CAVO one of "Seven up-and-coming St. Louis bands to watch"

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/24/2009
We're not going to suggest that St. Louis' Cavo is a band to watch just because it has a deal with Warner Bros./Reprise.Cavo caught our attention because the music on the band's upcoming CD "Bright Nights * Dark Days" is so good — radio-ready jams that sound perfect for dominating the airwaves this summer.Band members knew they had something special after they finished recording the incredibly hooky debut single from the CD, "Champagne."
 
"Everyone in our camp knew this song had the potential to be big," singer Casey Walker says, and they were right.The song paved the way for Cavo to set up several showcases, along with an opening slot for Stone Temple Pilots at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater last summer.
 
Warner Bros. flew in for the Stone Temple Pilots show, and the band signed up to work with David Bendeth (Breaking Benjamin, Paramore, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), who would produce their CD.The deal with Warner Bros. was done by October. Shortly after the signing, Walker, guitarist Chris Hobbs, drummer Chad La Roy and bassist Brian Smith were told they were meeting with a Post-Dispatch reporter for an interview at Babylon in St. Charles. When the musicians got there, they learned it was actually a celebration full of family and friends.Without wanting to sound like a cliché, Walker says, signing with Warner Bros. was the greatest feeling ever. "All your life, you're working toward this one goal," he says. "It's been seven or eight years of us doing this, and then someone steps in and says what you're doing sounds good. That's some vindication." The band originally thought its big break would come with "A Space to Fill" in 2003. "People out there used to ask us when are we going to quit this hobby," Walker says. "It's not a hobby."Why it’s a band to watch: St. Louis music history is filled with bands that have landed major-label deals, and some have done OK by those deals. But Cavo seems primed to push it to the next level.Sound: Straightforward, pop-friendly radio rockInfluences: Pearl Jam, Blue October, Guns N’ RosesFormed: 2001Latest CD: “Bright Nights * Dark Days,” due out this summerUpcoming: Pointfest, May 23 at Verizon Wireless AmphitheaterWebsites: cavomusic.com, myspace.com/cavomusicBy Kevin C. Johnson