associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s just a really positive message wrapped up in a banger of a song
Common Sense Holiday is out now via Earache Records.
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