Cave Days

Cave Days, a three-piece (and, currently, two-member) band, was born in a Bushwick loft. Though not reclusive by nature, co-writers Jon Murphy and Richard Thomas create their best work out of the spotlight. No stranger to change, Cave Days has been through more than one metamorphosis, and the band garners strength from its ability to adapt whether it's playing a last-minute acoustic show or turning a guitarist into a bassist. With crowd-pleasing sonic jams like "Kodachrome Beach" and pop ballads like "Closer" on their self-titled EP, Cave Days has started performing pieces from their first full-length album, due for a fall release. Interview spoke with Cave Days creator and current lead singer, co-author, and guitarist, Jon Murphy, about makeshift caves, a slowly released EP, and hitting milestones.


AGE: 27

HOMETOWN: Born in Huntington, but grew up in Smithtown on Long Island

CURRENT LOCATION: Bushwick, Brooklyn

FLEXIBILITY: We've gone through some lineup changes over the past year. We've gone through two drummers, played shows as a two-piece (Richard and myself), and I've even played a few acoustic shows. We usually adjust the setlist to benefit our performances. After Rob left the band, this past summer, Richard stepped up to support me at acoustic shows. He would play a standup drum kit while I sang and played guitar.

THEIR SOUND: If you want me to simplify it, then I guess I'll just say that we are loud and love to create ambience with what we call a "wall of sound."

BROOKLYN BEGINNINGS: Cave Days began when I moved to Brooklyn in 2008. I was living alone in Park Slope. I spent time working on material I had and developing new songs. I didn't get to record the album until I met Erik Leubs. We recorded the EP in about two weeks, but due to Erik's hectic work schedule, it wasn't produced for about two months.

TIMES TWO: Richard and I work well together as writers. We tend to compliment each other's ideas. While Richard and I both love bands like My Bloody Valentine or The Jesus and Mary Chain, we still have tidbits of our own individual influences thrown in there. For instance, Richard prefers Neil Young, while I enjoy Echo and the Bunnymen.

DREAM COLLABORATION: Getting back together with my friend, Erik Leubs (aka Magical Mistakes). Last time we were together, we produced the 2011 EP. I've always loved his music and his style.

FAVORITE SHOW MEMORY: We played a show at Brooklyn Fireproof and we got this band called Cross to open for us. Cross is a two-piece band fronted by two of the cutest pixie girls ever. They played a slow set, but they had such captivating vocals that people were inching closer and closer to get a good look at them. They dedicated a song to us and draped the crowd in a large black blanket so that everyone would feel like they were in a cave.

THE FUTURE: Back in April, I was approached Jim Bently, owner of the Bushwick recording studio, The Fort. I wanted to work with him since he does a lot of local bands and tends to play to their strengths. We've been in the studio with him since then and will be releasing a full-length album this fall. After we release the album, we'll be booking a lot more shows.

DREAM VENUE: The Bowery Ballroom is one of my favorite venues to go see a band play live. I've seen a lot of great bands there, and the vibes are always good. I think it has a lot to do with the layout. If we ever book a show there, I'll have hit a personal milestone as a musician. - Interview Magazine

Brooklyn bliss-pop band Cave Days has been recording a new LP at The Fort Brooklyn. James “General Crapshoot” Bentley is recording, mixing and producing with the band. In other news, The Fort has just re-capped the master section of their Neotek Elan console and – according to Bentley – “it sounds unreal!” - SonicScoop

Let’s start with the band’s name? What’s the story behind it?
Jon: Before moving to Brooklyn, I was the guitarist and songwriter for a band in Syracuse called the Ivory Trade, and though I used some of the songs we performed in that band for the Cave Days EP, it seemed fair to change the name. I moved to Brooklyn after a rough divorce, and spent the winter holed up in my room writing the remainder of the songs for the new EP, and my room is rather cave like – its in a basement with no windows – so the name was kind of a no-brainer, just popped in and had to be.

Why should we listen?
Rich: When Jon and I write songs together, we always hold ourselves responsible to the listener – I mean that when someone listens to one of our songs, they are taking a risk, you know? They could either have the song fail or succeed to convince them of the feeling we’re trying to convey. We write about experiences that are important for us and we want the songs to evoke situations in the listener that are important for them to and they can relate to. We want to write great songs for ourselves, and that means we want our listeners to enjoy the music for the reasons we do – we want to be honest with ourselves so that we can be honest with our listeners.

Jon: Our songs tend to be reflections on relationships and the way we feel about the people who have been important in our lives. In a way, they’re almost all love songs in one way or another, but we want to explore more than just romantic love because although that sort of love has dominated rock-songwriting and makes for great songs, there are so many varieties of loving relationships, different ways of experiencing, interpreting, reminiscing on them… relationships are the most important things in our lives and if we want to write meaningful songs, it seems like we should write about what is most meaningful for us.

Best memory from greatest show?
Jon: We’ve played a couple of shows at Lone Wolf, a bar we really like and hang out at, and the first show we played there in December was the first show we had played since our drummer Rob had returned to the band after a two-month hiatus. We hadn’t practiced for a week, we’re playing with bands we really appreciate – Dead Sexy Sheila, Photon Dynamo, and Eraas – and basically felt nervous, but we played a great show and really felt good about the entire night.

Rich: Yeah, I totally agree. It was also my birthday and I was really feeling excited and nervous and happy to have Rob back with us, and when we were playing the place was packed – people got up from their seats at the bar, started moving with the music, couples were holding each other, giving a lot of positive feedback – it really convinced all of us that the band was definitely worthwhile and that the music was something that we believed in.

What has your band recorded thus far?
Jon: We have a six song EP on our bandcamp that I recorded with Erik Leubs from Magical Mistakes, which was produced before Rich and Rob joined the band. There are also some demos on the bandcamp that are first recordings of some songs that we are thinking of using on our full-length album that we’re getting ready to record at The Fort. It should be ready by the fall at the latest.

Is it better to hear you? Or See you?
Rich: For now, its better to see us live, if for no other reason than the fact that most of our new material isn’t available as a recording. Maybe that’s just me being narcissistic because I wasn’t on the first EP –ha ha!

Jon: I mean, its always better to see bands live, right?

What’s coming up?
Jon: We were going to put out an EP this Spring, but decided that we had enough material to put together a full length LP, so we’re gearing up to record in March at The Fort. We’re booking some festivals in Brooklyn for the summer and are planning a Northeast tour for July-August. Our next show, which we’re really excited for, will be on March 14 at Brooklyn Fireproof with Warcries. Che - Wickbush Magazine