Review Fix Exclusive: Q & A With Coheed and Cambria/Davenport Cabinet Guitarist Travis Stever

Review Fix chats with Coheed and Cambria guitarist Travis Stever, who discusses his side project Davenport Cabinet. Steever also discusses the band’s new album “Our Machine” and how they are different from Coheed and Cambria.

Review Fix: How was the band formed?

Travis Stever: It was just a project I created as a fun thing to stretch out in different directions musically. It acts as therapeutic for me. With Rory Hohenberger playing drums, it was a project where I would juts float along making new sounds. On “Our Machine,” I started creating more centered songs and really started playing attention to details more. And challenging myself. I also began practicing to become better vocally. As it turned out, my cousin Tyler Klose began working with me and I liked what we were doing. So much that I wanted it to be part of this project. Tyler then became a permanent fixture in the cabinet and a big part of our machine.

Review Fix: How do this band challenge you to be a better musician?

Stever: It challenges me to take new chances on new sounds and instruments and not be afraid of the results anything can turn out to be something usable.

Review Fix: What can you do with Davenport Cabinet that you can’t do with Coheed and Cambria?

Stever: In Coheed, I speak with my guitar. In Davenport, I can speak with whatever instrument I want.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration behind Black Dirt Burden? How was it written?

Stever: That song is actually about the hurricane that hit New York, Sandy. It is about how it affected the area I live in- farmers and other businesses, home owners. The music was actually all written around the banjo part that starts the song. I added a guitar riff that wrapped around that line and created a chorus and bridge riff and then I played drums. Tyler then added another guitar and I added the lead guitar with talk box. After all of this, I asked my friend Tom Farkas to play bass. I play bass on all rest of songs, but felt this song could benefit from another perspective. After we had all music done, Tyler and I wrote lyrics and vocal melody together about the hurricane.

Review Fix: What song on this album best personifies the band?

Stever: I would have to say “Drown it all.” It is a great example of how Tyler and I can harmonize well together. Both of our acoustic guitar comfort shows. And Rory plays a perfect driving beat with brushes.

Review Fix: How is the creative process with this band different from C&C?

Stever: It is and it isn’t. It’s different for me because Coheed is Claudio’s therapy in a sense. It is a place for him to write about the life experiences he’s has. And he does it in a very amazing and unique way. It is developed into a whole universe and story that people can dive into. Him being less of a heart on a sleeve person, that is how he is comfortable writing. That world covers him from being naked. When I write a song for Davenport, it’s pretty much heart on sleeves, that’s just how I am. It’s similar to Coheed in the way the music is built. It is usually built on a riff that Claudio has or even keyboard parts he may write. We all then add to that.

Sometimes a riff I show him tickles his fancy and he will write to that. It is always a great experience to write with him. I can usually tell if a riff might make him excited and may make Coheed ears perk up. A lot of Davenport stuff is from a different angle that just isn’t a Coheed kind of thing.

Review Fix: How do you want this CD to be remembered?

Stever: I want it to be remembered period.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the band?

Stever: To play some shows mixing our songs with some kick ass covers.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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