Dave Cave Plugs In for the Semiquincentennial: 'Summer Suite 2' Lands on the Southside
Leave it to a Fort Worth surf-rock lifer to soundtrack America's 250th birthday with a Gretsch and a reverb tank. Dave Cave dropped his new EP Summer Suite 2 on July 1 and then did the only sensible thing a local instrumentalist could do with a semiquincentennial on the calendar: he threw a July 4 show and turned the fireworks into a guitar amp.
The record is a sequel of sorts — a second helping of the breezy, twang-soaked instrumentals Cave has built his name on around the Near Southside. And Cave, for his part, isn't playing coy about how he feels about it. "I think this release is some of my best work," he told the Fort Worth Weekly, which is exactly the kind of thing you want a guy to say about the songs he's about to play you.
The release show ran Saturday, July 4 at The Rail on Joyce Drive, with Cave headlining a genuinely stacked local bill — Christian Shields, Arenales, Kick the Crow and Passive Drivers all turned up to make the Fourth loud. Tickets went for a very Fort Worth $15.54. "We get to celebrate 250 years of our country with rock 'n' roll," Cave said of the timing. "Should be a fun night. … We're stoked."
What makes Cave worth writing about beyond the holiday hook is how porous his idea of "surf rock" actually is. He's an instrumentalist by trade, but he talks like someone who'd rather his tracks end up in somebody else's song than sit in a genre box. "I love hip-hop and hearing different music," he said. "I put out instrumentals, and if someone wants to sample my tracks, then that's cool as long as I get credit for it." That's a rare posture in a scene that can get precious about lanes — a guy actively hoping a rapper loots his catalog.
And then there's the gear talk, because of course there is. Cave credits a good chunk of the record's character to one instrument in particular. "The Gretsch has a mojo to it," he said, and if you've heard the shimmer on these tracks you don't need him to explain further. Summer Suite 2 leans into that hollow-body chime — the sound of a Texas summer filtered through spring reverb, less Malibu than a hot night on West Magnolia.
Why does a modest instrumental EP from a Southside guitarist matter in a city that also hosts a bull-riding barn and a 1950 movie palace? Because this is the layer of the scene that never makes the arena listings and yet defines the place. Fort Worth's identity isn't the touring headliner passing through Dickies Arena — it's the local who books his own release show, prices tickets to the penny, stacks the bill with four of his friends' bands, and hands the whole thing back to the neighborhood on a holiday weekend. That's a scene sustaining itself.
Catch Cave on a bill this summer if you can; the man clearly plays these songs like he means the compliment he paid them. And if you're a producer digging for a sample, you now have explicit permission and a name to credit. The mojo, apparently, is transferable.
Sources: Dave Cave's Summer Suite 2: Fort Worth Surf Rock EP Release & July 4 Show — Fort Worth Weekly