The Recommender

Most folks know that we are a blog based in the coastal city of Brighton, UK. We’re proud to be associated with this city and even more so when it produces new bands as good as this local five-piece. However, we believe that Cave Painting have exactly what it takes to reach well beyond Brighton’s city limits and take on the world, as their brand of soaring, emotive, indie pop music has enormous potential. Stadium-sized potential.

Their EP, You’ll Be Running Soon, has been released in recent weeks and holds a wonderfully consistent rack of tunes, anchored in the kind of beautifully detailed indie pop that this quintet have truly mastered. Now signed to Hideout Records, (the sub-label of the enormous Mercury Records), their careers should fly skywards in tandem with their wonderful music.

THE RECOMMENDER: Let’s start by asking you to introduce the band members individually? Please list each of your names and the instruments that you play in the band?

CAVE PAINTING: Adam – vocals, Sam – keys/vocals, Rich – bass/vocals, Jonathan – drums, Harry – guitar.

TR: Can you pitch your band to us and it’s sound in one sentence?

CP: TOUGH! We play music which we like to call atmospheric pop. That’s the best we can do.

TR: Why are you so awesome?

CP: It’s really not our place to say, but thank you.

TR: What key things do you think are needed for a band to be successful in the current music industry?

CP: It’s a massive cliché but you have to work hard at the right things. Luck definitely comes into it though.

TR: When do you think your debut album will be released? Do you have a name for it yet?

CP: The album will be out on May 14th. We’ve got a few possible names kicking around but I think it’s a bit of a secret for now.

TR: Where and with whom are you recording the debut album?

CP: We are currently recording the album in a foggy corner of Kent with Simon “Barny” Barnicott, with whom we also did the EP.

CAVE PAINTING – LEAF

TR: Can you name one or two other bands/artists that most inspire you and why?

CP: We all have individual tastes but they seem to overlap around Bon Iver, Drake and The National. All of which have their own atmosphere and are lyrically amazing. The way images are created and used is something that inspires us.

TR: Your music seems somewhat timeless, transcending trend and avoiding the pitfalls of being stuck to the date of its release. Why do you think this is?

CP: Thank you! There is no explanation for this, you can’t go into writing a song with its purpose of being timeless for example. We don’t have a clear view of a songs end when we start writing, it just is what it is.

TR: Commentators have compared you broad range of other bands, from the likes of Wild Beasts, to Wu Lyf, to Coldplay. Do you dislike comparisons, or do you perhaps agree with any of them?

CP: I think comparisons are necessary to a degree but often they can be used somewhat lazily. However, we’re all pretty keen on the bands you mentioned, so thanks!

TR: Your initial press photographs often kept your faces from view, as do your videos. Was the deliberate decision to keep yourselves hidden because you want to separate yourselves from any previous incarnations in former bands, or was there some other reason?

CP: Those photographs were taken by our friend Alex Thirlwell. As a group or individually we thought they worked really well. I feel that band photos and music videos are very hard to do without looking overly serious (and then ultimately stupid) so an easy way to get around that is to keep us obscured in some way. Plus we’re all hideously ugly.

TR: Would you rather be accessible to people, or inaccessible?

CP: Inaccessible, we get very upset whenever anyone says they like our music… OK not really, but we don’t go out of our way to make our songs accessible on purpose.

TR: Your astonishing music videos seem pitched like short films. What’s your thinking behind their creation?

CP: We like the idea of not being in videos, just to avoid the classic performance video, as that’s really hard to get right. Allowing other people to interpret our songs and convert them into visuals is really exciting, a whole new perspective of the song comes with it.

CAVE PAINTING – MIDNIGHT LOVE

TR: We believe that if you get things right you may well go on to dominate 2012 and beyond, with a deadly mixture of mass-market appeal paired up with authentic credibility. Few bands manage this difficult balance. What do you think is the secret to designing music that’s pitched simultaneously at the centre and the edges?

CP: We certainly didn’t make a grand plan to achieve what you’ve described in the question, although I really like the sound of that! I think in the same way we were fortunate to all come together in the same place, that we all like different things, some mainstream and some more unusual – which when put together, hopefully, makes something interesting to a lot of people.

TR: The support that you’ve had from music blogs reads like a who’s-who of the UK blog scene, with the likes of Abeano, The Line Of Best Fit, My Band’s Better Than Your Band, Music Fans Mic, Not Many Experts, The 405, Breaking More Waves, among others, all showing you some online love. Have you found the blog coverage helpful?

CP: Yes of course, it means that our music is available to a wider range of people and is a recommendation rather than us shoving it down people’s throats!

TR: The Recommender recently watched you play live at a show in the Brighton venue, Komedia. It had us hooked from the outset. Do you find it easy or difficult to replicate your music into a live performance?

CP: We try not to let live performances get in the way of anything we want to add in the studio, though I don’t think we’ve added anything that is impossible to replicate. I guess that as our music is written live, in the rehearsal room, then that is what you see us do on stage.

TR: What has been your favourite live show to date?

CP: Our first show at The Social in London was pretty good. We’d been writing our set for a few months so to finally play it in front of a crowd and get a reaction was brilliant. The Komedia show was great as well as it was the biggest stage we’ve played and it was our first in Brighton.

TR: What shows are coming up next? Will there be a tour around the next single/EP/album?

CP: Were currently recording the album so we’re finished with shows for this year. I believe we will start playing again late January/February.

TR: Brighton is your home city. It’s also The Recommender’s. Pick a pub, we’re buying?

CP: The Windmill I’d say, it’s a really classy joint and been our favourite for a long time.

TR: Lastly, we always ask our interviewees to become honorary Recommenders by asking them to suggest any brand new bands/artists that have caught your eye in recent times that you would like to share with us?

CP: We think Tiger Cub are a great live band, also BLANc has amazing songs and he’s doing a re-mix of one of our tunes which should be out early next year.

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