Caveman: “Embracing getting emotional about things”

New York has an almost unique knack for churning-out proper, distinguished, alternative indie; the early 2000′s saw Interpol set the bar with their seminal Turn On The Bright Lights, The Strokes did the same and Grizzly Bear continue to impress with constantly intelligent outings.

While Caveman may not yet carry the same clout of these fellow-Brooklyn heavyweights, their brand of lush, instrumental Americana stands them in very good stead. “In The City”, the lead single from the five-piece’s self-titled sophomore album, comes from a melancholic place, but it, indeed alongside the entire record, holds an absorbing, uplifting quality. You can add them to the list; they are certainly another band from the Big Apple that deserve our attention.

How did Caveman come about?

We were all in different bands around New York; the guitar player, Jimmy, and I went to high school together, and then we were always kind of playing in bands in high school, and started in a band with some of our high school teachers actually and toured for a few years. Our bass player was in this band called The Elephant, that was kind of big over here for a little bit. We all just played shows together or met at the bars, you know, one of the guys would be working so we’d go in there and get free drinks and just hang out all night. We started doing fun side things together from other bands, but we just wanted to play together, then the time was just kind of right; everybody’s band just broke up or something, so we got together.

Were these projects similar styles to Caveman?

It was all different: Jeff’s (bass) was like pop band, our keyboard player, Sam, had a band that was like psychedelic, rock n roll; it was all over the map really.

What was it like being involved in the New York music scene?

Growing up it was really, really cool; I was actually listening to all the stuff that was coming out of there and then even when we were still in high school we were playing shows, but in really bad places. But once we got out of high school, it was like a month and all of a sudden we were hanging out with and meeting these guys that we listened to in high school, and it was really weird. When we first started we shared a practice space with The Rapture and The Walkman and stuff, and to us that was the coolest thing ever. That was a really great experience for us, just being like 18 and meeting these guys, and they all happened to like us!

So how did the first record, CoCo Beware come about?

I was kind of writing when we were still in the other band and the guy Nick, who produced our record – he played in that band French Kicks forever – he was just like, “You should write a record.” We talked about it, we demoed something and I really liked it. Four months went by and that’s when we got the band together and we went in and just recorded it in this small studio. It was influenced by a lot of, I dunno, a lot of things, stuff from growing up and everything; the opportunity to write a whole new thing and get away from what we were doing.

What about your time in the Met Opera? Are you still into opera?

I sang there for like five years when I was a kid. I love it; I go probably once or twice a year. My Mum always wants to go, so I always do that, it’s great. I get emotional when I go, it’s such emotional music. I look like a psycho probably but that’s alright!

The new record sounds quite different to the first; was that a conscious decision?

Not really. I had broken up with a girl, our drummer had too and our guitar player did, so we were all like depressed a little bit but we were still having a lot of fun, so it was just coming out in the music, embracing getting emotional about things. We were trying to be very honest about it and not worry about if it fit into what’s going on.

What was it like hearing your music played in public?

I had a friend that was working at this great place, you know NYU? The college right over there? All these kids always go in and he would just put it on repeat. It was funny at first, but we kind of liked it. It was great to hear it – we met so many people from that situation. So when we made the second record, we put it in a few bars, and would go places – then our friends would be like, “Put it on!” and we would listen to it. It helped a lot with figuring out if it was mixed right. People would always ask what it was – it was kind of fun.

You definitely seem to be gaining increasing exposure; how does it feel?

Yeah, it is funny to read about yourself here and there. It is weird, but I enjoy it.

And you’ve signed to Communion over here?

They’ve been great – we’re really excited about them.

What about a UK tour?

We’re doing a tour in November with Phosphorescent, then we’re doing some festivals and some Communion parties – all rolling together!

What was it like touring with The War On Drugs?

I love that band. To play early on with those guys, and kind of hang with them, was really a great experience and we’ve stayed good friends. They’re like some of the best guys.

Do you enjoy touring?

Yeah, I do like it. I mean there’s times when you’ll be in this tiny town and you’re not playing a show and the only thing you can do is like sit in your hotel room, and that kind of sucks! But overall it’s fun, you meet nice people.

Hope you’ll be okay in the tiny towns in the UK then!

Hey, no, don’t mock the tiny town! Don’t get me wrong, I love that! It’s just when you’re sitting there doing nothing and you can’t go anywhere it kind of sucks, but I imagine we’ll find lots of things to do in England.

Wasn’t your drummer Stefan very unwell when you toured before? How’s he doing?

It’s all cleared-up, he’s good. That happened during The War On Drugs tour actually. It was really strange; we were in Canada and we didn’t know what to do with him. It was one of those things where you hear about it and you’re like, “Oh okay, is it serious, is it not?” and all of a sudden it’s extremely serious and we were like, “What do we do now?” We wanted to be there for him but there’s nothing we could really do, we couldn’t just sit in Michigan and just like wait for him. So we were like – we are just gonna finish the trip. But it felt so weird, no one felt good the entire time. But he’s healthy, he’s doing good!

What music are you listening to now?

I’ve been really obsessed with this guy Jacco Gardner, his record’s really great, he’s amazing, I really like that. I’ve been into the DIIV record. Those are bands I’ve been really checking out. There’s also a band here that’s new that I like called SeeThrough which is really cool.

Caveman’s self-titled sophomore album is out now on Communion. Photography by Philip Di Fiore.