Obengenannter Künstler ist auch zu hören auf folgenden Alben / Artist also worked on the following records:

Gleich bei den ersten Hörproben in das neue CHRIS CACAVAS-Album Self Taut wird klar, dass der Mann wieder richtig angreifen will! Mit 9 hochkarätigen Alben hat uns der beliebte Amerikaner seit 1989 klasse unterhalten, mit seiner persönlichen, auf Dauer immer introvertierter und ruhiger werdenden Musik am melancholischen Nerv gepackt und mit Neil Young-ähnlichem Guitar Rock begeistert. Zuletzt schien er das Interesse am lauten, elektrischen Rock'n Roll weitgehend verloren zu haben - das spiegelte sich auch in seinen fast folkhaften Solokonzerten im neuen Jahrtausend wieder. Noch auf dem 2002er Album Bumbling Home From The Star, dem Abschiedswerk für seine langjährige deutsche Plattenfirma Normal, verwendete er mehr Keyboards als Gitarren, dominierten morbide Balladen und komplizierte Songpuzzles.

Self Taut ist der Start bei Blue Rose und gleichzeitig ein Schritt "back into the future" zum erdigen Gitarrenrock von vor 10-15 Jahren, als er mit seiner damaligen Combo Junkyard Love klassische Alben wie Good Times, Pale Blonde Hell und New Improved Pain veröffentlichte. Aber schon vor dieser Laufbahn unter eigener Regie konnte sich der vielseitig begabte Musiker in die Annalen aller fachkundigen Rocklexika eintragen. Als Gründungsmitglied der legendären Green On Red aus Arizona war er mit seinem typisch flirrenden Orgelsound neben Dan Stuart und etwas später Chuck Prophet stilprägend für die großen GOR-Platten Gravity Talks, Gas Food Lodging, No Free Lunch und The Killer Inside Me. In dieser Ära avancierte Cacavas auch zu einem der meistfrequentierten Studiomusiker für unzählige "Wüstenrock"-Sessions von Rang zwischen Tucson und Los Angeles. Sein Name steht in den Booklets von Rich Hopkins, Chris Burroughs, River Roses, Russ Tolman, Naked Prey, Ghosthouse, Leaving Trains, Romans, Dream Syndicate, Downsiders u.v.m. Besondere Erwähnung verdienen seine engen Kontakte zu Howe Gelb/Giant Sand und Steve Wynn, die ihn immer wieder gerne als Tastenmann für ihre Tourneen rekrutierten - so hielt er sich seit den 90ern verstärkt in Europa auf, wurde Deutschland letztendlich zu seiner neuen Wahlheimat.

Jüngste Konzerte mit Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 (als Keyboards-Begleiter und Solovorprogramm!) deuteten bereits darauf hin, dass Chris Cacavas wie früher die etwas größere Independent-Rockbühne betreten würde, mit einer eigenen Band, die seinen sowieso begnadet melodischen Songs Dynamik, Aggressivität und Rhythmus verleiht. Mit den Slivers Of Hope zog er im November 2003 ins White Lodge Studio in Ludwigsburg und spielte 12 brandneue Eigenkompositionen (plus den Bonus Track "Nothing In My Way") ein. Die Rhythm Section bilden wie zuletzt auf Bumbling Home From The Star und der fast parallel erschienenen, limitierten Kneel-CD Bassist Ed Kampwirth und Drummer Brandon Laws. Die ganz speziellen Klänge auf der Electric Lead und Lap Steel stammen von keinem Geringeren als Jason Victor, der regulär zu Steve Wynns Band gehört und uns dort ja schon oft mit seiner originellen Saitentechnik begeistern konnte. Cacavas selber spielt wie zu allerbesten Junkyard Love-Zeiten seine treibenden elektrischen und akustischen Rhythmusgitarren, veredelt zusätzlich etliche Tracks mit Orgel, Electric Piano oder Synthesizer. So erscheint Self Taut in einem vollen, kompakten Klangbild, das sowohl den Midtempo-Rockern als auch den clever dazwischen gestreuten semiakustischen Balladen optimal gerecht wird. Und über all der hochengagierten, stringent und diszipliniert ausgeführten Musik erhebt sich der leidenschaftlich klagende Gesang, die einfühlsam emotionale Stimme von Chris Cacavas, die an Schärfe und Prägnanz sogar noch dazu gewonnen hat. Ein außerordentlich gelungenes Comeback eines wichtigen Musikers, der eigentlich nie wirklich weg war!

Auch hier haben wir bereits 4 Hörproben: "Already Gone", "Sleepwalk", "Heaven Is Hell" und "Walk On Water".

