Dallas-Fort Worth’s Concrete Cage are moving forward with a renewed sense of purpose—and a lineup that finally feels complete. Since their last No Echo appearance, the band has expanded, bringing in a group of familiar faces from the DFW scene. “Since our last EP [2025's Songs to Say Good Riddance], we’ve added a few heads, all good friends that play or have played in bands from DFW that we love,” guitarist Landon explains to No Echo, pointing to the additions of Jonathan Bary (guitar), Zach Fleming (bass), and drummer Foch, whose resume includes Since My Beloved and Deep Incision. “They’re all monster musicians, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be making music with them.”
For vocalist Andy, the shift goes beyond just filling out the lineup. “Us two are officially the old heads in the band now,” he says. “Adding some new, younger blood has really helped us get more active and focus on getting this music done and getting back out to play shows.” More importantly, the chemistry is finally there. “The band finally feels like it has the lineup it needs to succeed—not just from a musicality standpoint, but from a band member chemistry standpoint as well. We all seem to be on the same page finally.”
That alignment shows up immediately in the band’s latest release, Carrion + Chemicals. Much of the EP was written by Landon during a particularly difficult period. “I wrote these songs during an extremely dark time in my life,” he says. “I channeled all of my anger, despair, loneliness, and hopelessness into these songs. I wasn’t writing to try and sound like anything in particular… it was extremely cathartic.” The result, he notes, is something raw and unfiltered: “a snapshot in time” that “sonically delivers on pretty feral human emotion.”
That first video, for the track “Fabrications,” was a DIY effort created alongside their friend Rick Kanady—another example of the band keeping things in-house and community-driven. “We’re proud of how that turned out,” Landon says.
In terms of comparing the material on Carrion + Chemicals to their last EP, Andy sums it up clearly: “I think the overall attitude of the songs is a bit more ‘DGAF’ than the last few songs we put out. The songs don’t always do what you expect them to do, and I think that keeps it interesting.” He also credits the new lineup—particularly Foch’s drumming—for pushing the band into new territory. “Foch’s drumming specifically really added some new flares that we couldn’t have come up with without him.”
On the production side, Concrete Cage kept things close to home. Landon handled engineering and mixing, with Jeff Green at Vicious Audio taking care of mastering. The songs themselves had been sitting for a while before the band decided the timing was right. “We demo’d these songs and sat on them for a long time,” Landon says. “Once Jonathan, Zach, and Foch joined, it felt like the right time to do a proper recording and release for this EP.”
Lyrically, the band stays consistent with its core themes, digging into systemic issues and personal frustrations alike. “There are a lot of critiques of organized religion, corrupt government, and two-faced twits that try to take advantage of good people,” Andy explains. Collaboration also plays a key role on the release, with several guest appearances from close friends.
“For each one, I either wrote something that I thought specifically fit their project’s message, or I asked them to write their own part so their contributions could be as genuine and sincere as possible.” In a time that feels increasingly unstable, that sense of shared voice matters. “The world is really fucked up right now, and it’s good to collaborate on stuff like this because it helps everyone involved feel heard.”
With the Carrion + Chemicals now out, Concrete Cage are focused on getting back in front of people. “We’re definitely looking to hit the road likely in the fall of 2026,” Landon says. “We want to play as much as possible and spread the ConCage gospel.” In the meantime, the band is staying active locally, jumping on shows whenever they can. “We shot one music video, might do another down the road,” Andy adds. “For now, we just want to keep playing as much as possible.”
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