Craving Theo

Calvin Baty - vocals, guitar
Bob Capka - guitar
Jason Dunn - drums
Brian McMillen - bass

"I believe lyrics should take you on a journey," says Calvin Baty, the principal songwriter of the Portland-based rock band Craving Theo. "Whether it's a story that's happened to me, somebody in the band, or to somebody I know or have heard about, I would never go out and tell people these stories verbatim necessarily. I think the songs will always have a certain amount of openness to them…for people's own interpretation."

Baty's describing the essential dreamlike ambiguity, and dramatic tension, of Craving Theo's music: hard-rocking, yet tuneful; complex, yet direct; intuitive, yet fully-conscious; deeply personal, yet universal in its sentiments; as passionate as it is committed. For the members of Craving Theo, the band is about the full-on expression of desire, the unquenchable longing that fires dreams and fuels ambitions, the white-hot burning hunger at the core of the human condition. Craving Theo is about that divine crossroads where yearning meets fulfillment and rock meets roll. Craving Theo is about maximizing the moment and living life to its fullest potential.

"Stomp," the roaring moshpit anthem of catharsis which opens Craving Theo's debut album was originally inspired by some crooked business deals gone from bad to worse and finds the singer turning his rage-against-the-system inside-out to discover the sheer visceral impact of psychic liberation within. Small wonder that "Stomp" became a regional hit in the Pacific Northwest (with airplay soon accruing in Portland and other markets). But, "Stomp" is only the beginning. On Craving Theo, the band's debut album, there are ten other tracks of "Stomp"-caliber intensity, each song opening itself up "for people's self-interpretation."

Craving Theo is: Calvin Baty (vocals, guitar), Bob Capka (guitar), Jason Dunn (drums), and Brian McMillen (bass). Each member of the band is a veteran of numerous garage bands and brings his own set of strengths to the Craving Theo party. Calvin Baty first picked up a guitar at the age of 6, studying with Portland's John Weaver. Counting Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Godsmack, Rob Zombie and "many more" among his influences and personal favorites, Baty created his own signature blend of metal crunch and melodic/harmonic invention.

By August 1999, Craving Theo was working together as a three-piece (Calvin, Jason, Brian) and played "like, one gig" in that configuration. Having "played hundreds of sh*tbag gigs" between them over the years, the group came to the conclusion that, in order to realize their common dream, it would make more sense to actually create a body of work--an album--and so they hooked up with producer Rick Parashar (Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Stereomud). During the making of the album, they decided to round out the three-piece sound with the ferocious fretwork of a longtime Portland band crony, guitarist Bob Capka, another prodigy who'd been playing guitar since the age of 6.

Finishing the album in October 2000, Craving Theo began performing live gigs. Booked to play Anne Rice's Halloween Party in New Orleans and the 3 Doors Down "paranormal party" in Portland the next day, Craving Theo sleep-depped their way through both shows with enormous passion and energy "and that kind of ignited things." KUFO, a local Portland radio station started to play "Stomp" and, from November 2000 to February 2001, as email, snail mail and phone requests continued to roll in, the track zipped up to the #1 slot at the station. And, as attention to the song grew, so did attendance at Craving Theo shows. Pulling an audience of rock fans of all ages, Craving Theo was becoming too big a draw for Portland's tiny clubs. "The show is really high energy, a lot of fun," says Bob. "You know, positive energy, not like a show where everybody wants to kill each other or something."

Craving Theo began to market and distribute the group's DIY album on their own "Intruder Records" label. "We were just putting them in stores ourselves," Calvin remembers, "and selling them at shows, that sort of thing." The band members knew all along that Craving Theo belonged on a major label, and, with the regional success of "Stomp" and the band's burgeoning reputation fueling the fires, the time had come. Drawn to Columbia Records' "old school artist development," Craving Theo has found a home. The rest, as they say, will be history.