“Sometimes I go to a Guitar Center, see a kid jamming and I’ll start jamming with them. We look at each other and it’s, like, a moment”: Yvette Young-backed emo icons Algernon Cadwallader are back – and as giddy and technically dazzling as ever

Trying Not to Have a Thought is emo band Algernon Cadwallader’s first album since 2011, and the first with the original lineup since 2008. The record’s fluid dual-lead lines, laid down by guitarists Joe Reinhart and Colin Mahony, are reflective of the long path towards completion. And it involved at least one bad trip.

The twitchily grooved, quixotic-noted elasticity of noitanitsarcorP (aka Procrastination) was crafted as most of the band partook in a ketamine experiment – which went off the rails fast.

“I remember it being really hard, like, ‘This was not a good idea,’” Reinhart recalls with a laugh. “We weren't playing Satisfaction, you know? I really wish we’d picked an easier song to write like that. It’s a little bit of a workout, even when you’re not on ketamine.”

While vocalist-bassist Peter Helmis and drummer Nick Tazza anchor the piece into a taut lock-groove, Mahony – who wasn’t traveling through the K-hole with his colleagues – concedes that its off-kilter inverted bends give the arrangement a “falling apart kind of thing.”

He adds: “I hit a lot of wrong notes in that song, intentionally, just to sound ‘not right.’ But Joe does all the cooler stuff in that song; I really don’t do much in that one.”

In the beginning, Algernon Cadwallader were loud-and-proud emo revivalists worshipping at the altar of cult Cap’n Jazz virtuoso Victor Villareal. Later their own songs became an inspiration point for contemporary emo dazzlers like Yvette Young.

Neither guitarist is slacking on their comeback album. Thought thrives on the manic yet melodic polyrhythmia that fueled 2008’s Some Kind of Cadwallader. Songs like Hawk and the title track find them volleying quick-sliding phrases and arpeggiated hypnotism.

Both players also indulge in alternative tunings and vibe-based capo positioning. “It’s not like we did that to be cool,” Mahony says, observing that, in terms of playing live, “there’s gonna be trouble later!”

Algernon Cadwallader - Hawk [Official Video] - YouTube

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Your reunion phase began in 2022. When did you start writing new songs?

Joe Reinhart: “We were rehearsing for a tour, and we just naturally picked up our instruments and started fucking around. We weren’t like, ‘1-2-3-4, play a new song!’ We made some noise and it trickled into a jam.”

What the first song to come out of those jams?

Reinhart: “I think it’s the album’s namesake, Trying Not to Have a Thought.”

Colin Mahony: “Joe came in with a monster riff on that one and I was like, ‘it’s perfect.’ It stood out – it seemed incredibly well-written and crazy.”

Reinhart: “Thanks! I think you did the perfect thing with those sorts of rhythmic chords.”

Mahony: “I was consciously trying to do less. As I get older, it’s more fun not playing a million things the whole time!”

Reinhart: “We really shoot ourselves in the feet with that sometimes!”

With lead single Hawk, you’re both all over the fretboard. This comes down to semantics, but who’s the lead on that?

Mahony: “Double lead. I think we do that, Joe – we’re fighting over it sometimes.”

Reinhart: “I guess so. I mean, Colin’s part was so good, I just couldn’t let him have the better part!”

Mahony: “Most of our riffs are just continuous playing.”

Hawk is also a good example of the clarity your lines get because of the record’s low-gain sound. What were you using in the studio?

Reinhart: “That was your Fender Tele, right?”

Mahony: “Yeah – Peter convinced me to try a Jaguar, and I’d recorded half the song with that. But it didn't really sound right; not as bright. We kept it in, I think.”

Reinhart: “I re-amped it through an AC15.”

Algernon Cadwallader - noitanitsarcorP [Official Video] - YouTube

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Mahony: “Joe’s always good at getting the sound – I guess because you’re a producer and engineer.”

Reinhart: “This time I used my Fano and a Bluesbreaker amp for my tone, but there's a couple other new things for both of us. Like my G&L guitar and a Vox, Colin’s Tele, and that Jazzmaster we were using.”

Shameless Faces has almost a Southern rock explosiveness to it.

Reinhart: “That riff is a version of something I’d been kicking around for a different project. I sped it up and played it for the guys. Everybody jumped onto it and started playing, almost like a joke – but then we were like, ‘This could work as an Algernon song!’ Influence-wise, there’s probably a little Mock Orange in it.”

Mahony: “It also just sounds rock, with that D chord or whatever.”

Reinhart: “Like punk Tom Petty.”

Yvette Young referenced you as a formative influence. Have either of you spoken with younger guitarists about style or technique?

Mahony: “She’s so good, so technical and impressive. I saw her play one of my riffs in some video, and I was blown away with how good she played it. I feel like they’re all better guitar players than me, technically.

“Sometimes I go to a Guitar Center and see some kid jamming, and I’ll just start jamming with them. We look at each other and realize we’re jamming – and it’s, like, a moment. It’s therapeutic!”

Reinhart: “That’s really funny!”

Mahony: “It’s a lot of Metallica riffs, but it’s all good!”

In a recent interview you said there’s a ska Easter egg on the record. Could you shed some light on where it is?

Mahony: “Once you hear it you can’t unhear it…”

Reinhart: “I’ll tell you this – it’s on the right speaker channel and it’s on the second half of the album.”

Algernon Cadwallader - Trying Not to Have a Thought [Official Audio] - YouTube

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Mahony: “I don’t know what you’re doing on that, Joe, but it’s a lot of squeaking and upbeats. I think it’s cool. But here were moments where it felt too ska, and we had to take it down a notch. Maybe we’re just scared that it’s ska. Not that it’s a bad thing…”

Reinhart: “I wear my influences on my sleeve.”

Maybe you need to wear checkerboard creepers.

Reinhart: “I had a Specials shirt on, like, three hours ago!”

Mahony: “We played ska at a show once. We covered an Operation Ivy song. It’s in our blood.”

• Trying Not to Have a Thought is out now.