Jay Cavanaugh's Bio  

I began playing bass guitar in 1972 at the tender age of 14 at the request of my friends. It seemed nobody wanted to play bass. Drums, lead guitar, vocals, but not bass! At the time I believed the bass to sound like a tuba until I heard the (West, Bruce + Laing) album “Why Don’t Ya”. Listening to Jack Bruce’s aggressive growling lead like bass lines changed my life and set the wheels in motion for a journey into maverick artistic self expression.

From the word go I wanted to write my own music. I skipped the usual copy bands and started writing my own tunes. I put the cart before the horse. I spent a lot of time in an altered state practicing, jamming and trying to ape the bass lines of Jack Bruce and Felix Pappalardi. By 1979 I was attempting to get a record deal with the original band (Tranz Atlantic). That band imploded while recording at RCA studios. We were too young and unstable, in short, doomed. So I moved on and started taking voice lessons.

In the 80’s I did double and triple duty as bassist, writer and lead vocalist with my alternative band “Gray Zone”. At the same time I played bass for bucks with the 50’s revival band the famous “Del Vikings” of (Come Go With Me) fame and moonlighted with another original band (Paladin). In 1986 I spent some time in West Virginia interacting with Robert Fripp (King Crimson) and the league of crafty guitarists.

As a subtext to my band activities, I studied vocal acting technique at Ron Panvini’s studio for singers. This was at the time an experimental process incorporating Gestalt dialogue and Bio energetic exercises as well as singing and acting.

As the 80’s went out with a whimper my interest in music took a back seat. For me the 90’s saw me in a few copy bands and one original band (Sol Tree) an acoustic ensemble that tried in vain to take advantage of the female front then in vogue.

Always restless I felt the acting bug slowly creeping up my pant leg. As the 80’s came to a close I jumped ship and dove head first into the murky waters of underground theater. From 1990 to 1998 I worked on dozens of productions as actor, writer and director. I kept one foot in the alternative world one foot in the main stream through community theater productions of plays like, Luther, The Devils Disciple and Beckett. After burning myself out on an, off, off Broadway production of “Dante’s Inferno”(pun intended) I had reached rock bottom. I felt the terrible sensation that one feels if they think all their efforts have been for nothing. I was knee deep into a drinking problem and burned out, a physical wreak. Either I did something about it or I perished into the abyss of martini-induced hell. (I detoxified myself and started from scratch)

I was ready for something new, “Radio Plays”! I spent 1999 locked away in a tight little recording studio, located in at friends 5th floor walk up. (The living Room) I talked, sang and yelled into a microphone. This eventually led to a gig doing both human and “Mutant Alien” voices for Bill Plympton’s animated feature film, called of all things “Mutant Aliens”. During my time as voice for various radio plays and CD storybooks, I brought an old band mate (Jon Diaz) into the studio for some sound track work and thus began a steady determined reemergence onto the New York music scene.

Missing both stage acting and live music I began a two-pronged attack on the worlds of music and you guessed it, Film! I formed a duo with Jon, called “Where’s my angel?” We explored totally eclectic territory. Spoken word, Foley enhanced sound-scapes, world rhythms and theatrical off beat lyrics, all evident on the CD “Where’s my Angel?” (Available for purchase direct from the artists, e-mail for info)

I played bass for the soon to be released Vera Beren Project, a decidedly left of center musical adventure as well as session work with London based singer songwriter Nadine Kouri. I’m now happily involved in the band A.O.K. aka Agents of Karma, with yet another ex band mate, Conrad Sparnroft (Never say never.)

Simultaneously I have been busy with acting classes, auditions and appearances in some two dozen independent films and DV’s. You can find me on www.imdb.com by name. Imdb is a film website where my picture and credits hang with the Hollywood “A” list. I’m not quite on the “D” list yet, but I’m getting there. I’m currently studying method-acting technique with Misner graduate Miz Silkie O’Ishi.

I can’t be certain what the future holds, but I can see myself exploring film scores, screen writing and perhaps some day directing. I have no intention of slowing down the experience machine in the new millennium.

When looking back on events that changed my life and outlook on the arts, I’d have to site loosing my father at age 18 in the middle of my teenage wasteland period, hearing Yes’s Close to the edge LP in 1972, hearing Jack Bruce play bass, seeing Genesis with Peter Gabriel perform the entire “ Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” while tripping on two hit’s of LSD, studying vocal technique with Ron Panvini, experiencing theater for the first time in London in 1990’s (The Trackers of Oxyrincus) by Tony Roberts and finally for lack of space, Movies, lots of them, too many to mention that have shaped my sub-consciousness.

I’ve taken a lot of diverse paths to get to the present moment. Lots of practice, discipline + struggle. I’ve never been one to take the safe route to get anywhere. Consequently it takes longer to arrive. But it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than always driving on the same road. I wish my friends well and my enemy’s enlightenment so we might meet again as brothers and sisters. It’s all-good!
To be continued. Jay Cavanaugh, 2004