EXCLUSIVE interview with Cave Canem

Cave Canem-aka Phil Harrison- has just released the name for his new two track EP due to be released in the coming days. It comes one year after the split EP created alongside his fellow acoustic artist Gilmour, and continues to draw influences from many genres.

Since the split EP, Cave Canem has continued to do many gigs in his hardcore bands 'Screw Loose' and 'Grave', but has now come back to his acoustic roots to tell the tale of his first year in university. I asked him what we can expect from his new release, what his plans for the future were and the differences in playing a show as a one man band as opposed to a hardcore gig....

When did you first begin Cave Canem and why?

"I started CC around my last couple months of college so like May 2017 I think. I had a couple songs kicking about that were meant for a pop punk/emo project that never took off so I thought ‘fuck it’ and made them acoustic, recorded them with my mate at college and released them. Didn’t know how people would take to them but people seem to enjoy it so I’m happy. "

Where does the name come from?

"It’s not really a very interesting story as you’d expect. My mum bought a plaque of it for me as a sort of holiday present which is now pretty much my name and logo. It’s Latin for ‘beware of the dog’ I think in a lot of Eastern European countries dogs and cats are kind of the opposite in comparison to the uk, like dogs are usually stay at home pets and cats go out and explore but there it’s like completely different so they have signs up to warn people. I wish it was more of an exciting story but unfortunately not. Just wanted a different name for the project and saw that on the wall and thought ‘that sounds sorta like a name, I’ll use that’."

How would you describe your sound?

"Hard to say if I’m honest, I kind of just write whatever comes to me but I have a vague idea of how I want to sound. I draw a lot of influences from artists like Gilmour, Passenger, Little Brother, City and Colour, Luke Rainsford and This Wild Life. Also bands like Citizen, Basement and Title Fight. I’ve always had a wide range of tastes in music but acoustic singer/songwriters who write really honest and personal stuff will always have a special place in my heart. "

What’s it like moving from a HC band to doing acoustic stuff? are there positives and negatives?

"It’s a completely different dynamic. I find it much harder to promote myself and develop a fan base but that might be because I’m also doing it all myself. I definitely love both and they have their own advantages and drawbacks so they kind of balance each other out going between people smacking the shit out of each other and people just kind of standing and appreciating and occasionally singing words back to you. I sort of fall in and out love with hardcore a lot but the whole mid-west emo vibe I feel is something that needs to catch on in the UK a lot more. "

Tell us about the new two-track you’re releasing. What's the inspiration behind it?

"Not to get too deep but I generally write a lot about my personal life and experiences naturally and most of them being not all that good but I’m able to turn it into a positive by creating something out of it is the way I see it. I think that’s how the best music is made personally."

"The main inspiration for the 2-track is the things I experienced during my first year of uni. ‘Last place’ is about always feeling like life deals you a bad hand and how it feels like people will be unkind and inconsiderate at the worst of times when you really need someone."

" ‘Ticking over’ is more about feeling like you’re slipping back into a bad place after being okay for quite a while and the thoughts that lead on from that. These I would say were the two main things I experienced over that year. Although it was a really hard year and probably one of the hardest of my life it did allow me to vent those feelings in a song that maybe people will relate to and it taught me a lot and I’m a lot better and stronger for it so although it’s quite a negative tone I do believe there was a good bit of positive to it as well!"

When is it being released and where can we find it?

"I’m releasing it on the 28th of October. It’ll be available for free on Bandcamp (or pay whatever you like) but I’m planning to put it on Spotify/Apple Music as well."

Any plans for the future? Any future gigs?

"A few but not many. While at uni, work and handling general life stuff it’s hard to find time for it but I usually work on it where and when I can. I intend on doing some full band stuff in the near future when I have more material and hopefully try and go on a few little weekender tours with a band or another artist but other than that not much really, just sort of whatever happens!"

"Thanks for taking an interest to interview me and good luck with the future of TCS!"

Make sure to keep up to date with Cave Canem on his socials and listen to his new release in the coming days.

You can find 'Cave Canem' socials here:

Bandcamp | Facebook

By Amy Demidow