FOR THE RECORD- THE CAVE SINGERS @ HiFi JULY 23rd
Phone interview can be awkward and nerve racking; it’s not very personal and it is hard to get a vibe to how someone you have never met is feeling towards the questions or conversation. When Pete Quirk and I spoke a couple weeks ago from his place in Seattle he had opened the fridge, and it kind of sounded like a fart. “That was my fridge,” I believed him, but it still sounded like a fart.
Pete Quirk grew up in New Jersey listening to ”Michael Jackson, Elton John, some folk stuff because of his mom, Minutemen, Firehose, Fugzi, Minor Threat, and stuff that sounded good when you were smoking pot, like Pink Floyd.” One band that he brought up that I had completely forgotten was Girls Against Boys. At 26, he found himself heading from Philly (where he was in school) heading to Seattle. “I had this disillusion with the east coast; I was ready to go check out the west coast. I just packed up my truck and drove out there. I was only planning on stay for a while, but I started doing stuff really quickly.” Derek Fudusco and Pete Quirk found themselves living in an place in Seattle together started playing songs with an old acoustic guitar that Pete had bought, they started to focus on singing and songwriting and not so much screaming and loudness. Bedroom demos were recorded, and that is where The Cave Singers were born. I forgot to ask about where the name stem from, but I think I heard it was a line from one of the first songs that they wrote and it stuck. Cave singers are a nice little image.
The Cave Singers have been on the scene since 2006. All members had preivous group that they outgrew. Pete Quirk (vocals, guitar) was in punk group Hint Hint, Derek Fudusco (guitar) was a part of Pretty Girls Make Graves, and Marty Lund (drums) was in Cobra High. Morgan Henderson was later added on bass. These bands that they were apart of were of the early post punk scene in Seattle. I recall Pretty Graves Make Grave (named after The Smith’s song) song “Speaker Push Air” was punk as fuck. Outgrowing and progressing, as much as these two words don’t seem to sit with each other they are one in the same. “As you grow older things change, and what you are drawn to ascetically changes, the way your apartment looks likes, or what kind of flowers you like. The Cave Singers works for all of us. The music has matured along with us.” He has that right, we are entitled to change and grown, its apart of learning throughout your life. Everything deserves a chance or at least challenge you to try something different or new. I’ve try to give everything a couple chances, I recently give up on pickled herring, my roommate loves it, and I just don’t think I ever will, but hey, at least I give it numerous tries.
Seed of the Night was the opening track on The Cave Singers debut album “Invitation Songs.” The song is has a rustic tone and vocals that melts your ears. The interesting thing about the Cave Singers is they come across a bunch of tree hugger hippies that have been strumming their guitars in the woods dropping some acid and talking about free love. After the release of “Welcome Joy” the band left Matardor Records to sign with indi big shot Jagjaguwar (artists on the label Black Mountain, Bon Iver, S.Carey). The one thing that Jagjaguwar has is a love of music, the list of artist is enough proof that they are in it for the same reason as the artist. “No Witch” came out in 2011 with track stand out tracks like “Black Leaf,” “Swim Club” and “Haystacks” the album was one of the strong folk album released last year.
July 23rd at the HiFi marks the first time these guys have played a show in Calgary. Check out all their albums and hell if you’re a music buff check out their previous bands too.
Danni Bauer
