Cardinals caught up with NME backstage at Reading 2026, where the Cork indie upstarts told us about progress on the “darker” follow-up to their acclaimed album ‘Masquerade‘. Watch our full interview interview or read all about it below.
The former NME cover stars and NME 100 alumni made their Reading & Leeds debut at the southern site yesterday (Friday August 28) – a moment not lost of them having been raised on the classic Nirvana ‘Live At Reading’ album and movie.
It’s been a steady ascent for the Cork band. This writer first saw them in a tiny Oslo basement with only a handful of people, before later seeing them smash The Lexington for a crowd of 100 before they owned a support slot at London’s Finsbury Park, playing to 40,000 people with their fellow countrymen Fontaines D.C.
“It’s interesting,” said accordionist Finn Manning. “It’s definitely very different. We’re just over from Japan where we played some very big stages. As a band, in terms of the bands we like, the gigs we like going to, and as musicians, we love playing club gigs to a couple of hundred people in a small room. There’s a certain intimacy about it as a punter, and as a musician there’s definitely more of a connection to the crowd.”
Brother and frontman Euan Manning agreed: “We like to look at it through the lens of how music has served us. I feel like for a lot of us, that’s more about listening to records and going to intimate shows. We’re not regulars at festivals or big stadium shows. Maybe there’s a slight touch of that, but I feel like we remind ourselves fairly regularly that the stuff that we like is the stuff that’s a bit more close to the ear.”
He continued: “At a club show, it’s easier to tell if someone’s tearing up to a song. If someone’s emotional, they can come up to you after and tell you. I think it’s more personal for them and us.”
We’ve been living with their stellar debut album ‘Masquerade’ for six months now, a record which “very much pinpoints that era of our lives as people and as a band”, said Finn, adding that they’re “looking to the future now for more music.”
“We’re writing at the moment and taking our time,” Euan told us. “We’re touring a lot, so it’s difficult but we’re trying to write as much as we can when we get a chance.”
Finn shared: “There’s a romantic idea of bands on the road, sitting in the back of a van with an acoustic guitar and getting time to write. That’s something that never really interested us or worked very well for us.
“We like to be in a familiar place that we all know. Recently that’s been Cork city and down in the coastal town of Kinsale. It’s typically somewhere quiet, safe and familiar. We’re looking forward to getting back to Cork, getting back to writing and the mental rewards that come with that process.”
With such a personal and intimate approach to songwriting, encapsulating the full emotional spectrum, would it be fair to say that Cardinals need to live life a little before they can write?
“I think so,” replied Euan. “There’s a lot built up from being on the road and touring so much. That’ll come out in its own way. From what we’ve done so far, I would say it’s a darker record.”
As well as working on their “production chops” the band shared that they were also looking to expand their sound into some surprise territory.
“We’re really enjoying electronic music, some heavier stuff, we listen to a lot of black metal stuff and things like that,” Euan added. “It’s not going to be a black metal record or an electronic record but there might be some more influences leaning different ways.”
Cardinals will be touring through Europe, the UK and North America through to the end of the year. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Reading 2026 continues today with performances from Dave, RAYE, Gunna, Radio Free Alice and many more.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading & Leeds 2026.
