PHOTO BY BODIE HULTIN
If you ever find yourself at a Slow Caves show, it won’t be long before you’re suddenly taken away to a synth-punk wonderland that you don’t want to leave. The Fort Collins based 4-piece made up of brothers Jakob and Oliver Mueller, David Dugan and Jackson Lamperes have only been around for a few years, but they’ve made serious waves in the local music scene and beyond.
SXSW, Treefort Music Fest and several tours have only been a fraction of the bands successes. I gave Jakob Mueller, one of the guitarists and vocalists of the band a call and learned all about Slow Caves and their journey thus far.
An Early Passion for Music
“My earliest memories of really loving music is when we were living in Holland and my mom would play “Space Oddity” just over and over and we would all just jam out in the car, listening to David Bowie, just that one song on repeat,” Mueller said.
Mueller said he didn’t start playing instruments until the first grade when he began to learn piano because his brother was learning to play guitar. Though this was the start of his musicianship, he said he’s always wanted to be in a band.
The dream became a reality. Mueller said Slow Caves came together in the spring of 2014 after Oliver moved back from living in California and a few of the members had been playing in different bands beforehand.
“It was just a good opportunity to really have a fresh start and be more decisive with what we were doing, like in terms of what music we were playing, how we presented ourselves, like our branding and what not,” Mueller said.
The band is currently signed to Old Flame Records. Mueller said they sent their EP to Rob Mason who owns the label and who they’ve known previously. Mueller said Mason liked what he heard and they were signed pretty quickly after that.
Finding Inspiration
As for the genre of music Slow Caves plays, Mueller said their sound is based on the music they were listening to at the time; one of the bands was The Strokes. The music they listen to has changed as the band has been moving forward. Currently, he said they’re really into Nirvana and Oasis.
Mueller said though they have influences, the songs they create are all their own and their ideas that flow out of them. With that in mind, several things inspire the band, such as movies and visual arts. When writing a song, the process for Slow Caves varies from track to track.
“Sometimes Oliver or myself will have a fully finished song and then we tweak it in the band practice or sometimes we just come to practice with like one idea, like a hook or a riff or whatever and then we just arrange it and write the rest of it all together, all four of us in a room,” Mueller said.
He said the lyric writing can be very spontaneous and they sometimes just shout out words to complete an idea.
“It’s just like you’re short circuiting the part of your mind that’s thinking too much about what you want to say,” Mueller said. “It [Shouting out words] just kind of puts out what you’re thinking immediately. It’s nice.”
Considering Mueller and his brother Oliver are both vocalists for the band, whoever gets to the microphone first is who tends to sing the song, he said. On his own though, Mueller said a song can come in plenty of different ways.
The Drawing Board
Along with the writing process comes the recording process and for Slow Caves it has been very DIY.
“The first EP Oliver recorded in our basement,” Mueller said. “The new EP we did in our friend’s basement, but the new recordings that we’ll be doing with the label, I think we just record it wherever we want, so we’ve recently been in The Blasting Room in Fort Collins.”
The demoing for new tracks is still going to be done on their own. The band currently have two EPs out, one is self-titled and the other called “Desert Minded.”
Desert Minded
Their latest EP, “Desert Minded,” just dropped March 11, featuring songs like the title track “Desert Minded” and “Glares,” which now has a music video to go with it as of April 19. Mueller said “Glares” was the first song they collectively wrote as a band and for him, the song feels nostalgic, which is what inspired the video.
“Last summer we were all in Denmark and it was the last day that we were all there together and I was like, ‘we all gotta record a video, like we’re in Denmark we have to record a video,’” Mueller said. “So we handed our cousins a camera and we went to their old school, their old like high school I guess you could call it and we just messed around. We were kind of just doing whatever we would do normally, just exploring and having adventures, having a good time.”
He said it was a great atmosphere because the whole experience was heartwarming. They then took the footage and put the VHS filter on it to make it more like a home movie.
Mueller said the “Desert Minded” EP is representative of Slow Caves as a band, as their first EP was made before they even played a show.
