PRINTSee This: CAVE
Once known as Warhammer 48k, funk-filled space rock band CAVE rocks Boone Dawdle
Courtesy of Jill Wait
August 16, 2012 | 12:00 a.m. CST
At the beginning of the millennium, a handful of bands known as the Columbia Diaspora left the area and embedded themselves in the music scene of the Windy City. One of these bands, Warhammer 48K, blossomed into the psychedelic rock outfit now known as CAVE.
Borrowing the “cave state” distinction from their home state of Missouri, guitarist Jeremy Freeze, bassist Dan Browning, drummer Rex McMurry and guitarist and organist Cooper Crain produce electronic instrumentals that have garnered critical acclaim.
Along the way to achieving this popularity, CAVE has landed in some unforgettable situations. The members once accidentally drove into a Marine base. Another time they were stranded in England after their car was taken away. The group played at the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival, which added to CAVE’s fan base. However, Crain says it wasn’t as big of a milestone as last year’s performance at Chicago’s Millennium Park, where the group played in front of 10,000 to 12,000 people.
So when Crain’s friends David Wilson and Paul Sturtz, organizers of the True/False Boone Dawdle, invited the band to play at an outdoor concert in Rocheport, he jumped at the opportunity.
CAVE will play its set before a screening of The Source, a documentary about a 1960s commune in Los Angeles. It’s no coincidence the quartet’s music matches the movie’s theme.
“Speaking for myself, I think our music is good for avant-garde films, maybe something by Les Blank,” Crain says.
CAVE, with pulsing beats and experimental riffs perfect for musical spelunking, is so abstract, it’s underground.
