Artists of the Month: Cavo

Cavo will be opening in support of Daughtry April 28th at Jobing.com Arena.

Get your tickets here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1E00442CD64A9CDB?brand=jobingarena

Cavo, after nearly nine years together, had a good shot of getting where they are today: releasing their major-label debut album, Bright Nights * Dark Days, last summer on Reprise Records. With songs like the propulsive first single “Champagne,” the uplifting power ballad “Let It Go,” the blistering “Cry Wolf,” and the strutting “Blame,” the album is a passionately played collection of hard-hitting rock and roll with keenly felt lyrics about life, love, and the acceptance that comes with realizing that all we can do is to try and be the best person we can for those we love. “I think it’s amazing when a songwriter can open up a piece of themselves and let the whole world see it,” says Walker, who writes Cavo’s lyrics. “It may not be beautiful, in fact it may be really ugly, but great art comes from an honest place. It has to. And that’s what we try to do with our songs.”
 
The current line-up of Cavo — which also features Chris Hobbs on guitar, Chad La Roy on drums, and Brian Smith on bass — solidified after Smith came on board in 2006, but the original nucleus formed when Walker hooked up with Hobbs and La Roy in March 2001. Walker had wanted to front a rock band ever since seeing Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder onstage for the first time. “I had sung since I was kid,” Walker says, “but seeing him made me realize that writing songs and singing with a rock band were what I had to do. And I knew immediately that Chris and Chad were doing something special. We all shared the same passion for it. Chris is someone I consider to be a musical soul-mate; he’s very artistic and has a great sense of how the end result should sound. Chad is just pure energy; his playing is like a shot of adrenaline. They’re the kind of guys who, even if they weren’t signed to a label, would still be playing music together, and that’s how I felt.”
 
That commitment to music got Walker, Hobbs, and La Roy through some rough times ahead — the group endured numerous production setbacks, a former member’s alcohol addiction, and the end of another member’s marriage, all of which is chronicled on Cavo’s aptly titled independent album, The Painful Art of Letting Go, which they self-released in 2006. “We’ve had some major losses and some major gains throughout this process, but it has only made us stronger as a band and as friends,” La Roy says. After Letting Go was released in September, Cavo were ready to hit the road. The only problem was they didn’t have a bass player. Walker knew Brian Smith from the St. Louis scene and asked him to join. “Brian coming onboard literally changed everything for Cavo,” Walker says. “When he started playing with us, everything was different. It was more intense. His technical ability gave Chris the opportunity to start indulging his creative side, which in turn shaped the sound on our new album.”
 
In January 2007, Cavo wrote their first song as a four-piece — the ringing, tribal-sounding “Useless,” which Walker feels encapsulates everything about their musical direction. “It was clearly different than anything on our previous album. It was more aggressive, probably because of Brian. He plays parts, not just notes, and that made the music more aggressive. So I had to step up my game and become a more aggressive singer to match where the music was headed.” Soon they had two more songs, “Champagne” and “Cry Wolf,” both of which made it onto an EP that got the attention of the program director at St. Louis radio station The Point, which put “Champagne” into rotation. A few live showcases in the summer of 2008 later and Cavo signed on the dotted line with Reprise Records last October. “Signing with Reprise meant everything to us,” La Roy says. “It’s a chance for the world to hear and feel our music, and an opportunity that many people can only dream about.”
 
Record producer David Bendeth, who has worked with Breaking Benjamin, Paramore, and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, among others, caught Cavo at their showcase in New York City and told the band he wanted to help them make a great album that could stand the test of time. “He basically said that he wanted to record with us whether we signed a deal or not, and his passion for our music was really inspiring,” Walker says. “In the studio, he spent the time to make the songs the best they could be. He cared about the final product and it shows.”  Adds La Roy: “I had a feeling this record was going to be something unbelievable and epic, but when I heard the final tracks, I was speechless.”
 
In addition to Cavo’s own songs, Bright Nights * Dark Days features an additional track, the powerfully emotional “Ghost,” co-written by Nixons singer/guitarist Zac Maloy, who has also worked with David Cook and Chris Daughtry, and the Norwegian songwriting team Espionage. “I was a Nixons fanatic,” Walker says, “so I had to get my geek moment out of the way when I first met Zac.”
 
