September 18 was a pretty incredible day for Cartel. The Atlanta pop-punk/alt-rockers kicked off Shaky Knees Music Festival earlier that afternoon before returning to the stage just after midnight for a special late night show at The Masquerade’s Purgatory. The timing was especially fitting, as the show fell on the release day of Learning How to Cope, the band’s first full-length album in 13 years. After seeing them earlier in the day in front of thousands of festivalgoers, getting to see Cartel in such a small room just a few hours later was a really cool experience.
Cartel has been one of my favorite bands for over 20 years, so I was pretty excited to be part of the first audience to hear the new album live from front to back. The band opened the set with “All Singing, All Dancing,” playing all of Learning How to Cope in order, giving everyone in the room their first live experience with these songs on the very night the record was released.
And this album is good. Really good. After 13 years between full-length records, Learning How to Cope manages to sound like Cartel while also showing how much the band has grown over the years. The songwriting still has the hooks and melodies that fans know and love, but there is a little more grit and maturity throughout the record. There’s also a lot more going on lyrically this time around. The album deals with some pretty heavy stuff, from the frustration of being in a music industry that hasn’t always been kind to the band to bigotry, violence, broken systems, and the general feeling that the world is getting harder to make sense of. It’s angry in places, but it doesn’t stay there. There’s still some hope in these songs, or at least a feeling that sitting around and doing nothing isn’t really an option. That’s probably the biggest difference between this and some of Cartel’s older records. These songs sound like they come from a band that has had a lot of time to think about where they are, what they’ve been through, and what they actually want to say now.
Frontman Will Pugh spoke to the crowd about the path that eventually brought Cartel back together, admitting that he once thought he was finished with the band. He talked about how sometimes you have to walk away from something to come back with a different perspective and appreciation for it. He also joked about getting older and caring less about what other people think, which seems to have worked out pretty well for them. At one point, he mentioned that the record was almost called “Catharsis,” before joking that anyone familiar with the old-school hardcore band of the same name would know exactly why that title probably would not have worked out. He then thanked everyone for being there to hear the record front to back for the first time, telling the crowd that they had never been more excited to be doing Cartel.
That excitement was definitely noticeable on stage. This was the band’s first ever double header having already played earlier in the day in some pretty brutal heat. Then, several hours later, they were back at it at midnight and still bringing plenty of energy to the stage. Considering none of us are getting any younger, I was honestly impressed. Pugh asked the crowd how many people were over 40 before joking that anyone who raised their hand should probably be in bed. Looking around the room, there were plenty of longtime fans who probably felt that one a little too much, but nobody seemed particularly interested in going home.
Once the new album came to an end, Cartel gave the longtime fans four songs from their older records: “Faster Ride,” “The Fortunate,” “Say Anything (Else),” and “Honestly.” The crowd immediately brought the energy to another level, singing along to songs that have been in the Cartel rotation for years. After watching the band play to thousands of people at Shaky Knees earlier in the day, hearing these songs in a room as small as Purgatory was a completely different experience. Cartel plays much larger venues these days, so getting to see them this close, especially for a hometown show, made the night feel like a pretty rare treat.
After a bit of a hiatus, Cartel has spent the last couple of years reconnecting with fans, celebrating the legacy of Chroma, and finding their way toward what comes next. Now, with Learning How to Cope officially out in the world, they have a whole new chapter to build on. Seeing them play the album from start to finish on release night, in their hometown and surrounded by longtime fans, was a pretty special way to kick it off. If this show was any indication, Cartel has plenty more to say, and I’m really excited to see where they take it from here.
Cartel is set to appear on a couple more festival lineups before they join State Champs on the road in November. For tickets and more information, visit: https://cartelrocks.com/.
Upcoming Festival Appearances
September 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – Four Chord Festival
October 10 – Birmingham, AL – Furnace Fest
Upcoming Tour Dates w/State Champs:
November 5 – Allentown, PA – Archer Music Hall
November 6 – Buffalo, NY – Riverworks
November 7 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe @ Old National Centre
November 8 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
November 10 – Dallas, TX – Echo Lounge
November 12 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
November 13 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl
November 14 – Riverside, CA – Riverside Municipal Auditorium
November 15 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
November 17 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
November 18 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
November 20 – Salt Lake City, UT – Rockwell at The Complex
November 21 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
November 23 – Davenport, IA – Capitol Theatre
November 24 – Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom
November 25 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
November 27 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
November 29 – Baltimore, MD – Nevermore Hall
December 1 – Richmond, VA – The National
December 3 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl
December 5 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
December 6 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
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