Psychedelic rock is in the midst of a resurgence with groups like the Flaming Lips releasing their most experimental music in years and new acts such as Tame Impala gaining major international attention. KAVA does what comes natural to three Chicago music veterans when writing, rehearsing and performing together. Ryan Behling (bass/vox), Wilson (guitar) and Marshall Greenhouse (percussion/electronics) first met while forming AfroZep, a national touring act that fuses African influences into Led Zeppelin covers. The trio clicked from the start. It quickly became obvious that it was time to move away from strictly arranging together and start writing original music. So they packed their cars with as many instruments as they could fit and headed far out of the city where they locked themselves up in a cabin for the weekend and experimented. The result was about 20 hours of recordings that included tightly composed odd time grooves in the vein of The Mars Volta, to 15+ minute minimalist jams which featured drones supplied by the Juno and Kaossilators. KAVA has since continued to hold retreats, toured the country, performed local shows (often fully improvised), recorded 2 studio EPs plus an experimental improvised EP and in the summer of 2013 released their first full length album entitled Shikaakwa.
