Too stupid to live? The Cavemen (NZ) top themselves with "Too High To Die" - new single & video release

The Cavemen have been recently reviewed as " a comically nasty, nihilistic take on '77 punk rock, turbocharged with the attack of early '80s US hardcore and laced with the fuzz pedal-enhanced 'whoop-it-up' wildness of your favourite garage rockers from The Sonics to Mudhoney," and we can't really argue with this. We've read much, much worse.

These self described "scumbags" and "juvenile delinquents" over a period of just a few years, have reached a peak that is both "too stupid to live" yet "too high to die".  And things are still moving upwards at breakneck speed for them; three short European tours already this year, and a two week, continental road rager lined up this fall, including an appearance at the prestigious Funtastic Dracula Carnival. 

Off the back of their much acclaimed self titled debut LP that was released to the wider world this year on Dirty Water Records, they’ve also managed to fit in two singles with a third single in the works - plus a new album that will be released in October. Not sure what form of 'higher power' is blasting them through this current trajectory, but it's force and magnitude seem totally unstoppable. We strongly advise you get out of the way, or risk serious harm.

Ever since they escaped their landlocked native habitat of New Zealand to London, the group have been clubbing people over the head with their brutal, unforgiving, and savage brand of rock’n’roll. One reviewer put it mildly: " I'm typing this review with one hand because I'm holding the nearest makeshift weapon in case the Cavemen decide to break down my door and punk in my face." 

Another aptly opined: "From Auckland, New Zealand comes a crew of slag rock sleazers who dish up a foul monstrosity of musical deviancy loaded with rabid desires conjured from a garaged grimoire that summons up many mental phantoms of disease." They are too often compared to the most obvious of noteworthy extinct like-minded punk dinosaurs; The Stooges, The Dolls, Ramones, and every critics favourite pigeonholes, The Cramps and The Gun Club, respectively. 

Some have even likened them to long gone greats, The Reatards, Dead Moon, and Candy Snatchers - whilst digging up the rotting corpse of Elvis Presley and feeding off whatever is left. Another critic penned " I don’t know if the band are really angling for a tussle as such––I kind of get the idea they’re focused on more hedonistic goals––but their self-titled debut certainly features plenty of greasy riffs, uncouth howling, and road-rash-raw garage punk". 

Whatever overused throwback description the music press wish to levy on these morally reprehensible trogolodytes, their mission statement is very clear and simple: "We make no apologies and take no prisoners." Anybody looking to find the secret derivative noise strands of their DNA, should maybe look first at some of their predecessors in their pristine native lands of Auckland, New Zealand. With unknown names like Proud Scum, The Spelling Mistakes, Terrorways, Suburban Reptiles, The Henchman, and Scavengers.  If you can be bothered to stop flicking through your 'Velvets to Voidoids' podcast for just a few minutes, you can definitively hear where - and just how far, these rotten apples have fallen from the tree. 

A native reviewer finally nails it on the head: " Their sense of humor will have you rolling around on the ground clutching your crouch. The Cavemen hide behind no corners - these guys got potential and have completely misdirected it. Hell yeah."   Order The Cavemen - Too High To Die b/w I'd Kill 

Buy "Too High To Die" here