Manhattan garage-rock series that hosted reunion concerts from the likes of The
Troggs and
? and the Mysterians. More than a nostalgia stop, Cavestomp! brought the music to the ears of a new generation -- organizers claimed 65 percent of their audience was under the age of 25.
Cavestomp! was started by in 1997 as an annual festival. Founder Jon Weiss is himself a garage band fanatic -- you know, the kind of music geek who knows about all kinds of bands you've never heard of. Rolling Stone quotes him going apeshit over an e-mail from Wally Tax of The Outsiders. Huh?? ('60s garage band from Holland, apparently.)
Weiss got together with co-producers Steve Van Zandt and Steve Weitzman to create a monthly version of Cavestomp!, hosted by the Village Underground on West Third Street. Not surprisingly, Cavestomp! had Rhino Records as a sponsor.
Alas, Cavestomp! is no more ... a three-day festival in November 2001 at Warsaw (a Brooklyn bar owned by Weiss and Weitzman) was the concept's swan song. On Cavestomp!'s message board, Weiss explains that the series was created to be a magnet for original garage bands, a promise it can no longer fulfill: "Fact is most of the legends no longer can or want to play. At least not the kind of shows we're interested in presenting. The real garage bands from back in the day are getting scarcer by the second. And for that reason, so should we. Our work's done..."
Sources:
-- Rolling Stone, 30 August 2001
-- http://www.cavestomp.com