Wes Cage Chats about The Wolf, Concerts, Paganism and collaborating with his father Nic Cage

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Wes Cage.
You're very welcome to concerts

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that made us.
Thank you so much for having me.

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I'm absolutely delighted to have you.
Now, I'm looking forward to

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diving into your music and
career over the next bit.

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Now, first and foremost,
do you consider yourself an actor who

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plays music? Are a musician who acts?
I consider myself a complete

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hybrid of the of the musician
and actor caliber.

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Um, yeah, because they both they both
emerged simultaneously from me when

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I was a child. So gotcha, gotcha.
And you released The Wolf at the

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end of October.
It's a different sound for what

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you're known for. What?
What can you tell us about a track?

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Well.
I definitely wanted to connect with

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the masses on a. Broader scale.
I wanted to make something that

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was radio friendly and something
that could definitely, you know,

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find its way into.
Concerts that are also, um,

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have a larger amount of people there.
See, I see, I suppose black metal,

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which what you're known for
isn't to really or friendly.

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There's not a lot, a lot of stations
playing. No it's not. And and.

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I made an album called The
Prehistoric Technology.

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I did that and I released that 2014,
2015, and that kind of showed the

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transition I made from black metal to
more of a kind of almost like a nu

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metal sound or active rock sound.
And then now it's evolved into this.

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The wolf.
It's about the dichotomy of the

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higher and lower self.
How did you kind of get into the

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mindset and find the inspiration
for the track?

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Well, when I first started working
with Keith, after my manager set

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up the series of writing sessions,
we started talking about symbolism

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and some spiritual concepts.
Um, I think that this definitely.

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You know, became a matter of higher
and lower self, especially when the,

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when the when we started getting
ready to do the music video,

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Vicente Cordero Cordero the director,
he he definitely saw that the

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song was about that.
And I thought that that would be

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a pretty excellent portion of
mysticism to, to bring to the world,

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because it's it's one of the
most understandable, I think,

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of all of it.
Some of the stuff gets really

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esoteric and complex, but the
higher and lower self dichotomy is,

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is pretty understandable because.
I think everyone can relate to

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that instantly.
Where we have days where we feel

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like we could be the president of.
Planet Earth, and then we have

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days where we feel like we're just
not capable of anything like it.

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And you mentioned keys.
It's key to Island from breaking

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Benjamin.
He caught it which it was

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impacted he have on the track.
He did a lot I mean he.

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Well, he definitely even pretty much
chose the vocal register that the

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track is was was saying sung in,
you know, so he he did quite a bit.

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Um, him and I were going back and
forth with the lyrics together and,

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and as soon, as soon as that
chorus was, was, was found,

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I knew we had something amazing.
You definitely did.

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Now, these days, you're,
you're more of a dedicated

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family man than in your past.
How has that kind of affected the

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music you make, do you think? Um.
I think that it makes me more

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practical with my music to know
that I'm a family man.

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And it also probably, I think, is a.
Made my emotional capacity much

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wider and deeper.
You know, it's made me have have a

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lot more depth to my emotions and.
Also my concepts and awareness

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itself.
I know for me I've two daughters

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as well, and I know it completely
changed my emotional level.

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I mean,
it turned me into a bit of a softie.

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I mean, I cry at films I wouldn't
normally cry at and stuff like that.

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Totally. It does that.
It's powerful how that happens.

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Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely.
Speaking of movies, actually,

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you're also known for scoring movies.
How do you approach the two different

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styles of music production?
Well for making a song.

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Of course I will.
Really try to find that chorus and

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build a track from from that part.
And kind of make the different

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sections from there that sound
like they would be in accordance

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with the with the chorus.
And then as for scoring films,

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I really made sure that I had the
footage in front of me and. We find.

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It's almost like the theme of
the film has to be.

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It's like the chorus of the song.
It's of course kind of related,

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but there's so much stuff in between.
Uh,

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theme songs or when there's like a,
you know, a part of the track where

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there's like a climax musically.
There's a lot of space where

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sometimes there's just very minimal,
minimal amounts of stuff that we

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want to put.
Or it could even be just one,

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one droning note, you know?
So it's like,

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it's definitely a very different, um.
I definitely go about it by having

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the footage in front of me though.
Always.

