The Cavves

Wichita’s The Cavves are the foremost purveyors of land-locked surf music.

Formed in 2016, the quartet—Sophie Emerson (guitar, vocals), Matt Bennett (guitars), Jackson Relph (drums), Cale Gubitz (bass)—set about establishing itself as a rare creature, an act whose songwriting and recordings are as potent as its live shows.

With two albums under its belt (2017’s Learn To Swim and 2019’s Venture Out), the group is set to release its third, titled Settle Down in a Guest Room later in 2022. The body of work thus far reveals a band wise beyond its years with tales of frustration with religious institutions, depression, grief and friendship leading listeners through an aural landscape rife with musical passages that are both playful and far-reaching, with an appeal that reaches from the hookiest moments of Courtney Barnett to the most soul-searing of Sleeper Agent.

Clocking over 70 gigs in its first year as group, the band quickly became a favorite act within Wichita’s undeniably fruitful music scene, sharing the stage with together PANGEA, The Black Pumas, and Slothrust while keeping up an impressive touring schedule since the start.

Emerson, who met the others while attending Catholic school, notes that writing was, from the start, the key to the band’s appeal. “You can be entertaining on stage but we wanted to give people something to come back for,” she says. “For me, that was always songs. All of my favorite bands were the ones that you’d see, get blown away, and then come home, listen to the record and be blown away all over again.”

As for the lyrical content, she notes, “I think it’s important to have something to say. We didn’t want to have a bunch of songs that were about nonsense. You can still have a good time while listening to us but if you hear something we wrote and it makes you think or you identify with it on a personal level, then we’re really doing what we’re supposed to.”
As for the quartet’s formidable live shows? Bennett offers this: “Any show might the first time someone’s seeing us. We want to give them something to come back for there too. Being on the stage with three of my friends is uplifting for me, why shouldn’t it be for the audience?”