Long History
Cavedweller began in 1995 as the solo project of Fort Worth, TX native, Dirk Michener. Influence by the 4-track revolution of the early 90′s(Guided By Voices, Pavement, Smog, Sebadoh, et al) a moody hiss of songs began rapidly to hit the tapes. After a couple of years underground, Cavedweller emerged as a solo regular at Denton, TX based art collective, The Good/Bad Art Collective events and benefit shows. James Oswald soon joined the group as drummer and Jenni Rotter as back-up singer. The minimal folky sound became fleshed out into a more rock n roll affair.
Dirk split his time between several bands while in art school in Denton. Tonight We Die Tomorrow We Kill, The Deff, Golden Retriever Band, The Partridges and Pears and The League of Gentlemen USA . Sharing bills at Denton haunts Rubber Gloves, The Argo, Mabel Peabodies, Mr. Gattis, Rick’s Place and Dans Bar and house parties near and far with like-minded locals Corn Mo, The Dutch Treats, Asphalt the Recorder, Lift To Experience, Mwanza Dover, George Neil, Riverboat Gamblers, Lo-fi Chorus, John Wesley Coleman, The Banes, The Ditch Kids, Go Metric USA, Slobberbone, Stanton Meadowdale, Monkeytown, Transona 5, Centromatic, Baptist Generals, Marlowe, among many others.
In early 2002 Dirk decided to move to Austin and proceed with things there. The addition of bass player Matty Nichols, from Olympia WA, along with James Oswald on Drums transformed Cavedweller into a darker, heavier psyche-rock outfit regularly performing at Beerland, Emos, Mohawk, Carousel Lounge, The Parlor, Room 710, Flamingo Cantina, among others.
As the band slowly evolved, member including Isabel Martin on guitar, Reed Posey on keyboards, then later, Preston Dukes on guitar and bass and Pat Brady on drums contributed much to the development of Cavedweller. Performing regularly with locals Teenage Dog, Yellow Fever, Hose + Donkey, Shapes Have Fangs, Basic, Cry Blood Apache, Golden Boys, Strange Boys, Black Angels, Followed by Static, Silver Pines, The Seas, White Denim, Baby Robots, ST37, among others, Cavedweller immersed itself into the continuingly evolving psyche-garage scene in Austin.