Cave In f/ Stephen Brodsky & Adam McGrath
Live At Roadburn 2018
At the 2018 edition of Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands,
founding Cave In members Stephen Brodsky and Adam McGrath played a special set
dedicated to the their longtime bandmate Caleb Scofield. Scofield, who was also a member of Old Man
Gloom and founder of the band Zozobra, had died tragically in March of that
year, just under a month before the duo played their memorial show. His passing sparked a number of events
celebrating his life and music while also serving to benefit the family that he
had left behind.
Scofield was an ultra-talented musician whose bass tone was
as savage as his screamed vocals. In
Cave In, his creative bass lines anchored the spaciness of the bands early
material, but his presence became much more prominent as the group expanded
their sound. Their later output, albums
like Perfect Pitch Black and White Silence brought Scofield’s vocals
front and center while his skillful playing style began to fuel the songs more
than ground them.
Along with members of Isis and Converge, Scofield helped
make up the sludge-metal “supergroup” Old Man Gloom. Known for their insanely heavy and complex
riffs, the bass player/vocalist helped to forge the bands eccentric sound, even
contributing what drummer Santos Montano called “dusty cowboy” acoustic songs
for each record. But perhaps Scofield’s
most impressive output was with his rotating membership group Zozobra. As the songwriter as well as recording
guitar, bass and vocals, Zozobra’s three records were truly a product of his
talent.
Scofield was clearly a well-respected musician amongst the
metal scene. Benefit shows were played
featuring bands like Converge and The Cancer Conspiracy as well as Cave In and
Old Man Gloom. Isis even played a one
night only reunion set in his honor. His
friends and former bandmates played his Zozobra songs together closing out both
the Boston and L.A. memorial shows while dozens of bands and music related
companies donated merchandise to be raffled for his family.
On Live At Roadburn,
two of Scofields closest friends pay tribute, offering a number of Cave In songs
meaningful to them as well as to the fans.
Brodsky sings and plays acoustic while McGrath adds cosmic accompaniment
through effect-drenched electric guitar.
The duo opens with “Youth Overrided” from their major label release Antenna.
The song is about the troubles that come with the realization of growing
older, and in this circumstance so close to the loss of a friend, the emotion
of the track runs high. Brodsky’s voice
slightly cracks on the high notes, noting later that this is one of the hardest
things he has ever had to do.
The eclectic and superb Tides
Of Tomorrow EP is visited three times in the set. Brodsky and McGrath run through beautiful
stripped down versions of “Dark Driving”, “Everest” and “The Calypso”, the
latter a Scofield penned song prophesizing the bands negative major label
experience. Cave In’s landmark
space-rock record Jupiter makes
appearances with the acoustic first half of “New Moon” (that cleverly seques
into “Dark Driving”) as well as crowd favorite “Big Riff” played in the
two-piece setup for possibly the first time ever.
It is perhaps the songs off the last Cave In record that
seem to have the most meaning on this album, though. Prior to playing “Heartbreaks, Earthquakes”, White Silence’s noisy Pink Floyd meets
Radiohead pop song, Brodsky mentions the significant impact that Scofield had on
writing the record. His imprint is noticeable from the starting moments of White Silence, but none as clearly
evident than on “Sing My Loves”, one of the bands standout tracks. Without the driving bass and vicious vocals
of Scofield, Brodsky and McGrath stick to the songs anthemic closing
section. The somber tone of the set changes
to that of hopeful healing as Brodsky wails the lyrics “Sing my loves/ Sing my
enemies/ Sing my sorrows/ We will all sing.”
Caleb Scofield was an incredible musician and voice in the metal and
hardcore scene. His unmistakable screams
and true musicianship is one that will be missed. This record is a must for fans of Cave In or
anything Scofield related. Anybody not
familiar with his work would be wise to check it out right now.
Harmonic Tremors: Mini Documentary About Caleb Scofield Benefit Shows
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