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You know, at this stage,
I suppose I love diving into my

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guests history when it comes to
music, to give the listeners a

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sense of where they come from.
So it might be a tricky one,

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but can you remember your
earliest musical memory?

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My earliest musical memory was.
Me and she had a huge impact on me.

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Was listening to Enya.
That's my that was the first one

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for me. And I became.
And that might be the reason why.

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I think that's the reason why
I'm even in my black metal.

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I liked the more melodic stuff
with with the kind of the

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mystical sound to it.
And yeah,

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it's definitely huge for me.
I like it, I like it a bit on

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unexpected, but I definitely like it.
And, you know, can you pinpoint the

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exact moment that kind of sparked
a desire to become a musician?

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I would say the first moment
that really did that for me was

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when I was like.
13 years old and I was listening

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to Rammstein and System of a down
all the time, and I was like,

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you know, I enjoyed listening to
music and stuff, but when I,

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when I started getting into
Rammstein system of a down and then.

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Then I started getting like,
Cradle of Filth and stuff like that.

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So I was like, all, I'm going to pick
up a guitar and really do this now

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and go back to what I used to do
when I was a kid, where I would play

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for a company and stuff like that.
I really took it very seriously and.

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Started with my first riff,
which was the intro for Crazy Train.

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And. After that I really like.
I just went for it. Um.

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And then three years later,
I wound up doing a.

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An album with Jack Douglas is
known for, of course,

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like Cheap Trick and The Beatles.
And then shortly after that, we took

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everything that we had kind of.
Arranged and we went to Sweden

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when I was like. 17.
And wound up doing the album

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with Frederic Nordstrom who's
done stuff with like In Flames

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and Demon Boiler and stuff.
And something that intrigues me

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is growing up in such a
prestigious showbiz family,

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was there a lot of pressure put on
you to enter showbusiness? I think.

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There wasn't much pressure because
it's interesting how it just it

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naturally occurs for anybody that's
related to me in this family.

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We we have this just.
Genetic programming,

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where we're all artistic and we
all have a insatiable desire for

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achieving catharsis and satisfaction
with our own creative expression.

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To where it just it happens by
itself. It's wild.

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I mean, there's even people that.
I have to make sure I ask the the

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person who told me this. Exactly.
But apparently there's like.

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Some Coppolas that are not.
They can't even speak very good

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English like they're in Italy,
but they're all also artists.

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They're just all of them.
Well, any chance you can bottle

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that and like, share it around
with the rest of us? As well.

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It's something that intrigued me.
Having more access to connections

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than, say, people might when
they're usually starting off music.

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Was your experience being
getting your music out there,

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getting your name out there?
Obviously it's not as hard as,

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say, someone starting off from
the very bottom. Well.

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What happens, I think with with
music in no matter how many like.

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Contacts we have or.
Or even if we have no no contacts or

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even no idea of how we're going to,
how we're going to get a project

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off the off the ground.
Um, it's so important to have those

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first shows where you are playing
the small venues and really like.

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Getting a name for your project.
And then from there getting the

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larger venues and making connections
this way and getting that fan base,

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even if the fan base is small.
I think that those first initial

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shows and concerts are so
important because it's.

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It's it's making your your project
real. Um. And then as time goes on.

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Uh, really starting to ask the
right people for manager and

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stuff like that and and getting
a proper crew together, but, um.

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Yeah, it you know,
it occurred to me when I was like,

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yeah, I think it was. Yeah. 2020.
I was like, you know, I never really

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had a music manager that I was.
You know, that I thought was,

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um, truly compatible and and
just had the right idea.

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So I finally was like, who?
Who could.

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Direct me to,
to a proper music manager.

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And then I thought, you know,
I grew up, luckily with Rob zombie

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being a friend of my family and
my father and I, and I asked him,

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who's the best manager you think
in the world you could do?

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Would you send me someone or
recommend someone for me?

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And then he he told me that Blasko
would be a great fit for me,

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and he sent me his contact.
We set up a meeting, and,

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I mean, I literally met like a
miracle of a man.

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You know,
Velasco was just impeccable and.

