The Cave Girls are our June artist of the month! Robin Campbell and Stone Age Sara have gotten down the art of creating simple, upbeat, fun Neanderthal garage rock. With bassist Lizz Weiler as the band’s newest addition, the trio is returning to the KC music scene with a primordial vengeance.
The Deli: Down and dirty: 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?
Stone Age Sara: Stripped-down rock ‘n roll with a prehistoric punch.
The Deli: Give us some background on the band. How long have you had this particular lineup?
Sara: Liz Lightning (Weiler) joined us on bass in the summer of 2013. Before Liz, Stephanie Williams (Katy Guillen & The Girls, Claire and the Crowded Stage) played bass with us for a couple years, and is on our first CD. Our original bass player was Nikki Love. Liz and Robin have played music together for years, so Liz is a natural fit. We are really grateful to have her!
We have worked with a couple really cool lead guitarists: Meredith McGrade (Wick and the Tricks, Morningglories) and most recently Kelly Nightengale (The Spook Lights). Kelly recorded with us on a song we’re about to release called “Let’s Go!”
The Deli: What do you have coming up?
Sara: This summer is pretty busy! We are playing at the Free State Film Festival in Lawrence. Our music is featured in the film Replay by Marlo Angell with WOLF (Women of Lawrence Film), which is showing at the festival, and our set will be at The Granada on Sunday, June 29.
We’ll also be featured on a CD compilation of The Pandoras’ covers by garage rock bands from all over the world. It’ll be released sometime this year for the 30th anniversary of their It’s About Time record. We’re excited to be a part of something so global!
And we’re releasing a 3 song EP this summer too. Can’t wait!
The Deli: What does supporting local music mean to you?
Sara: As musicians, keeping up with what fellow musicians are up to and being sincere and encouraging of each other. Everyone knows how good it can feel when someone acknowledges your work in a positive way. That can go a long way for a musician. We put a lot of ourselves out there.
Liz: I would say supporting the local scene, supporting fellow musicians, friends, etc.
The Deli: Who are your favorite local musicians right now?
Robin: Whichever I am watching at a given time… I am blown away at how good the local bands are around here. This must be what Detroit felt like in the ‘70s. I’m really impressed with Expo 70’s meditative heavy rock with no lyrics. Also, recently I caught The Big Iron and The Philistines at recordBar; both were excellent! The Big Iron’s new record is 4 stars!!
Sara: Too many to list, so many I need to catch up on.
Sara: Too many to list, so many I need to catch up on.
Liz: Godzillionaire, The Quivers, The Mad Kings, The Lucky.
The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?
Robin: Those Darlins. They’re playing recordBar in August… GO! Their show is great! I am also really digging some instrumental music from an artist called Bonobo.
Sara: I freakin LOVE Dinero out of Fort Collins.
The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy concert bill to play on?
Robin: I would love to play a festival with other KC/Lawrence bands/musicians for 3 days and camp out! I’ve always wanted to try playing a big multiple-day music festival.
Sara: I don’t have one… But I sometimes think it would have been fun to be a back-up singer for the Kinks… except for the fighting.
Liz: The Runaways.
The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there?
Robin: Hmm. I always try not to choose artists over each other, they all bring their own special gifts, but I guess I’d say John Lennon, George Harrison, Aretha Franklin & Loretta Lynn. John & George for their sincere love preaching and spiritual awareness. Aretha for her empowering woman essence. Loretta Lynn for her authenticity, and her courageous and sincere songwriting.
Sara: Chuck Berry, Ray Davies, Harry Nilsson, Tiny Tim. All dudes and no drummers, I know, but that’s who comes to mind. They’re personal favorites, and I find them to be largely undervalued.
Liz: Lemmy, Joan Jett, King Buzzo (just to see if they could get his hair right), and Dimebag Darrell.
The Deli: What other goals do The Cave Girls have for 2014?
Sara: We talk sometimes at practice about just having made it through another crazy week. There’s so much everyone is up against these days: personally, locally, globally. Liz put it really well at our last practice. She said “I just wanna rock!” and we were all like “YEAH!”, so that sounds like a good goal!
The Deli: Where can we find you on the web?
Girls:We’re most up to date on Facebook, though we’d sure love to find a better way! Like a lot of bands, we feel pretty bummed when we post something on our page and less than 10% of our fans even see it. We’re also on Bandcamp.
The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for the Deli audience?
The Cave Girls: Ooga ooga Ug!Ug!
The Cave Girls are:
Robin Campbell: vocals, guitar
Stone Age Sara: vocals, drums
Lizz Weiler: bass, vocals
–Michelle Bacon
Michelle Bacon is editor of The Deli KC and plays in a bunch of bands.
Take in a movie and catch The Cave Girls at The Granada on Sunday, June 29 for the Free State Film Festival. Their set will follow the Nick Cave film 20,000 Days on Earth. Kirsten Paludan & the Key Party will also play. The film starts at 7:30 pm.