“One of great things about being signed to a major label is that it allows our band so many amazing opportunities,” Walker continues. “It was also validation — like somebody telling you that what you’ve been focusing on your whole life wasn’t a waste of time. People would ask me, ‘How long are you going to keep playing in this band; when are you going to quit this hobby?’ Being in a band isn’t a hobby, it’s really hard work. But when it works, and you’re out there playing music with your best friends, it’s the best job ever.”

Learn more: http://www.cavomusic.com/

Daughtry Announces Headline Arena Tour

Opening Acts Include Main Support Theory Of A DeadMan and Opener Cavo Band Earns Fourth No. 1 Single with “No Surprise”; No. 1 Album Leave This Town has sold over half million copies in five weeks

Daughtry announces it will launch a 36-date U.S. arena tour this fall to support the group’s new studio album, LEAVE THIS TOWN. The opening acts will be main support Theory Of A DeadMan http://www.theoryofadeadman.com/ and opener Cavo http://www.cavomusic.com/. The upcoming tour will launch October 19 in Topeka, KS before ending the first leg of the tour December 20 in Evansville, IN.

The tour announcement happens while LEAVE THIS TOWN continues its impressive streak of success. The album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, has sold more than a half million copies in five weeks. The album’s first single, “No Surprise,” tops No. 1 on the Hot A/C chart this week. It is the band’s fourth #1 hit, a rare feat for any recording artist.

After finishing a sold out club tour this month, Chris Daughtry says the band is busy preparing for its upcoming arena tour. “We dreamed about how it would feel playing these songs to packed arenas, and we’re excited to get our chance,” Chris says. “We have a great show planned and can’t wait to hit the road to share it with our fans.”

LEAVE THIS TOWN is Daughtry’s first album to debut at the top of the Billboard 200 and its second consecutive No. 1 album, selling 269,299 copies sold in its first week of release.

Daughtry fans can locate tour and ticket information online at http://www.daughtryofficial.com/.

The following is the confirmed tour routing with on sale dates:

Tickets On Sale: Saturday, August 22

October 19 Topeka, KS Kansas Expocentre
October 21 Omaha, NE Omaha Civic Auditorium
October 22 Ames, IA Hilton Coliseum
October 24 Madison, WI Alliant Energy Center
October 25 Peoria, IL Peoria Civic Center
October 26 Ft. Wayne, IN Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
October 28 Lansing, MI Breslin Events Center
October 29 Saginaw, MI Dow Events Center
October 31 Toledo, OH Lucas County Arena
November 2 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
November 4 Youngstown, OH Covelli Centre
November 5 Reading, PA Sovereign Center
November 6 Atlantic City, NJ Trump Taj Mahal

Tickets On Sale: Saturday, September 19

November 12 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
November 13 Highland Heights, KY The Bank of Kentucky Center
November 14 Huntington, WV Big Sandy Superstore Arena
November 16 Wilkes-Barre, PA Wachovia Arena
November 17 Bridgeport, CT Arena at Harbor Yard
November 19 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center
November 20 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena

Tickets On Sale: Saturday, September 26

November 30 Gainesville, FL Stephen Connell Center
December 1 Tallahassee, FL Tallahassee County Civic Center
December 2 Pensacola, FL Pensacola Civic Center
December 4 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena
December 5 Louisville, KY Broadbent Arena
December 7 Tupelo, MS BancorpSouth Arena
December 8 Bossier City, LA CenturyTel Center
December 9 Lafayette, LA Cajundome
December 11 Corpus Christi, TX American Bank Center
December 12 San Antonio, TX Freeman Coliseum
December 13 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center
December 15 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
December 16 Jonesboro, AR ASU Convocation Center
December 18 Little Rock, AR Verizon Arena
December 19 Southaven, MS DeSoto Civic Center
December 20 Evansville, IN Roberts Stadium

Cavo joins Crüe Fest 2