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That that was a huge game changer.
You know, musically for me,

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and it brought me to another level.
And I got signs to pavement and

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stuff. So it's.
Having the right manager is

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really important.
I mean, someone that can focus on

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that because with with the, with
music, you know, it's it's I know

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some people who are kind of like.
They have a band, but then they're

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also being I had a bandmate that
was like this where he he also was

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really good at the business side,
and it's great to be good at the

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business side, but when you're when
you're writing an album and stuff

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like that, you want definitely
someone to focus on that,

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like a manager, while you focus on
the creative aspect completely.

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Very true, very true.
And you know,

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it's called concerts that matter.
So I have to ask you, as a concert

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goer, what concerts would you say
have made you? Well, I would say.

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Even though I'm not doing this
kind of music anymore.

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I saw Septic Flesh play live with
Cradle of Filth and Satiric Con,

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and there the live performance
they did with their the.

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The the backing track they're
playing to was was all orchestral.

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And I was like, wow, it's amazing.
This whole band is playing to that.

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So that really affected me. Um.
Also just the perfection of.

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You know. Evanescence.
Just that vocalist is.

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She's just so perfect that everything
she does, you know, there's not not

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even a fraction where she's off.
So that's huge. And then.

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Uh, of course I'll never forget.
When I was little, I saw Gipsy Kings

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live, and that was just remarkable.
I was, uh, on my uncle's shoulders.

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My uncle's, like,
seven foot one, two.

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So I was was, like,
really high up and watching.

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Watching Gipsy Kings was just epic.
Yeah, I'd say so.

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And the moment we're all waiting for.
I'm looking forward to hearing

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about this.
Now, for any listeners that

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haven't got one of your shows.
What could they expect?

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One thing about my live
performances that are. Pretty.

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Awesome is that if they know the
track for some reason this happens.

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It's kind of annoying for me too,
because it's like, oh, I wish I

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would have recorded it this way,
but somehow my live performances

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outdo my recordings like I for some
reason I just something happens

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where I've rehearsed the song a
lot and I start doing a little

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extra stuff there that might,
you know, make people be like,

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whoa, why didn't he record that?
But so definitely more energetic

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performances.
And also I'm very spiritual.

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So, um, I do my best to say things
between songs that someone could take

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home with them and keep for the rest
of their life, as I try to say some.

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Proverbial and powerful things that
that can really empower an individual

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to know. I really like that now.
I always like, even if it's not that.

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But I always feel like I love
concerts more when there's some

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sort of audience interaction in
between songs, you know?

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And if you think of all the gigs
you've played over time,

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is there one that sticks out in
your head as maybe the most

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perfect experience you've had?
Well, I would love to have you

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at multiple concerts.
We'll definitely arrange that.

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Um, my.
The best gig I ever played was

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definitely, um.
It was in the Palms Casino,

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the Palms and Vegas Casino,
and I played in the Purple Room.

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And that was when I had the project.
Wes Cage with me.

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And we had won an award as the
best New artist. That was just.

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Really potent.
It was A22 track performance. We did.

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We did a song called Where I'm From,
from the Prehistoric Technology

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album, which is a very kind of like.
Gothic, kind of melodic Nine

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Inch Nails sounding track,
and then we whip straight into a

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very heavy track, and it just
blew the audience away and we

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wound up doing that award. Wow.
It's really cool not to get too

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negative now, but the flip it around
if you think of all the gigs,

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is the one where things maybe went
wrong and it's the worst experience.

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And how did you overcome it? I did a.
There were two shows back when I

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was doing The More.
Black metal stuff. One was just the.

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The setup they had, sound wise,
was a little half assed and,

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you know, it wasn't very advanced.
The vocals just could not reach

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a volume to where you could hear
him no matter what.

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And I had to do the entire set
with twice as much aggression

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and lung power, and I felt like
I had damaged my throat for the

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rest of my life after that.
Um, luckily no, no, no entry.

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But it was just obnoxious to
know that they could not hear me

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pretty much, and that I needed
to be more of a showman.

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But also,
the first show I've ever done, um,

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with eyes of knocked them as a full
band, technically second show.

