QUICKFIRE WITH THE KAVES | INTERVIEW

Introduce yourselves…

Hi Northern Exposure we are Dave and Liam from The Kaves – nice to speak to you! We love what you’re are doing for the UK scene right now, thanks for taking the time to ask us some questions!

Tell us about your new EP?

Dave: Our new EP is called Peace Love Mayhem and it’s our first multitrack release. We recorded in Edinburgh with Mark Morrow whom we have worked with for a couple years now, his work is always top notch and is a great guy. We also recorded some of the EP in Liverpool at The Motor Museum with Al Groves (Bring Me The Horizon, STONE, Sherlock) which was a really rewarding experience, we loved working with Al. We wanted the EP to have a good balance, we wanted to capture different feelings and styles in the EP whilst maintaining our own thread through them all.

What’s your favourite track on it?

Dave: I’d say we all have our favourites on the EP depending on when or where we are listening. My favourite walking the dog on a Sunday is different to my favourite before going out on a Saturday night. People’s feelings and circumstances are never always the same, we’ve tried to reflect that with as much authenticity as possible in this EP. It’s like asking a parent to pick their favourite child, it’s too hard! But I will say if you’re running for the bus opt for ‘Complacency‘ if you’re wanting a good cry ‘Fading to the Back of the Room’ might do the trick.

What has been your musical career highlight so far?

Dave: I’d say this EP is a big one for us, we have always wanted to release a body of work. Before now we had only released singles, which we absolutely love but there’s only so much you can express through one song. An EP allows us to show more of what we’re about and take the listener on more of a journey. We’ve always been super grateful for our headline shows in Glasgow as well. Fantastic memories we will always have.

Earliest music memory?

Dave: Going to gigs as a teenager the Barrowlands will forever be imprinted in my memory. It was a whole new world away from the mundane for me. I remember getting my first guitar at 14. I wasn’t ever particularly academic, wasn’t much good at football, I’ve never been a social butterfly. Writing music on this guitar was a new way I could express myself and I was hooked. I will always remember learning from the Marty Swartz YouTube videos, any guitarist reading this will know the legend that is Marty.

Is this the full time job? If not what’s the day job?

Dave: We all work full time; Liam’s an electrician, Sean works night shifts in a warehouse, Evan has just finished uni and is working in Tesco and I have an office job in IT. All the boys do a great job of making it work, it’s not always easy to juggle it all.

Favourite Glasgow/Scottish band right now?

Dave: I really like what Swim School are doing; I love the sound on ‘Seeing It Now‘, it’s fantastic. Lucia and The Best Boys is another; Burning Castles in 2023 was a brilliant debut and I’m excited to see what’s next for them. Another band that springs to mind is Brògeal; they have a very nuanced folk feel similar to The Pogues. Me and the drummer Evan were playing them in the car down to Liverpool on the way to record. I can see why they are starting to resonate with people, especially in Glasgow, it’s a match made in heaven.

If you had the opportunity to write an album other than one of your own, which would it have been and why?

Liam: I would pick either The Cure album Disintegration because I think it’s the perfect dark album, or Queens of the Stone Age Songs For The Deaf as it may be the coolest album in existence, ’til our debut is released.

You can only save one…Biffy Clyro or Twin Atlantic?

Dave: Biffy Clyro! We went to see them at Glasgow Green a couple years back. They always put on a phenomenal performance. Simon Neil seems like the most peaceful man on the planet yet gets a monstrous sound out of his guitar.

What would be your most controversial opinion on anything?

Liam: The majority of modern country music is absolutely awful. So bad that it makes me think why the fuck are we really here!

Best pub in Glasgow?

Both: St. Luke’s!

Dream venue to play outside of Scotland?

Liam: Dream venue to play outside of Scotland would be Brixton Academy.

Any gigs coming up?

Liam: We are heading out on our first ever tour of England and Scotland in November, playing in London, Manchester and Glasgow, with Scruff of The Neck and we’re really excited.

What’s next for The Kaves?

Liam: After our tour and EP release I think we’ll be focusing on hopefully doing another EP next year with another tour and hopefully some festival dates.

Your Spotify Wrapped top 5 will look like…?

Liam: Fontaines DC, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Wunderhorse, Mogwai, REM.