BV Interviews: Cardinals on their debut album, the current Irish scene, upcoming tour, more

“I guess the Pogues are like kind of a reference point, even though I don’t think that we’re doing that sort of Irish, using it in a real traditional style,” Euan Manning says of his band Cardinals‘ use of accordion, which is played by his brother Finn. “He’s like a, he’s a very talented musician. I was writing stuff that was like, oh, this could work together if you want to try something out. And we kind of started playing together then. Yeah, it just kind of worked.”

When starting Cardinals they only had one rule. “The only main thing that we try to avoid is, we call it like a diddly-eye kind of like music. Like the Dropkick Murphys kind of approach to using traditional instruments in a punk setting which I hope we’ve done successfully.”

Masquerade, Cardinals’ debut album, does avoid obvious Celtic sounds while still having accordion front-and-center as part of their dark, romantic brand of post-punk rock. It’s a terrific album (read our review) and I talked to Euan on the latest episode of BV Interviews, where we also discussed making the album at London’s RAK Studios, the Cork music scene they came up in, getting to open for The Pogues in Boston and being part of Fontaines DC’s massive show at London’s Finsbury Park in 2025, their first trip to New York, five albums he thinks everyone should own, and more.

Listen to the Cardinals’ episode of BV Interviews below or wherever you get your podcasts.

Cardinals will be on tour this spring and play Brooklyn’s Main Drag Music on May 8.

Masquerade by Cardinals