Rockers Cavo

We’re not going to suggest that St. Louis’ Cavo is a band to watch just because it has a deal with Warner Bros./Reprise. (check out the Go! section of Friday’s Post-Dispatch to see other bands we recommend).

Cavo caught our attention because the music on the band’s upcoming CD “Bright Nights * Dark Days” is so good — radio-ready rock jams perfect for dominating the airwaves this summer.

Band members knew they had something special after they finished recording the incredibly hooky debut single from the CD, “Champagne.”

“Everyone in our camp knew this song had the potential to be big,” singer Casey Walker says, and they were right.

The song paved the way for Cavo to set up several showcases, along with an opening slot for Stone Temple Pilots at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater last summer.

Warner Bros. flew in for the Stone Temple Pilots show, followed by the band’s trip to New York to showcase for other Warner executives. Then the band signed up to work with David Bendeth (Breaking Benjamin, Paramore, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), who produced their CD.

The deal with Warner Bros. was done by October.

Shortly after the signing, Walker, guitarist Chris Hobbs, drummer Chad La Roy and bassist Brian Smith were told they were meeting with a Post-Dispatch reporter for an interview at Babylon in St. Charles. When the musicians got there, they learned it was actually a celebration full of family and friends.

Without wanting to sound like a cliché, Walker says, signing with Warner Bros. was the greatest feeling ever.

“All your life, you’re working toward this one goal,” he says. “It’s been seven or eight years of us doing this, and then someone steps in and says what you’re doing sounds good. That’s some vindication.”

The band originally thought its big break would come with “A Space to Fill” in 2003.

“People out there used to ask us when are we going to quit this hobby,” Walker says. “It’s not a hobby.”

Catch Cavo May 23 at Pointfest at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

Get more information at www.cavomusic.com.