A Conversation with Cardboard
- Playing It By Ear
- May 29
- 5 min read
By Romilly L-C
Fresh off their UK tour, and with new releases on the horizon, Cardboard are “shedding [their] baby teeth” and sharpening their vision.
Cardboard are a London-based four-piece band carving out their own space in the city’s creative landscape. Drawing on the visceral energy of 2000s British indie sleaze, the dynamic textures of 90s American alternative rock, and the grit of garage punk, Cardboard fuses these influences into a fresh, distinctive and urgent style.
The lineup features Daniel Hacker (vocals and guitar), Chris Clapham (guitar), Louis Bultitude (bass) and Daniel Rowson (drums). The band’s story begins four years ago where they met at music college. Originally, Cardboard started out with Hacker, Clapham and two other members, but when those two members failed to show at rehearsals one day, Rowson and Bultitude were drafted in - sacking off their own practice, and from that moment on this became the definitive lineup.
What started as a way to bring their live performance visions to life - “actually gig it”- beyond the confines of their school projects, grew into something more ambitious. Over time the writing approach shifted more toward writing songs to record, refining their sound in the studio. But their live shows retain a chaotic electrifying presence.
The band have a medley of different musical backgrounds and influences.
Daniel Hacker had always been a “massive libertines head” and was largely influenced by the raw energy of indie sleaze, and British rock bands like The Jam.
After meeting Chris his musical world expanded to include the heavier more distorted sounds of American alternative rock, especially bands like Dinasaur Jr. Together, their shared love for bands like Thee Oh Sees, has led garage rock to play a more prominent role in their evolving sound.
Chris also draws inspiration from the experimental ambition of Radiohead and has a fixation with guitar players, citing Graham Coxon as a major inspiration, whose solo career was a “big deal” to him.
Louis brings a bass-heavy sensibility, rooted in childhood memories of festivals, feeling the bass reverberate in his chest and being transfixed. His influences span the atmospheric intensity of Radiohead and Nirvana to dubstep, which he remembers waking up to on Sunday mornings as his parents played it, the bassline shaking through the house.
Similarly, Daniel Rowson had a childhood filled with live music. Going to Glastonbury every year as a kid, he witnessed legends like Blondie and The Rolling Stones perform. Drums became his outlet at an early age, given a drumset as a hyperactive child as a way of channeling his energy. He started out learning tracks by Foo Fighters and Nirvana. His interests broaden to funk and dance-punk; he and Louis went to see Warmduscher and were inspired by the genre-blurring energy, playing songs that the crowd could both mosh and dance to. This convergence drives their current direction - creating music that they and the crowd can truly have fun with.
The band's collective reverence for Queens of the Stone Age acts as a sonic lodestone, bridging their diverse influences, like QOTSA melds stoner rock’s fuzz with danceable rhythms, they’ve adopted a similar ethos combining raw energy with infectious rhythms.
An offhand comment about trying loads of things and seeing what sticks - reminiscent of how you can tell if pasta is cooked (if you throw pasta at a wall and it sticks, it’s done) - sparked a comedically long conversation about food. So it would be wrong not to mention that Cardboard are big falafel fans, Louis was enlightened to find out potato cakes are tattie scones, and that his full English breakfasts actually resembled more a full Scottish, and Chris is now a butcher.
During a weekend recording in Shropshire, the band discovered they were capable of cooking not just edible, but actually good meals - and made it out alive. So potentially we can expect a Cardboard cooking show as promotion for their debut album.
The band's creative approach is characterised by a refusal to be confined to one specific sound. Hacker expressed their collective desire to avoid creative restrictions and keep their sound fluid. Their resistance to categorisation allows them to explore new sonic territories without fear of alienating themselves or their audience.
Within the band there is a healthy clash of ideas, with each member bringing something different to the table, disagreements aren’t inevitable, but welcomed. As Clapham pointed out, these moments of friction challenge their assumptions and force them to scrutinise their creative decisions and the outcome is richer and more nuanced because of that.
As Cardboard move into a new direction with their sound, the band are making a clear transition by “shedding [their] baby teeth” with the release of their debut album. This project acts as both a culmination and a farewell to their formative years: the album is composed of songs written over their first few years as a band. Tracks that have long been staples of their live set but not seen an official release until now.
Recent singles ‘Pipe Dream’ and ‘Wouldn’t Let You Realise’, released in November and January, have signaled this new chapter, with more material promised in lead-up to the album, including their upcoming single, which is set to be released next week on the 4th of June. These songs, and the Album as a whole reflect the turbulence and intensity of the late-teen experience with narratives of relationships and friendships. Both 'Pipe Dream' and 'Wouldn't Let You Realise' possess that teenage angst; 'Pipe Dream' with it's gritty feel and crunchy guitar and 'Wouldn't Let You Realise' with it's heavy bassline and dissonance, evoking those feelings tension and unrest.
For Cardboard this album is a necessary act of letting go, “We’re doing this album for ourselves more than anything”. By finally putting out these earlier works the band are making space for progression and reinvention.
Cardboard have a very DIY approach to their projects, which extends from the production of their music to the organisational aspect of their gigs, including their recent UK tour. The band all “do their bit” when it comes to the recording and production, Hacker produced the album with the rest heavily involved in the process. When it comes to gig management and tour planning, Rowson acts as the main organiser, coordinating bookings and logistics of their recent uk tour. This tour, supported by LOLA, saw Cardboard perform in Ipswich, Leeds, Bristol and Brighton before culminating in their debut at London’s Shacklewell Arms.
Reflecting on their live journey the band recalls the excitement and chaos of their first show, remembering it “like it was yesterday” - 10th March 2022 at the Fiddlers Elbow - a venue that still stirs nerves when they return. Since then they’ve played a variety of stages across the country, with The Lexington and The Social standing out as personal favourites.
Looking ahead, Cardboard shows no signs of slowing down. With a wealth of tracks already recorded beyond their debut album, the band is eager to keep the momentum alive. Their ambitions for the near future include bringing their evolving energy to more live audiences. Their commitment to experimentation and growth ensures that their music will continue to develop in bold and compelling directions.
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