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CHRIS CACAVAS was born in Tucson, Arizona in May of 1961. By the time he was ten he was already discovering the strong emotional impact music can have as he sat, with brown vinyl Radio Shack headphones on, listening to the Beatles "She's Leaving Home" and feeling his eyes fill with tears. Maybe it was that this song told the story of the real life event of his older sister leaving home and being in and out of "halfway" houses or maybe it was just the overwhelming beauty of the song itself.

Regardless of the reason it inspired a subconscious quest to tangle and untangle the connection between music and emotion. For most people music is a soundtrack to their life with the good times, or bad, forever connected to whatever song was playing at that moment and, not unlike the scent of your first lover, can bring a flood of memories when heard, or smelled, again years later. Sadly, many music listeners refuse to leave the safe haven of the music first heard, and first connected to post childhood euphoria, and therefore limit the scope of their possible musical experience. Chris is hell bent against this, as he calls it, affliction. The antidote, or in this case preventive medicine, is a combination of an open mind and open ears. Shortly after the Beatles epiphany he began his nearly obsessive pursuit to experience as much good music as possible - and his obsession continues to this day. It started with the 7" and 12" records of his older brother and sister. Isley Brothers, Janis Joplin, Velvet Underground's "White Light, White Heat", T-Rex, David Bowie etc. as well as the records from his parents which included Johnny Cash, The Band, Thelonious Monk, Allen Sherman, Bob Dylan and others.

At one point Chris began the "mandatory for all Cacavas children" piano lessons. Chris says: "I wasn't into learning and rehearsing the classical stuff but I enjoyed the theory and, anyway, loved to sit at the piano for hours and play whatever nonsense I could manage to play". He soon asked his prim and proper piano teacher if she could get him some books on "How to play the Blues" which she did and thus began his descent into the "devil's music".
At 16 years of age he was at his personal crossroads and had to choose between staying in school or drinking beer and skateboarding in empty swimming pools with his buddies. Of course the lure of partying and skinned knees was too strong and his academic life ended there. Therefore, he entered the fetal stage of his musical history by joining a band called TVS (Third Venetian School of Music). Warren Frank played guitar and sang his original songs as well as covers by Patti Smith, Velvet Underground and others. There was a female singer, a bass player and the drums were played by the late Bruce Mounce. Chris played an electric piano with an ironing board for a stand. The next musical adventure was with the band the Pedestrians. The Pedestrians played originals as well as covers by Devo, Stranglers, Iggy Pop, Ramones etc. and were at the forefront of the Tucson punk scene with other local bands the Pills and Z-9.

Next he joined the band the Serfers with Dan Stuart, Jack Waterson and Van Christian. This band would later move to Los Angeles to become Green On Red. Cacavas played on the first 5 records and toured in the States and in Europe where they performed a now (cult) famous live performance on the German television show Rockpalast. After the epic GOR record The Killer Inside Me and the stressful European tour that followed Dan re-formed the band with only himself and Chuck Prophet remaining as original members. This gave Chris the opportunity to begin his solo career and he made his first record (Chris Cacavas & Junkyard Love) with Steve Wynn at the producer helm and Pat Thomas, of Heyday Records fame, waiting in the eaves to release it. Shortly thereafter his first and second release (Good Times) were licensed to the German label Normal Records. For his third solo effort he signed directly to Normal and that began a relationship that lasted for ten years and six records (Pale, Blonde, Hell, Dwarf Star, New Improved Pain, Anonymous, Bumbling Home From The Star, and Kneel) .

That brings us to the year 2004 and Chris Cacavas has just completed his latest record, Self Taut, for his new label Blue Rose Records. "I wanted to make a record that combined the muted songwriting elements of my last 3 recordings with the brooding bombast of the Junkyard Love era" Chris says. " The rhythm section, Ed Kampwirth on bass and Brandon Laws on drums, flew from Long Beach California and met in Ludwigsburg, Germany to record for two weeks in a home studio ("The White Lodge"). Cacavas discovered while producing the band "Coffee in Duluth". "Jason Victor, the guitarist who destroyed amplifiers, stages and young women's hearts while on tour with Steve Wynn joined upon the completion of Steve's 2003 European Fall Tour and played monstrously well. "Ed and Brandon killed it as well and I'm really proud of these 12 songs", Chris said. With Rainer Lolk engineering and Chris producing this collection of introspective songs inspired by relationships, culture shock and the end of "life as we knew it" the result is a melting pot of pop/rock/folk/noir that flows like a good multi course meal should.

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