Album Review: Various Artists – Cavestomp! Volume One

Cavestomp is something of an institution. A largely underground, for those-in-the-know sensation, but an institution nonetheless. Garage rock is a collector’s genre: it’s a style of music that – like freakbeat and select others – didn’t go by that label at the time. Created (mostly) by American teenage boys who had ingested a steady diet of Rolling Stones, Animals and Yardbirds, garage rock was a decidedly ‘60s thing. It was widespread; nobody knows how many teenage combos came together across the States in the wake of the British Invasion, but reliable estimates suggest the number was in the tens of thousands. And a surprising number of those bands had one (and usually only one) great song in ‘em, and they committed it to vinyl. Hence the collectors’ interest.

Garage rock took on added significance when Lenny Kaye compiled his monumentally influential Nuggets album in the early ‘70s. Eventually an entire new generation of rockers would rise up and take the garage rock revival to the listening public. And that revival has never ended. In 1997, Cavestomp happened in New York City, at the perfectly-named music venue Coney Island High. It continued in one form or another for many years to come, spawning both imitators and other events inspired by it (Ponderosa Stomp being one of the latter).

There have been a number of live albums culled from Cavestomp performances; offhand I can think of albums by The Monks, Standells and (I think) one by ? and the Mysterians among them. But surprisingly, there hasn’t been a various-artists compilation documenting notable performances from the event. A new Record Store Day 2025 release sets things right: Cavestomp! Volume One collects live tracks from that original ‘97 show, another at a different venue in 1999 and a third in Warsaw in 2007.

The artist and song selection is quite varied. As the over-the-top (and rightly so) liner notes tell us, the “torrent of talent” on display showcases “the legends of garage rock & the snot nosed young punks who love them!” Bringing the hype down a notch, that means listeners are treated to appearances by The Fleshtones’ Peter Zaremba, the aforementioned Kaye (reminding us that “It’s a Nugget If You Dug It”) and other modern-day acts like The Lyres and The Mooney Suzuki. But it also features actual legends form garage rock’s first wave: The Chocolate Watch Band, The (again aforementioned) Monks, The Standells and The Sonics. For lovers of garage rock, it’s the next best thing to having been there. The fun shines through across all 17 tracks, and a Volume Two is promised.