Laid-back local lads, ‘The Cavs’, are a five-piece indie-rock band with roots in Eccles, Salford.
The band members are: (Absent from photograph) Elliot Craven- lead vocals, James McCauley- rhythm guitar, Michael Carney- Bass, Chris Terry- Lead guitar and Arthur Townson- drums.
Formally known as ‘The Cavaliers’, after a couple of swap arounds to a new drummer and a new bass player, they formed a little over a year ago, with all current band members, changing their name to ‘The Cavs.’
Terry said: “We dropped the, ‘iers’, we were the Cavaliers before that but we shortened our name, much cooler, slick, smooth.”
“Slips off your tongue”: Carney laughed.
On how they first met and got together, Terry continued in jest: “I met James on a night out and we just sort of got chatting. He looked like someone who wanted to be in a band and I was desperate for someone.
“I had a few failed attempts at getting some people together…and he kept coming back.
He added: “We got Arthur through a mutual friend of ours, Elliot came as baggage with James and I worked with Michael at a restaurant in Manchester.”
For most of the time ‘The Cavs‘ have been together, the nation has been under a lockdown and so it has been an unusual time for the band. They shared their experience of how they have coped, in a humorous manner: “Just constant breakdowns really…crying on the phone to each other”, joked Eccles lad, McCauley.
Terry also said: “It’s a shame really because we were getting a little bit of momentum. We weren’t anything massive but every gig we played was better and got a little bit bigger…it really took the rug from underneath us.
“But, we came back with five or six new songs…and the music we came back with was in a different direction.
“We worked on our own playing…our own writing and our different influences so, instead of just being a loud band in a room, we had to play a little bit quieter and so it gave us a bit of a different sound.”
You can really tell that the band have experimented with bringing each of their own influences and styles into the mix making the most of the extra time on their hands during lockdown. Although they would say they ‘haven’t really evolved yet’ and are ‘still finding their feet’ with their own unique signature sound, their latest track really shows off the work they have put into it as they’ve honed in on their combined talents:
‘Round The Town I was born’ is their latest single which the band released in April this year, in the midst of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
This song is a little gentler than their other tracks and shows off their ability to produce new and different quality music that still sounds like ‘The Cavs’ but even more polished. It’s a little slower in pace than their previous tracks, carefully constructed and somewhat more emotive with elements of ‘Oasis’ as a musical influence. It’s a proper northern indie track with plenty of interesting layers that just keep on giving and is perhaps their strongest and best track yet.
On their plans for 2021 and life after lockdown, the band hope to get back to gigging and releasing more new music: “Bigger gigs, sell-out gigs and better songs”, said Terry.
“A number one one”,laughed McCauley.
The band have a great sense of humour and good chemistry, it’s clear they are passionate about making music, their future is looking bright and hopefully 2021 will have bigger things in store for them, 2020 was all in preparation.
You can listen to ‘The Cavs’ on Spotify.
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