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Um, but I went on stage and we had
this huge intro where, you know,

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we play the intro and we'd walk out
on stage with this kind of dramatic,

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epic classical composition,
and everyone's all excited seeing us,

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you know, raise our the horns up
to everyone like this.

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And then the, the we whip into
the the song and literally I

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could not find my microphone.
It just no one put it out there.

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And I wound up having to just
windmill through the entire track

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with my hair. Oh my god. Everything.
Because of all, of all shows,

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you know, my dad was there,
Rob Zombie was there.

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I mean, it was a it was a, you know,
everyone was there and, um, yeah.

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So they, they, they hid it.
The some guy hid the microphone

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by the monitor like there's
something I don't I've never

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heard of that before. My God.
You know,

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it's typical though it would be
the show when everyone is there

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to see you that it would happen.
It's just one of those things.

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And when it comes to Showtime,
your pre-show and Portia ritual,

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how do you sneak yourself up and then
afterwards, how do you wind down?

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Well, the some of the intros
that I create that, you know,

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the audience hears before we play,
that really sets me up because it's

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almost like my soundtrack that's
also getting me ready, as well

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as getting the audience ready.
Um. And then. So that's huge.

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It's kind of like my my portal into
the session or or concert rather.

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And then, as for winding down,
I really have to.

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Take a second to myself.
After talking with everyone and

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doing photos or signing
autographs and stuff.

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Or, you know, I try my best to like.
Back in the day it was alcohol, but

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I'm sober now, so I don't do that.
So it'd probably be like a probably

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have a tea or something like that
and just, you know, wind down as

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much as possible. Gotcha, gotcha.
And you know, when you're on

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tour playing gigs these days,
compared to the old days,

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what kind of antics do you get
up there? Well. I think that.

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If I were to compare myself.
To what I was before.

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Like like arcane that that, uh,
that entity that I would become

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with the black metal stuff. Um.
I think that I think.

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I'm still very similar to that
individual. It's just the.

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The music itself.
That's that's changed.

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Um, but antiques wise, I'm.
I'm still doing the, you know.

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The high energy and kind of like
godly.

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Some gestures and stuff like that
to try to get people awakened and

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stuff because that's, you know,
the only reason why I am an artist,

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like, because I want to raise
the consciousness of the world

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and try to see if I can.
Lead people the right way.

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Gotcha, gotcha.
And you know,

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when it comes to your personal life,
your family, how do you balance

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the demands of being an artist
and actor with having a family?

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I do my best to really make sure
that the.

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That all the holidays and important
days are all celebrated and kind

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of used as, like markers of where
we're at. Um, I'm also a. Um, pagan.

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You know, I practice paganism,
and it keeps me centered because

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I am able to to know what season
I'm in and each three months,

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um, section of the of the year.
And then of course, I.

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I do my best to just make sure
that my interactions with my

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children are really meaningful.
I try to give my sons. Um, the.

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Words of wisdom that that made
me become who I am.

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Um, like I just recently we saw my my
fiance and I had dinner with my,

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my two boys that came in from
the East Coast, and, um,

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I started showing them about runes
and how to how to read runes and.

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Uh, what they mean and stuff.
And, um,

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my son Lucian is such a magical boy.
He, uh, he had his own opinions

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on what the runes meant and
stuff when we would read them,

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because he's already connected to
that thing. So it was pretty epic.

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Yeah, that is pretty cool.
Pretty cool.

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I have to say,
I'm intrigued by that kind of thing.

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What got you into paganism?
Well, I think that the thing that

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got me into it is definitely my my
connection with nature and also

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my interests. My my grandfather.
Was very he he even said his his that

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he was pagan pretty much always.
And my father also has a close

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connection to it.
Um, so I think that.

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The family encouragement plus my
my being.

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Gravitating towards the nature
definitely had a huge impact.

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And, um. A kind of a.
The paganism I'm into, too, is kind

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of like a universal paganism to where
I've taken pretty much every single.

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A pantheon from every culture
and kind of.

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Uh, started to celebrate that.
So I'm in the the Norse paganism.

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Celtic paganism.
Um, Semitic, Egyptian, Greek,

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Roman, all of it.
Kind of a mix of moral to suit

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yourself. Yeah. Like us, like us.
And, you know, before we dive into

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the last couple of questions,
future plans that are set in stone,

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can we expect an album soon?
New music, new gigs. Absolutely.

