FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
On April 3rd, Los Angeles-based heavy alt-rock trio Cage9 launch the new video for the band’s first single “3arthquake.” Also the opening track on their new album “Hypesthesia,” which was released independently on January 22nd, “3arthquake’s” trippy, kaleidoscopic visuals and monochromatic look help illustrate the song’s lyrics of social upheaval and disconnection.
“The truth is only half of it. The world is a grey place, hard to find a safe space…” bemoans front man and guitarist Evan Rodaniche in a distorted vocal over the song’s ultra low tuning and drummer Abel Vallejo’s hypnotic back beat. Original bassist Gustavo Aued’s pulsing bass line moves the richter scale on his return to the band after a two album absence. The first song written in one of the many jam sessions during early 2018 that gave rise to much of “Hypesthesia,” its chorus borrows a line from the popular mid-century trope “…you swallowed the spider to catch the fly,” then continues “but now it’s eating your insides – my dear the world is not black and white.” Ultimately the character submits to the reality that we cannot fully control the shifting foundation of a chaotic world. In the end we just “have to let the Earth quake.”
The visuals were shot both by the band’s former bassist, Les Wyatt, on a back-lit sound stage at FD Photo Studios in downtown Los Angeles, a few gritty blocks from the city’s notorious Skid Row district, and by Panamanian film-maker Anel Reyes in an abandoned factory in Asturia, Spain. Partially edited by Rodaniche, Reyes did the final edit of the video and is known for his psychedelic and retro style as seen in other popular music videos for notable Panamanian bands Señor Loop, Cienfue and Polyphase.
Wardrobe was provided by Ghost Circus Apparel, a clothing line by Eli James, former drummer for Julien-K and super group Dead By Sunrise which featured members of Orgy and the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park.
Rodaniche and Aued formed Cage9 in Panama and moved to LA together in 2002. They’ve opened for everyone from Asking Alexandria, Ozzy Osbourne and In This Moment, toured the US and Japan, and have been heard on LA’s KROQ, TV and movies, and featured in WWE theme songs and video games like Mx vs. ATV Untamed. Drummer Abel Vallejo also moonlights as drum tech for Sevendust and Korn, the former for whom he filled in on drums when Ray Luzier had to miss a performance for personal reasons in 2015.
The new album: “Hypesthesia (hyp·es·the·sia) | a diminished capacity for physical sensation, a reduced sense of touch, or a partial loss of sensitivity to sensory stimuli. In everyday speech this is generally referred to as numbness.” Self-produced, mixed and recorded in the band’s home studio by Rodaniche, the album includes 11 tracks including a spacey, electronic cover of Alice in Chain’s classic “Rooster.” The metal onslaught of “Monsters + Vultures” is an ode to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting aftermath. The almost heavy, disco-dystopia of “1984” alludes to the way which we’re ironically seeing glimpses of that book come to life in our time. And “Ice Aege” is a hopeful moment on “Hypesethesia” where the numbness begins to subside with the chorus line “today’s the day that we stood in the sun…” The album ends with “eXpectations,” a haunting, almost-lullaby with just one heavily effected guitar and vocal that lulls the listener into a trance with its prose about faith and/or lack there of.
Rodaniche has also mixed and lent his engineering skills to fellow acts Escape the Fate, Lacey Sturm, Powerman 5000 and more.
The album art was created by band friend, Francesco Artusato, guitarist for Light the Torch (feat. former Kill Switch Engage singer Howard Jones). Originally meant as the cover for the “3arthquake” single, the striking image of needles emanating from an almost biblical female figure fit so well with “Hypesthesia’s” definition that it quickly became the album cover.
The band recently brought on Jeff Buttermark of Rock’d Management and booking agent Greg Harper of Artery Global and have plans for a national tour in 2019 in support of the new album.