Tayter Country: The Cavedogs' Recent Projects

With the recent release of The Gravy's Hangman's Pop, all three of the former Cavedogs are now accounted for. These are their most recent projects, and though none of them are particularly like The Cavedogs, they all continue in the spirit of intelligent, thoughtful power pop, each in its own way. For complete song titles, personnel, production credits, album covers and more, have a look at the Discography.

Todd Spahr
On Hangman's Pop, In 1997, The Gravy explored the darker side of pop. You get some inkling of this just by looking at the cover, which depicts a hanging in the old West (with a Gibson double-neck guitar-toting donkey watching). The songs, which were mostly written by Todd, offer a nice variety in theme and arrangement, fusing pop, grunge, progressive rock and lots of other stuff into a viscous sauce that burns the palette but leaves you wanting more. On another album, these disparate elements might fail to gell, but here they are brought into unity by the presence of Todd's familiar voice and the solid production of long-time 'Dogs associate, Jon Lupfer.
The Gravy returned to the studio in 1999 to record the 5-song Hollywood EP, the first new ex-Cavedogs music in two years. More accessible than their earlier disc, the EP never-the-less maintains a vaguely sinister tone.
The Gravy play live sporadically, mainly in the northeastern US, but occasionally wandering further abroad (as they did when I had the good fortune to catch them in Atlanta in August 1998).
For more information about The Gravy, including tour dates, and sound files, or to order copies of their CDs, visit the Q Division site.

Brian Stevens
With his album, Prettier Than You, Brian's made a spectacular comeback. His songwriting is stronger than ever, with plenty of hooks and enough variety to satisfy even someone with tastes as eclectic as mine. The songs span a number of styles, from the vaguely funky, to Beach Boys-type pop; from Sixties psychedelia to straigh rock and roll. There are some fine musical performances, as well, featuring XTC's Dave Gregory, and multi-instrumentalist/producer-of-the-moment/former member of The Grays, Jon Brion.
When asked recently what he was up to, this is why Brian had to say:
"As I write this I am doing demos that I hope will see the light of day soon. I want to call my next record "Soft" and I think that it is shaping up pretty well.
"I wrote a screenplay about a band that, though not very good, accidentally become the object of a bidding war which brings them to the brink of success and then high and dry. I wrote a few songs for the band to play and wrote some scoring music to it as well. The band's name is Carbon Dioxide which coincidentally is the title to the film. I have contemplated first doing the soundtrack album as if there was a film in existence and then the shear weight of all the people who loved the record would convince Hollywood that this would be worth millions."
For further information about Prettier Than You, and Brian's other current projects, drop by his Q Division site.

Mark Rivers
Poundcake, Mark's short-lived power trio band, took a seemingly light-hearted approach to alternative pop with their debut album/swan song, Aloha Via Satellite, but their playful music belies the caustic satire underneath. Like The Cavedogs, Poundcake might be easy to dismiss as insubstantial, but a closer look reveals glass shards hidden in the old cake. With their stripped-down arrangements, Poundcake created some memorable pop, and it's a real shame that they are no more.
Still, get their disc while you still can at Q Division's online store. As for the future: I've heard that Mark has been seen playing with the Gravy, so with any luck, he won't disapppear for a couple more years.