Chicago band CAVE play a fantastic kraut-influenced rock. Their new record, Threace continues a fine tradition of expansive, riff-fueled jams where repetition gives way to hypnotism. Jack Midalia had a chat to Cooper Crain from the band ahead of their upcoming Australian tour.
Are you in Chicago at the moment?
I am. I’m in a studio in Chicago working on some sound design for a film at the moment.
How’s that going?
It’s a film that has a lot of underwater microphone sounds… so I’m having a great time.
I get that to some extent with your music. Not the underwater part, but the cinematic elements, which I guess is fairly common with a lot of instrumental music. Do you ever approach songwriting or recording with that cinematic mindset?
Personally I do with another group I’m in, but with Cave I think we have worked on a couple of projects before where we have been forced to think like that, but for the most part we don’t really think about a theme or a situation that much while we make songs.
How do you tend to approach the recording and writing process, and was it different for Threace than it was in the past?
Every record is kind of thought about the same way where we get to a point where we feel we can go in and do some songs and an album will come out, but with this one we went in and out a lot and experimented more with mic placement and with different rooms. There were some days where we didn’t have a song or a riff in mind and it was more a sound in the room from the amps and the mics and we wrote out of that. This one was very much different in that it was more experimental while we were recording. And it was recorded over a six month period of time. We definitely attempt to work out as much as we can before, but being in the studio always helps us hear back what’s being played. It helps us arrange the parts in a finalised way, and I think this was the first time we’ve really utilised a studio to its full potential.
Does that mean there was a lot of material that got cut down?
It’s not necessarily a part that we took out altogether, it’s more like “this should go longer” or “this should go not as long”. But there were definitely three or four jams that we didn’t do anything with that I haven’t heard since that day. There’s a lot of cutting the fat — everything that’s there is meant to be there. To the four guys in CAVE, it makes sense… hopefully everyone else also feels the same way.
Are you happy with how it has been received so far?
Oh yeah, I’m really happy. I got really involved and inside of it. At one point I was like “I don’t even think this is good” but I had a lot of time away. Right when I got the copy on vinyl when we were on tour… I put it on at home and I was very, very happy. I don’t know if it’s the best, but in my mind I’m very happy with the outcome and the sound and I think it’s one of the best things that we’ve done as a band.
What were you guys listening to when you wrote and recorded Threace. Are you the sort of band that consciously or unconsciously takes on a bit of what you’re listening to?
Yeah, I think most times it’s an unconscious thing where a song might sound a certain way and it might lead in a certain direction. Like, everyone always says we probably just want to sound like Neu! all the time, but honestly I don’t own a Neu! album… I think they’re good, but I think things just happen the same way — that song of theirs might have sounded that way because of their experiences many years before us. I think the most influence that I brought to the table in a conscious way on this record was how it was conceived and edited. I wanted to do a lot of loose structure stuff along with the songs that was in the same kind of sound and then I could edit it all up. That was kind of influenced by this man, Tao Macero, who was Miles Davis’ producer during his electric years. I think nobody was trying to rip off exactly what was going on, but just that idea was probably the most conscious inspiration of this album.
You mentioned before that the record is very concise. When you play it live, do you tend to expand things out again, or is a stick-to-the-script type thing?
It varies on the song. Some are very song-oriented and that’s how we attempt to do it live. Some are very loose and what you heard on the album might have been the first time we attempted it.
This is your first time in Australia, right?
Yes, this will be our very first time.
Do you have anything you’re looking forward to doing besides playing music?
I would love to just see a little bit of every town. I’m hoping we have the time, but I’m not sure we will because there’s a show every day. Hopefully I’ll have time every day in every town to walk around a little bit. I probably won’t get much sleep, because I always like to meet people and hang out. And if anyone is like “we’re going to go here, let’s hang out”, I’m just going to say “yes”, because we don’t have much time. I think I will come home very sick.
