Cap Averill II

Bass, Keyboards, Banjo, Vocals

Young Heart Roams Free

Excerpts from the Toledo City Paper article “Lens Cap” written by Jason Webber:

Seated amidst the dim lighting of the Claddagh Irish Pub, nursing a Black & Tan, Averill recalls a childhood sprinkled with seeds of what would later grow to become his big obsessions in life – music, photography, and audio. He first picked up a guitar at the age of 5, learning Jim Croce songs from a hippie guitar player. Around 8, his grandfather gave him a box of old cameras, which sparked a lifelong interest in photography. [he also had a cassette tape recorder that would mark a pivotal event in his young life.]

When Cap was 6, his dad was stricken with a rare, debilitating disease. While his dad lay for weeks in a hospital bed, Cap Jr. decided to cheer him up by recording a bunch of songs from his 45 RPM records onto a cassette tape. Between songs, he taped himself acting as a deejay, cracking jokes and doing whatever he could to cheer up his dad. This was in the ‘60s, long before anyone knew what a “mix tape” was.

“Dad loved it,” says Averill, smile widening and green eyes twinkling. “And he got better.” Today, father and son remain close.

As he got older, he shook of his grade school shyness to play guitar in a variety of bands, doing mostly Beatles covers. His interest in music grew; he spent hours listening to guitar gods like Clapton and Santana, as well as the alternative bands of the day – Paul Revere and the Raiders, Frank Zappa, 5 Man Electrical Band and the like. Upon graduating from Sylvania Northview High School in 1981, he enrolled at the Ohio State University.

Returning to Northwest Ohio wasn’t that bad for Averill. He was working and also providing guitar lessons out of Pro Music and Village Electronics in Sylvania, then owned by Jack Runyon, an orchestra leader who played with Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and many other big-band greats. Sometimes he would jam with The Bears, a Sylvania band who made a name for themselves playing with guitar virtuoso Adrian Belew.

Averill once caught a Belew concert out in Santa Barbara and it blew him away.

“I left for California thinking that’s where you had to go to make it in the music business. But here I am at the Belew show and he’s playing with these guys from Sylvania.”

In ’91, he started a band named Onion with some old friends. They became quite popular in the Toledo area, playing at Frankie’s and other music clubs. For Averill, it was the choicest of opportunities – getting a chance to write and play original compositions with old friends, including his childhood buddy Kim Kalouria. Onion broke up in 1998, but Kalouria and Averill still played music and socialized together.