Cavedogs
| The Cavedogs | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Genres | Power Pop Alternative rock College rock Post-punk |
| Years active | 1987–1992 |
| Labels | Restless, Enigma, Capitol |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Mark Rivers Todd Spahr Brian Stevens |
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The Cavedogs were a rock music band that formed in Boston in the late 1980s. The band featured Brian Stevens (bass/vocals), Todd Spahr (guitar/vocals), and Mark Rivers (drums/vocals). The trio broke up in the early 1990s, but reunited for several shows in 2002.[1]
The Cavedogs were known for energetic live shows featuring finely crafted power pop songs, skillful playing, and three-part harmonies. The band also displayed a collective sense of humor while on stage and sometimes featured the comedy troupe Cross Comedy before and during shows. Performances usually ended with stirring cover songs, such as the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and the Who's "A Quick One While He's Away".
The Cavedogs released the album Joy Rides for Shut-Ins in 1990, the EP Six Tender Moments in 1991, and the album Soul Martini in 1992. The band members went on to record in bands and as solo artists after the breakup.
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[edit] History
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The Cavedogs were originally formed by Brian Stevens and Todd Spahr at the Miami University of Ohio in the early 1980's. During this time Stevens and Spahr played with a number of local musicians. Soon both Stevens and Spahr moved to Boston as The Blame with drummer Fred Entenman. Soon Entenman parted ways with Stevens and Spahr. Entenman's replacement was Mark Rivers, a Rush influenced drummer from Georgia. Soon The Cavedogs were becoming an important band on the Boston scene. Their first 2 singles, "Tayter Country" and "Leave Me Alone" were moderately successful but their third single "Baba Ganooj" (all released independently) exploded on local Boston Radio. After relentless gigging since 1985 The Cavedogs signed to Enigma Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records. Their first release on Enigma was an EP, "Six Tender Moments" after that the Cavedogs released the Ed Stasium produced "Joy Rides For Shut Ins" which was hailed as a pop masterpiece, but unfortunately "Joy Rides" did not chart though it was helpful in putting The Cavedogs on the map to the record buying public. After that The Cavedogs toured with The Dead Milkmen and Mojo Nixon an unlikely grouping that was actually quite successful. Other tours with bands The Connells and Charlatans UK were also undertaken. The Cavedogs soon embarked on the recording of the Michael Beinhorn produced "Soul Martini." The recording of this album was plagued by friction between Stevens, Beinhorn, Rivers, and Sphahr. Most of the friction was caused by the pop influenced direction of Stevens and the harder direction of Spahr and Rivers. These differences may have hurt the album that was not as universally praised as "Joy Rides." The first single released was the Rivers-penned "Boy In A Plastic Bubble" which fared well with some MTV rotation. During this time the Cavedogs toured with Dramarama and The Replacements. As the Cavedogs were about to release "Love Grenade" as the second single off of "Soul Martini" Capitol dropped The Cavedogs. Soon The Cavedogs were no more. After The Cavedogs broke up, Brian Stevens toured with Aimee Mann and recorded "Prettier Than You" with producer Jon Lupfer, Jon Brion, Dave Gregory of XTC, Merrie Amsterburg and Pete Linton of The Natives, Milt Sutton, Roberto Toledo, Clayton Scoble of The Aimee Mann Band, and Clarinetist Mark Lowenstein. After performing locally for a couple of years Brian Stevens left the music business but still is compiling demos. Todd Spahr formed "Meringue" with Mark Rivers which released the single "Drunk and Quartered". Then Spahr formed the Gravy with Glenn Foster Brown of Evol Twin, Mike Jordan of the Ken Chambers Band and a revolving cast of drummers. The Gravy released an LP, "Hangman's Pop" recorded and produced by Glenn Foster Brown and an EP, "The Hollywood EP". Recently Spahr has been involved Swedish Pop Band/Web Show "Spahrhusen". Rivers formed Poundcake with Clayton Scoble and Josh Lattanzi after the dissolution of Meringue. Poundcake released one album, "Aloha Via Satellite" But soon Rivers would also soon leave the music business. But The Cavedogs have done reunions in 2001, 2002, and 2010 [edit] Discography
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