The Cave: Growing up in public

SINGAPORE — Singapore-based band The Cave are made up of four teenagers who have gone from strength to strength in the local music scene since 2012.

Despite their newbie status, the band have already performed at Beerfest Asia 2012, Yamaha Asian Beat Competition 2012 and Music Matters Live 2013. This year, the quartet opened for premier punk rockers Taking Back Sunday and they are getting ready for the launch of their debut EP, Light Years, on April 16 at Timbre @ Substation.

Consisting of Huxley Rittman (lead guitar, backing vocals), Haadi Moochhala (drums), Harry Darling (lead vocals) and Emerson Gonzalez-Park (bass guitar) — all age 17 — the band’s origin story began in the Overseas Family School.

“We go back further than you might think,” Rittman disclosed. “Haadi, Harry and I started jamming way back in sixth grade with a few other friends, but just on a casual level. After a few comings and goings, the addition of Emerson brought about the current line-up, then known as Blackout. A year or two after that, we became Atlas, but upon discovering that there was, in fact, already another Atlas in Singapore, The Cave was born.”

Considering their relative youthfulness, it is interesting to note that individually, the members’ musical influences stretch beyond their own generation. “It’s fair to say we all grew up on our parents’ music, and that encompasses classic rock all across the board,” Rittman explained. “Individually, however, Emerson’s favoruite band is Rush, but he and Haadi go on ‘romantic dates’ to indie concerts all the time. Harry is a big late ’80s to ’90s fan, particularly Pearl Jam; and I prefer ’60s or ’70s rock, as well as Irish folk music and gangsta rap, of course.”

Which probably explains why there seems to be such a retro-rock vibe on the Light Years EP. “It wasn’t really intentional,” said Rittman of its musical content. “But I suppose that’s what you get when you bring together four musicians who all grew up on music from three or four decades ago. It also must have come from a shared contempt for the processed pop hits. Bring back music, you know?”

As for the songwriting process, Rittman spelled out what was involved. “Songwriting can be blissfully productive or painstakingly fruitless. There’s really no in-between. But the songwriting process generally begins when one member comes in with a riff or a beat that catches everyone’s attention, and it builds and builds thereafter.

“It’s never a solo effort,” he added. “There’s not a single song that hasn’t been the product of four-way creation. As for a song’s completion, it’s really just done when additions stop sounding good and when it gives us goosebumps to play.”

For the recording of Light Years, The Cave resorted to unconventional methods to produce the sounds they heard in their collective heads. Instead of recording solely in a digital studio, The Cave elected to record three tracks at Lion Studios, Singapore’s most renowned recording studio, which was described by Rittman as “gruelling”. “That’s not to say it’s not worth it though,” he emphasised. “When we decide what recording style suits each song, record them and get the masters back, everything becomes worthwhile, and it’s safe to say that we’re all ecstatic about the result.”

The Cave launches Light Years on April 16 at Timbre @ Substation. Admission is free (minimum one drink applies.)