Tunesday: Meet the Band Caveman

It was HOT in Philly on Friday…the type of weather befitting of a late summer day, August perhaps…when you step out of an air conditioned building and the humidity catches you off guard,  taking your breath away a little bit.  On top of that it was First Friday in Old City, so after quickly running home and changing I weaved my way through the crowded streets that swarmed with people, heading towards the Milkboy on 11^th and Chestnut. The humidity brought a hazy quality to the evening air that felt appropriate given I was on my way to see Caveman, a band whose music can be described as hazy, dreamy and summery itself. 

 
Milkboy Philly

I made my way upstairs and stooled up at the bar to listen as the band finished sound-checking.  They ran through a couple of songs before coming down off the stage, gathering around the bar to eat some dinner. They were starving, having been driving all day from Cincinnati. I didn’t want to interrupt their meal but when I told them I had five questionnaires for them each to fill out, they happily agreed to do it right then as they ate – refreshingly, they were kind of excited about it.  While they ate and filled them out, we chatted about Philly, the fact that they used to come down from NYC to play shows at UPenn’s Pi Lam house — where I went to school — and their sadness over the passing of beastie boy co-founder Adam Yauch. They hugged me goodbye before heading back to the green room to prepare for their show.

It’s funny when you get to see both sides of a musician – to see their goofy, down-to-earth real life personality, and then see them on stage creating such beautiful music. It makes them more real.  Especially when  the sound they produce is almost other worldly… it captivates you with its pounding drums, spacey guitars and haunting vocals and wraps itself around you, much like the heavy, hazy summer air.

I thought it would be interesting to see how similar/different the answers would be if each guy filled out a separate questionnaire – the results were pretty fun :)

Matthew Iwanusa – vocals, guitar
 

Jeff Berrall, Bass

Stefan Marolachakis, Drums

Jimmy Carbonetti, Guitar

Sam Hopkins, Keys

Check out this video of them performing their beautiful song “Great Life”: