Formed over two decades ago, St. Louis based Rock band Cavo has travelled a long road. Working hard during their early days developing a sound and building an audience through playing local shows, it all paid off in 2008 when the song “Champagne” first caught the attention of a local radio station; soon to draw the interest from Warner/Reprise Records. Exciting for Cavo, they signed on with the label, released their album Bright Nights Dark Days in 2009, and found themselves peaking in Hard Rock charts. Latching on tour with big acts such as Shinedown and Daughtry, by 2010, they even hit the road on their first ever headlining run with support from the likes of Shaman’s Harvest.
An inspiring story, they parlayed this into more success, signing on next with the fast rising Eleven Seven Music (more recently rebranded to Better Noise Music), going onto to release their also highly charted album Thick as Thieves in 2012. From here, Cavo has continued to sustain themselves; releasing their album Bridges independently in 2015, re-releasing it as a deluxe edition via Pavement Entertainment in 2017, before rebundling it again for a 2021 release Bridges, Bright Nights & Thieves through INgrooves/The Label Group. Showing their dedication and determination to stay the course through the rough waters of the music industry, now in 2023 they are back with their first EP of all new material in quite some time.
Calling the EP The Shakes, it was released on September 1st through TLG/Ingrooves. Seeming like a good place for Cavo to be, allegedly the plan is for 6 EPs in the future; 3 with originals, 3 with cover songs. First releasing a covers EP called Covers, Vol. 1 in August, it featured some cool takes on known favorites such as The Police’s “Synchronicity II,” The Cars’ “Drive,” plus more. That in mind, while the covers are very good, many are interested in some original music from Cavo since it has been awhile.
Complete with Chris Hobbs on guitar, Andy Herrin on drums, Brian Smith on bass, and Casey Walker on vocals, Cavo has certainly honed in their songwriting skills over time. Evident when the mainstream were first exposed to the catchy single “Champagne,” the band’s songwriting abilities only developed from here. A product of hard work, they also harness the experiences of working with the likes of Zac Maloy of The Nixons, but also recording with David Bendeth (producer of others such as Tonight Alive, We Came As Romans) and Blue October’s Matt Noveskey. Broadening their sound to a lot, the songs featured on The Shakes are further examples of such.
Complete with 5 tracks, The Shakes is made up of well-produced, well-written modern Rock music that lies somewhere between heavier Rock and Alternative Rock. Mature, each of them really stands on their own. This in mind, you have the more Pop Rock sounds of the title-track and “Dizzy,” but also more progressive elements heard on songs like “Not Over You,” as well as “Comes Back On” This is while “Feels The Same” would fit nicely in the realm of Alternative Rock radio, in a perfect world, alongside others the likes of Dishwalla, Default, etc.
Overall, Cavo thoroughly impress with their progression as songwriters and ability to produce something that stands out in the modern Rock world. And for those who were unaware that Cavo was still around, this is a wakeup call to check out this EP with an eye toward what may come thereafter. That is why Cryptic Rock gives The Shakes 4 out of 5 stars.
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