“We didn’t really know who we were as a band,” Mueller said. “Then the “Desert Minded” EP, those were a handful of the main songs that we have fined tuned as a band live. There were songs that were written in rehearsal and we played them live for like months and fine-tuned them and then they’re much more guitar oriented. Like the first EP is very synth-heavy and then the new one is much more guitar and drum-oriented, which I like that direction.”
As for what they’re working on now, Mueller said they’re demoing the new songs they have. They want to have a debut album in the future, but there’s no set time of when that will happen. He said they will probably put more things out before then, but a debut album is definitely in mind.
Studio to Stage
With new music comes touring and the band is no stranger to shows and have even played larger festivals. Slow Caves just returned from a short tour that kicked off in Denver for the “Desert Minded” release and made a stop at SXSW music festival in Texas last month, where names like Weezer and 2 Chainz appear on the lineup.
The band has been to SXSW before, but this time, Mueller said they played official showcases that allowed them wristbands to see other bands on the roster while they were there.
“That whole festival is chaos but it’s something you get in the rhythm of and just embrace it, it’s wild,” Mueller said.
He said they also got to meet some of the people from their label which he found to be helpful.
“That was comforting because otherwise South-By kind of freaks you out like having people there supporting you was a lot easier,” he said. “It was so fun, so much fun.”
PHOTO BY RYAN FRAZEE
The band just announced tour dates for the east coast this summer, running through places like Chicago, Cincinnati and Buffalo, New York. Mueller said he hasn’t been to many of the places on the tour before and is excited to check them out and play their music in new areas.
“I just think to be on the east coast, I think it will make a little more sense with our music,” Mueller said. “People might connect with it more than other places. I just feel like there’s more of our audience out there.”
When it comes to performing and touring, Mueller says he loves multiple aspects.
“I feel very connected with my bandmates when we perform, that feels good when you’re playing a good set, I like that feeling of being locked in tight,” Mueller said. “I like watching people’s reactions to songs. I guess you can gauge what’s good or not good about a song by watching the audience.”
Mueller says tour is fun because of the downtime, where you can “goof off” and play shows.
The band has played with some of the bands they like to listen to, which for Mueller is a highlight of their journey so far. Slow Caves will be playing with a band called DIIV in May as a part of this next tour and it will be one of the biggest shows they’ve ever played.
Along with this, they’ll be playing Taste of Fort Collins this summer with bands like St. Lucia and Westword Music Festival where COIN is on the lineup.
“Getting to play with bands like that, it feels like a big success,” Mueller said. “It feels like our hard work is going in the right direction.”
Finding a Balance
With all of their ongoing projects, tours and excitement, finding a balance between the band and their personal lives outside of the music isn’t always easy.
Mueller is the only college student in the group at the moment, but the band has set practice times they plan a month in advance, which helps them a lot.
When it comes to tour, Mueller said he just goes to his professors to let them know when he will be gone and hope they’re okay with it. He says he “plays catch up” when he gets back.
“It’s definitely not enjoyable I would say, but it’s worth it, getting to pursue both my goals in music and in art is a balance for sure, there’s not a lot of sleep involved I guess,” Mueller laughs.
What’s Next?
Slow Caves will be on tour very soon, and they have no signs of slowing down. Their success has been steady since they formed the band. Mueller said their goals right now are to put out music more frequently, tour more and hopefully play Europe in the near future.
Slow Caves have hit the ground running and Mueller thanks all their hard work they’ve put into the band and their dreams.
“We had some goals and we kind of set up a way to achieve these goals, like things we wanted to do and I think the way we got to where we are today is just working hard,” Mueller said. “I just feel like if you expect success, I guess I wouldn’t want to be that kind of band.”
Mueller says it’s all about prioritizing and doing things for the right reasons.
“We’ve been very fortunate working with the people we’re working with today and we’ve had a lot of opportunities,” Mueller said. “Hopefully we can keep this momentum going with hard work.”
PHOTO BY KYLE MEDINA
SaveSave