Milwaukee-based band Cackle -- with OnMilwaukee.com's Molly Snyder Edler on bass and vocals -- isn't the first threesome to gets its start in a Riverwest basement and certainly isn't the only one to produce simple and sassy, poppy punk music. But when it comes to standing out in a crowded market, the band has a few tricks up its sleeve.
If you attend a live show, you might get asked to pull a tarot card from the deck, followed by a personal reading. You might notice a litany of lit candles twinkling about. You might even witness one of the members casting a circle of salt around the stage area to "keep all the good within and all the bad without," says drummer Renee Bebeau.
"We have to get the sacred space ready for rocking."
If you're thinking it sounds like a witch's coven, you're not too far off base. These pagan performance elements aren't random, they're completely by design for a band that defines its genre as "pagan pop punk."
And while Cackle isn't exactly chipper bubble gum pop, the music is far from the soundtrack to a dark, God-less existence.
"Our approach is very new-school," says Edler. "It's about shattering stereotypes. A lot of people assume that anything pagan is associated with the devil. The whole genre gets a bad rap, like you have to wear a cape, have some missing teeth or dress like Stevie Nicks to be into it."
Although the band loves to indulge in "creepy-cute" Wiccan rituals while on stage, the members say their personal approach to paganism is much more modern and simple and not as "out there" as people might assume. It's about believing you can have whatever you want in life, as long as you create it."
Stand out song "Nancy Reagan Was a Pagan" is a playful and humorous take on a pop culture reference (Reagan really did indulge her pagan side with regular visits from her personal astrologer and a few reported ghost sightings), whereas the more demur "Catholic Girl" exemplifies real feelings of religious alienation and confusion.
Of course, not all the music revolves around religion. There's the spirited hometown reference in "At At Random," and sexual innuendo galore in heated album opener "Game Over." All the classic elements of rock and roll are there, and when it comes to the self-inflicted punk rock label, Edler says it's better applied to the band's approach, rather than its specific sound.
"The way we're making the music is based on a punk rock philosophy -- the whole D.I.Y. thing. It's scrappy, and it's raw."
The band itself could be described much the same way. Cackle, which is rounded out by guitar player Grant Gunn, formed only in February 2009. By early December, the band was in the recording studio with Sean Behling laying down the nine original tracks that now make up its debut album, "So Mote it Be," which is set for release this New Year's Eve at Art Bar.
In less than a year, Cackle had made it all happen.
"I think it's a testament to where we all are in life," says Edler. "I think it's a testament to our age (all the members are in their mid-to-late 30s). We just know what we want and we go for it."
The sentiment is nicely summed up in the album's title, "So Mote it Be," which Bebeau explains is the pagan word for "amen." "It's like, we put it out there and 'so mote it be' means, now we just let it happen. It's how our album is -- it's live, there are mess ups on it, it's raw, it's just how we are."
Cackle puts it out there for all of you on Dec. 31 when it shares the Art Bar bill with fellow Riverwesterners Uncle Larry. The show starts at 11 p.m. and between sets the two bands team up for a rendition of "Auld Lang Syne." The CD will be available for $5.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
