Haggard Cat

Haggard Cat
Haggard Cat isn’t the type of band that’s interested in easing you in gently. Equal parts laser-focussed energy and absolute chaos, a fission that guarantees both ringing ears and chilled spines and demands your full-immediate-attention. Matt Reynolds (vocals and guitar) and Tom Marsh (drums) have been playing together as a two-piece since 2011 (originally under the more unwieldy name of Haggard Cat Birthday Present, or HCBP for short). They self-released their debut Charger, a heavy-blues smash-suite of 10 songs recorded live in one day, on Valentine’s Day in 2013. But it was signing to Earache and the release of 2018’s Challenger that began to put Haggard Cat on the map, with the duo since picking up support slots with the likes of Enter Shikari, Band of Skulls, Dead Kennedys, Pigsx7, Loathe, Employed To Serve, Jamie Lenman, Pulled Apart By Horses, Inme, DZ Deathrays, Virginmarys and Ugly Kid Joe as well as slots at Glastonbury, Boomtown and main stage appearances at 2000 Trees and ArcTanGent. The duo defied all expectation with their last record ‘Common Sense Holiday’ which saw them open-out into new realms of experimentation and was met with wide critical acclaim. Now with EP ‘Cheer Up’ (produced by double-Grammy Award winning Adrian Bushby) they look to take things even further, this time completely on their own terms, free of record label ties. The results are cataclysmically clear; Haggard Cat are hungry and willing to devastate all that lays in their wake. Haggard Cat’s DIY ethic and propensity for pulling off memorable antics has garnered them a reputation as a band that pushes boundaries. A recent stunt involved the two musicians locked in a concrete box for 24-hours as a visual metaphor for how Brexit will impair British bands’ abilities to tour Europe (the results of which can be seen in their video for European Hardware). Even the band’s earliest gigs were injected with a frisson of danger (and no doubt intense intoxication) as a bottle of whiskey would be placed on-stage as they proceeded to play until it was empty
FFO: QOTSA, Jamie Lenman & Heck
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