Michael "Mickey" Cavanagh is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

best known for being the drummer for

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (KGLW) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Coo ...

, while he has also released a solo album under the

pen-name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

CAVS.

Musical career

Cavanagh grew up in

Deniliquin Deniliquin () is a town in the western Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area. Deniliquin is located at the inte ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and was drawn to drumming at an early age. Cavanagh became the drummer for a band called The Houses which was formed in 2005 and by 2010 consisted of him, Lucas Skinner, Blaise Adamson, and

Stu Mackenzie Stuart Douglas Mackenzie (born 26 October 1990) is an Australian musician best known as the frontman of rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. He serves as singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for the band and is recognized as its le ...

. However, despite this, he was not an original member of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, which was formed by Mackenzie,

Joey Walker Joseph William Quinn Walker (born 11 October 1988) is an Australian musician, singer, and producer who is best known as one of the three guitarists for the band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Walker was previously part of the electronic duo ...

, and Eric Moore in 2010, rather, he joined the band via an audition.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Cavanagh would join the band as their dedicated drummer, with Eric Moore as the band's manager. However, Moore, who also played drums for Love Migrate, started being the band's second drummer as their songs became more complex. Besides their highly prolific discography, King Gizzard was also known due to their novelty of having two drummers. Cavanagh, the more experienced drummer, would often take the lead, with Moore "adapting" to match his play style, as most of the songs were written with Cavanagh on drums, with Moore only playing drums during live performances. On August 25, 2020, Moore would post to the

Flightless Flightless birds are birds that cannot fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites ( ostriches, emus, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwis) and penguins. The smal ...

website that he would be stepping away from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, leaving Cavanagh as the only drummer. In 2022 while touring in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Cavanagh would come down with

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and would be replaced for a show by a

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

Solo career

On June 8, 2021, Cavanagh would announce that he would release a solo album of some of his drum solos under the pen-name CAVS. Alongside this announcement came a video of a ten-minute solo dubbed ''T2JD'', directed by John Stewart (who made other Gizzard music videos, including the video for Some of Us). The self-title album ''CAVS'' would be released on July 9. He would release another single, ''Gun Point'' on August 28 of that year.

Discography

Studio albums (as CAVS)

Singles (as CAVS)

Personal life

Cavanagh is married to Amy

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Findlay, the drummer for Stonefield.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Eric 21st-century Australian male musicians Living people Australian rock musicians Australian rock drummers Psychedelic rock musicians Microtonal musicians King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard members Year of birth missing (living people)