POST-BURNOUT
When we last spoke to Tristian Carroll, the guitarist of the Dublin nu-metal band Cell Games, they had just released “The Optical World.” Since then, they have been working on their debut EP, but there were a lot of hurdles to jump over before getting there.
“[It was] a year and a half of planning for the EP,” Tristan tells us of what the band has been up to in that time. “The idea for the EP has been in the works since around then. I think we had one more single in between, but then we were like, ‘We want all our songs to sound the same, now.’
“Because on our first two singles we put out, there were no real drums, I was doing all the production, I was doing all the bass, and I was doing all the keyboard sounds on cheap stuff.”
Initially starting as Tristan digitally formulating the music that would become Cell Games, after the release of their debut single, “Lament Configuration,” in 2021, the band fleshed out its members and then became more comfortable adding additional instrumentation that they could not replicate live.
For years, the band have been gigging as a full unit and worked with producer Josh Robinson at JSR Audio to develop their sound further. After five years together, they decided it was time to release their first EP.
“I think it makes sense,” Tristan says of the wait. “We were very much like, ‘Singles, singles, singles,’ and we were on the verge of doing what a lot of people do… – and I get why people do it, because it’s not the way it used to be, and people do it because of the way people consume music now – …was to put out seven or eight singles, and, after the eighth one, go, ‘And, by the way, that was an album the entire time, guys!’”
But the band really wanted to make a concise, singular piece. The idea for their EP came from their anime influence. The artwork for what would become You Have (Not) Heard These Songs Before was inspired by the episode title cards for Neon Genesis Evangelion, where each episode would give details of what was to happen in parentheses.
But, to indicate how long the process of creating the EP took, that artwork was finalised two years ago. In the meantime, the band had to contend with their bassist, Deb, ending up in a car crash, and their drummer, Tonči, forced to leave the band as his visa was expiring. In search of a drummer, Tristan’s partner, Jan (who also designed the artwork), reached out to the husband of Niall O’Carroll.
“I’ve been playing drums since I was eighteen, and I’m thirty-four now. So, whatever the maths adds up to in that. Seventeen or eighteen years or so,” Niall tells us of his background. “I’ve always been into music, but until I turned seventeen, I had no real interest in playing an instrument.
“Throughout the years, I would’ve gotten CDs from my parents, and would’ve just listened to whatever was the rock, radio stuff, until I was seventeen and discovered Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet for My Valentine, and my brain just blew open.
“The solo from ‘Afterlife,’ specifically, in that music video… – watching Kerrang! and Scuzz back in the day – …at fifteen, I was like, ‘What is this?!’ I got into Bullet after that when I saw the video for ‘Scream Aim Fire,’ and it’s just been an escalation from then.”
After attending a Metallica concert at eighteen, that Christmas, Niall woke up to a drumkit underneath his tree. While he had played in bands and had some out-of-date drum covers in 360p quality online, Niall had been largely inactive when the call came.
Niall admits that he hadn’t heard of Cell Games prior to being asked to join the band, but had actually met Tristan previously through his Linkin Park cover band, Fenix Park, who played a Christmas party in Workman’s that he attended.
The band sent Niall a private SoundCloud link to their demos for the EP, but Niall was in Amsterdam when they were received. Suddenly, he got a text from the band, asking if he would be free to audition on the day after he was to return home. In the airport, he listened to the tracks hundreds of times (with the spike in listens viewable by the band), and auditioned.
While Niall made the cut from his audition, it wasn’t clearly communicated to him. “I had assumed that this was part of the audition process, more so than anything else,” remembers Niall. “They were like, ‘Oh, we’ll meet up again. We’ll go through some things.’ I was like, ‘OK, they must be interested in me.’
“A couple of times after this, I remember going, ‘So, what’s the craic, like? [Laughs] Am I in the band, or…?’ Because we had a gig coming up with [the promoters] Outkastz in December, and I thought they were like, ‘Well, we’ll see how he does live, now,’ but, no! Tristan turned around to me and was like, ‘Well, I’ve been saying to everyone, “Well, we’ve found a drummer,” but I guess we haven’t told you, yet, I suppose!’ [Laughs]”
With the line-up solidified and in good health, Cell Games returned to the studio with Josh to record the EP. The result of these two years of waiting was finally realised last week, when the band dropped the EP.
Explaining the concept, Tristan says, “It’s songs that we’ve been playing for two years, and they’re online in some form… – like, two of them are singles, and one of them we did release, and it’s out there – …but they don’t sound like that, now, because we’ve more stuff going on, because we’ve embraced having more stuff going on in the songs, and there’s keys now. The songs, they’re different, because we’ve been playing them live differently, and the drums are actual drum parts now, and it’s actually a band. It’s not just me doing them.” “
On his approach to incorporating these established songs for these new recordings, Niall says, “‘Let’s Go To Therapy,’ of the four of them, is brand new, so that’s only on the EP. But the other tracks, ‘Lament Configuration’ had been out as a single, and the previous drummer had put his spin on that, and ‘Filthyweight’ also had a live studio version, where there was an actual drummer playing it.
“I took the skeleton of what those were, because I thought they were cool grooves, and then just put my spice and inflexion on that, as well. Especially, drum fills are one of those opportunities where your expression can come through, or how you accent things.”
With their debut EP out, Cell Games are planning an EP launch tomorrow at Jacob’s Venue in Dublin. They’ll also play Belfast for the first time next week, and for 2026, they’re planning on touring the UK and are already booked at Call of the Wild in Lincoln. “Come to the gigs!” Tristan tells.
Cell Games’ EP, You Have (Not) Heard These Songs Before, is streaming now. You can keep up with the band through their Linktree.
You can see Cell Games live at:
19th Dec – Dublin – Jacob’s Venue (w/ SHALLO and Dux Et Rex)
27th Dec – Belfast – The Xmas Aftermath III @ The Limelight 2
28th-30th May – Lincoln – Call of the Wild Festival
Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight to hear this interview in full. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.
Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.