With a new album and a uniquely dreamy sound, the band with Grand Rapids and Lansing connections is poised to grow its audience one venue at a time. (Story, podcast, video)
Finding a Home: Matt Messore, left, and Mike Poshedly of the dreamy-sounding Cave Needles. (Photo/Tori Thomas)
Michigan really hasn’t heard a band with quite the mesmerizing sonic vibe of Cave Needles.
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Cave Needles on Local Spins Live. (Photo/Tori Thomas)
While the year-old Grand Rapids/Lansing group often shares stages with emerging psychedelic rock bands, the dream-pop element to its music puts the band in a category all of itsown. Band members have even referred to it as “psychedelic dream beach pop.”
“Michigan as a whole has a good music community but I definitely feel like it lacks on a lot of bands (with) our sound,” says singer, guitarist and keyboard player Matt Messore. “There’s definitely a good amount of psychedelic bands but I feel like there’s not that many dreamy-sounding bands. So I feel like what we have going on is good for Michigan.”
Indeed it is, and judging by the band’s self-titled debut album released last month, it’s likely to be good for a long time as the four-piece group – Messore, guitarist Mike Poshedly, drummer Christian Urrabozzo and bassist Ben Jenson – continues to hone its sound, expand its touring and create new “dreamy-sounding” music.
At first blush, Cave Needles’ musical milieu might even seem an unusual direction for Messore, who moved to Michigan from Florida where he performed in a punk band, Nightlights, and an emo band, You Blew It!, an outfit which has since drawn national recognition.
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“I guess I come from a more emo background but I was in touch with a friend out of Michigan and we had this idea of doing a spacey-sounding band, which is something I always wanted to do,” he says.
FINDING A COMMUNITY THAT EMBRACES CAVE NEEDLES’ MUSIC
“I didn’t have a goal except for just to make music and have fun. I felt comfortable here from past journeys and touring. I just kind of made this work and it seems to be working. … I think I’ve found a lot more than just music. I think I’ve made a home.”
Even as an acoustic duo, Cave Needles oozes dreamy psychedelia as evidence by their performance this week on Local Spins Live in the studios of News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW) (which hosts Local Spins Live at 11 a.m. Wednesdays).
For the first time ever, Messore and Poshedly played an “unplugged” rendition of the song “Reverie” from their debut album and one of the first songs written by the band, minus keyboards and any special effects. Listen to a podcast of the show here and view an exclusive video of their performance below.
“Collectively as a band I feel like our influences and inspirations go all over the place,” says Messore, who cites the diverse likes of Blondie, Beach Boys and Nirvana for his musical inspiration.
“We all definitely have different backgrounds but we bring it together The biggest thing we’re happy about this band is about just being independent, like not having a reason for anything except for just the fact of playing music, and not really classifying ourselves as anything except for just the freedom of doing what we love and not putting a name toward anything. That’s what keeps us growing and content is just having that freedom and independence.”
HONING THEIR ’80s VIBE
Poshedly, bassist for Lansing’s “rainy day punk” band Homelife and a fan of heavy metal’s Slipknot, concedes that Cave Needles’ debut album “definitely has an ’80s vibe” which was partially intentional.
Live: Cave Needles playing Mulligan’s Pub in Eastown earlier this week. (Photo/Anna Sink)
“I think for our first album it was more of an experiment. We really had no idea what we were doing,” adds Messore. “A lot of it was actually made on the spot. For the most part, it was kind of just winging it. But I think that was definitely good preparation for the future, of knowing how we want to sound and what we can work on and make it sound more full.”
That said, the band already has written more material and is eyeing release of another EP later this year while exploring a possible deal with a record label and continuing to perform across Michigan and beyond.
“The bottom line was to do music and be happy,” Messore said of forming Cave Needles after moving to Michigan. “But more than that was to find … somewhere where we belonged and to find a community of people that would come see us live.
“We’ve definitely been working on new stuff and been getting new pedals and just working on our sound and trying to progress with our music. Definitely for the future we have a lot we want to accomplish in terms of touring and just being active.”
And, he offers, “I think the direction is to just get weirder. I think we definitely have a cool thing going on”
Cave Needles plays Shakespeare’s Lower Level in Kalamazoo on Aug. 10, then plays Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids for the first time on Aug. 16, opening for Dead Gaze.
Get more information about the band, samples of its music and a full performance schedule at caveneedles.com.
Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