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I'm really trying to.
You know,

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I think the wolf has done great.
And I think it's time for for an

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album to come out because it's
been eight years.

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Um, and there there is an album
that I did, you know,

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after Prehistoric Technology
that has not been released,

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it's I did it with Ryan Green,
who's known for working with.

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Green Day and Megadeth and
Benedictine.

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Who else he's also worked with?
I believe he did some work with

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Jay-Z some way. But.
So there is a huge album and

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it's just it's it's timeless and
it's kind of a sacred album.

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Um, it was so difficult that
it's so difficult to make.

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I played every instrument on it,
and it's the album that sprouted

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my great hair, my gray hair.
It caused that to come out

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because it was so intense.
I mean, I was doing drums, guitars,

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bass, vocals, um, keyboards.
And then when I would come home

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and I should have went to sleep,
I was doing the, um,

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industrial and soundscape synth work,
and then I'd bring that to work

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the next day after I didn't sleep
on a hard drive and then go back

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and repeat it over and over again.
Um, and, you know. Yeah.

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Just not eating that much, but.
Great album.

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Uh, so that plus some other things
that I have made in between,

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I think that we could take the Wolf
and at least five tracks from that,

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plus four more tracks from this,
and have a nice 10 to 12 track

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album that could be released.
That'd be pretty epic.

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And, you know, I'm sure lots of
people are dying to know.

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00:26:15,260 --> 00:26:18,800
In the past, you've collaborated with
your your fat or can we expect a

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00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,240
more more collaborations and in the
future maybe some poetry spoken word?

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00:26:24,050 --> 00:26:27,200
It's interesting you mentioned
that it's it's literally my dad

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and I have been talking about
spoken word poetry track, where

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I would play piano or something,
and then he would, you know, recite

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00:26:36,050 --> 00:26:40,040
his poetry in a, in a musical way.
Um, we've been thinking about

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that since 2000. 15, 14.
You know, I went out to visit

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him and play piano.
Um, so I think it would be a

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pretty epic to do.
And I want to make sure that we do.

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We do that.
I just spoke to him last month

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about it.
We'll we'll all be looking

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forward to it.
So and we'll dive into the last

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couple of questions.
So these are a couple of fun

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00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,000
random music questions.
But I'm intrigued to see your

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00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,300
answers.
So if you could see any band or

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musician from history and concert for
one night only, who would it be?

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Just because of his intensity
and aggression and his depth

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00:27:20,770 --> 00:27:23,980
would be Beethoven.
I would love to see that,

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because I know that he had so much,
such a hard life, and he really

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hit those keys hard. Love this.
Nice, nice kind of thinking

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outside the box as well.
It wouldn't have expected.

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And the next one.
Now this is a weird one.

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If you had to spend 24 hours
locked inside a room with any

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00:27:44,540 --> 00:27:48,740
musician from history,
who would it be? That's awesome.

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00:27:49,590 --> 00:27:56,200
Um. Any musician from history.
I think you would have to be.

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Even though he's still with us.
I think it would be Ozzie, because.

360
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I just something about his
energy I really understand. And.

361
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I would love to create guitar riffs
that can go with his amazing voice.

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That'd be pretty cool.
I'd imagine it's a when you get

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Malone as well in the room.
He'd be a pretty cool guy who like

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the stories he'd have and everything.
When he's just chilling out,

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you know?
It'd be a pretty good time,

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I'd imagine. Absolutely.
And the final one.

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Now, I've been told this is near
impossible, but what song would

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00:28:34,270 --> 00:28:41,910
appear on the soundtrack to your
life? Wow. That's powerful. Probably.

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Probably Enya's Caribbean blue.
I think. That that track has a.

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Kind of has my s is like, I feel
like my essence is reflected in that

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00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:00,310
for some reason. Perfect choice.
I absolutely love that track.

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00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,290
Brilliant, brilliant.
Listen, Wes. Thanks a million.

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00:29:03,290 --> 00:29:05,180
It's been a real pleasure
chatting with you now.

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00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:07,540
It's been such an honor.
Thank you so much.