Cavedogs Don’t Mind the Lofty Comparisons

For a while there, the word was going around that the members of the Cavedogs--who play the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight--were related to Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend and the late Keith Moon. Just a rumor, it turned out. Still, when aficionados talk about the Boston-based trio’s sound, comparisons to the Who and the Beatles do crop up almost constantly.

“I guess it’s better than being compared to ABBA,” says Cavedogs’ bass player Brian Stevens. “Really, I don’t mind being compared to these bands, if it’s done lovingly.”

There’s more to the Cavedogs, though, than their outstanding Who/Beatles-esque pop. There’s also a certain edge to their sound that conjures up the likes of Husker Du and the Jam. Stevens also lists the Kinks among his all-time favorite bands.

“Meaningful pop” is what Stevens says he and his band mates like. “We all have an affection for music from the mid-’60s.” He, guitarist Todd Spahr and drummer Mark Rivers got their own start about five years ago, and reports of their high-powered gigs spread quickly throughout the Boston-area club scene.

A bootleg recording of a Cavedogs show surfaced on a Boston radio station. The band’s first official release, “Joy Ride for Shut-Ins,” is on the Enigma label. All the songs on it date back to the band’s early days, but Rivers says the sound hasn’t changed much since then. “We’ve matured a bit, and it’s reflected in our songwriting,” he said. “But we have no plans to abandon what we do and go off somewhere else.”