The music of The Cave Girls is rambunctious, melodic and punchy in a prehistoric rock 'n roll sort of way. Built around the talents of Stone Age Sara's drums, Lizz Weiler's bass and Robin Campbell's guitar, The Cave Girls are Kansas City's contribution to the garage rock lineage of the Runaways, the Kinks, The Ramones and The Muffs, which is to say that you will love them. We are fortunate to share an interview with the band, along with their book, music and movie recommendations and samples of their music.
*
Please introduce yourselves.
We have Stone Age Sara on the Drums, Lizz (Lightning) Weiler on Bass and Robin Campbell on Guitar. Sara and Robin share lead vocals and everyone sings backup.
Where do you live and work?
Sara and Robin work in Kansas City and Lizz works in Overland Park, KS. We all three live everywhere we go, but Lizz does travel from Lawrence, KS to KCMO to join us for practice.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Sara and Lizz have Monday - Saturday day jobs interspersed by various band practices by night. Robin is a food server so her money biz is usually conducted at night time, she’s also currently homeschooling her 12 year old daughter so right now she’s doing her fair share of Math and other 6th grade review.
The Cave Girls appeared on an international Pandoras tribute album. How did your involvement come about?
Kitty Rogers of Wild Rocket (Australia) contacted us and invited us to be a part of the tribute to The Pandoras. A lot of very cool international garage rock bands were invited as well.
Did you receive any feedback from The Pandoras?
Actually, the album has not yet come to fruition. We submitted our cover of “Let’s Do Right” late last summer and as far as we know the compilation is still in production. However, we do appear on a recent compilation by Brazilian based RadioMemento60.com, an online radio station heavily steeped in vintage garage, surf, psychedelic and garage rock revival music. We covered a UK Birds song called “Say Those Magic Words.”
Tell us about the new music you're working on.
Our new music includes those before mentioned covers, as well as, new originals which include a tribute to Kansas City Roller Derby and a tribute to our local Sunfresh grocery store.
What can fans of The Cave Girls EP expect from your new material?
Fans can expect the new material to remain consistent with the energy and brevity of our first release. Our next release will be either an, LP, or a series of singles, we are not decided yet, but we have recordings and we are anxious to get them out there.
Describe your creative process with songwriting and recording.
The creative process is constantly challenged with the balance of home and work life. Any chance we have at some real time to get creative we take it. Sometimes one person will bring a song that they have begun and we will finish it as a group. Sometimes we will make something up together from scratch. Once in a while a member brings a finished song and simply tells the rest of us what to do. We are all good with any process, honestly, just getting together once a week is such a refreshing break for us, we will just make it work however we can.
How does collaboration and live performance figure into the music you write?
As far as live performance we try to coordinate our clothing and dress the stage up to be aesthetically pleasing. We want the stage to look as warm and cozy as possible. We also craft our setlist to flow well and keep people moving and excited, we welcome any audience participation we can get and try to encourage that. The music writing, however, is usually separate and we want it to stand on its own.
What artists do you look to these days for inspiration?
Old and local and sometimes both. We recently (ALL 3) attended The Sonics show at Knuckleheads and we try to get out to as many live local performances as we can. We all have varying musical interests over a wide range, but this group is primarily focused on our mutual affinity for 60’s era underground garage rock.
What do you admire most about these artists?
Simplicity, sincerity and good energy.
What most excites you about music and creativity in Kansas City?
It is great to be in a town that has a thriving art culture. We love the First Friday monthly celebration of fine art, folk art, fashion and music in the Crossroads district. We also had the opportunity, this year, to play at the Nelson-Atkins Museum for their Third Thursday Folk Art feature back in May 2015. That was a surreal experience because playing our energetic, somewhat obnoxious, music in an internationally renowned art museum was the last thing we thought we’d be doing. Kansas City is a great place to be a musician!
The Cave Girls' recommendations from the Johnson County Library catalog:
Books:
The Complete Guitar Course: Learn to Play in 20 Easy-to-Follow Lessons by Tom Fleming
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time by Kara Jesella
The Rockstar Remedy: A Rock & Roll Doctor's Prescription for Living A Long, Healthy Life by Gabrielle Francis
The Girl's Guide to Rocking: How to Start A Band, Book Gigs, and Get Rolling to Rock Stardom by Jessica Hopper
Music:
The Anthology, 1964 - 1971 by The Kinks
Greatest Hits by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Movies:
God Help the Girl (DVD)