In the local music scene, “V” is for Veio
The current lineup in Veio features, in front, Cameron Byrd, back row, from left, Matt Lueck, Jameson Force, Kris Lewis (courtesy Cameron Byrd)
Sometimes it takes a rock band years before it strikes gold. And then, the hits can come with a rush.
Cameron Byrd hopes that is what is happening with the Portland band Veio, which has hit the charts with its recent single, “Door Wide Open.”
The song, recorded in 2024 in a studio in Nashville, was released in April and has hit No. 33 in the Billboard rock chart and “in the 30s” in the media-based chart, Byrd says.
“It has gotten good reviews all around,” says Byrd, a singer/guitarist/pianist and the only remaining original member of the group. “That has been really encouraging for all of us.”
Veio and bandmates Kris Lewis (bass), Jameson Force (guitar) and Matt Lueck (drums) have been busy putting together new music for an album that will feature “Door Wide Open.”
The song and some other new material “will probably be bundled into an album when we do a full-length release, maybe by year’s end or early 2026,” says Byrd, whose day job is in sporting goods distribution.
What Veio has produced so far is resonating with music fans. The band’s songs are getting 63,695 monthly listeners on streaming service Spotify.
Byrd, who says he is “in my late 30s,” grew up in Camas and attended Portland Christian High. Cam and younger brother Brett started playing the piano in grade school.
“I picked up guitar at about 11, and we started playing together as a two-piece band,” Cam says. “After our college years, we started getting more serious about it.”
Their father Craig Byrd (a sponsor of kerryeggers.com) wasn’t a musician, “but the music he listened to had an influence on us, growing up listening to the likes of Led Zeppelin and (Jimi) Hendrix,” Cam says.
In 2010, the Byrd brothers formed Veio, the name coming from a city in ancient Italy. Cam says he is a “history nerd.” The Byrds read an article about a statue of the Greek god Apollo discovered in Veio that had been buried for centuries.
Cam hopes to get Veio back on the road for some touring in the near future (Cameron Byrd)
“We thought, ‘That’s a cool, off-the-beaten-path, artistic name that would be good to call our band,’ ” Cam says.
Veio operated as a trio for several years and, in 2017, came out with a debut album, “Infinite Light/Desperate Shadows.”
“That got us on the map regionally,” Cam says.
During those years, Veio often toured domestically, working alongside a variety of bands.
“We have been on some pretty decent-sized tours,” Byrd says. “The biggest tour was with Seether in 2018. We were playing in front of crowds of between 1,000 and 5,000 people a night. That was super fun.”
In 2020 came a second album, “Vitruvius.”
“We gave a theme lyrically to each track,” Byrd says. “It spans a bunch of different human experience, from sovereignty to depression and anxiety to grief to awe and wonder.”
One of the singles off that album, “Flare of Defiance,” made the circuit on the national radio scene and gained the group some prominence.
Veio went through a dormant period through the pandemic, though, and Brett Byrd dropped from the group in 2021. Lewis came aboard and teamed with Cam to write most of their music through 2023.
“I have always written poetically, rather than just straightforward stuff,” Cam says.
In recent years, Byrd and Lewis have visited Nashville to do work in a studio there. That is how “Door Wide Open” came about.
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“One of the producers (Zac Maloy) had an idea, which spawned from his son going off to college in New York City,” Byrd says. “He was burning out on the whole college thing and not knowing what he wanted to do. They talked about it and Zac told him, ‘Hey, just finish school.’ And his son said, ‘No, I am done with this, for now at least. I want to come home.’ Zac was left saying, ‘OK, go do you, and if it doesn’t work out, I am still going to be here for you as a dad.’ ”
Blair Daly and Kile Odell are the others on the team with which Byrd and Lewis write and produce in Nashville. “Door Wide Open” was co-written by all of them. Byrd sings and plays piano on the tune. Odell and Dustie Waring of the band “Between the Buried and Me” provide additional instrumentation.
Within the last year, Byrd and Lewis have added Force and Lueck to the group. “We are a fresh lineup,” Cam says.
“Door Wide Open” seems a ballad, but how does Byrd describe the music Veio plays?
“Until recently, we have never fit into a box with a particular genre,” he says. “We have been kind of all over the place with our music. Alternative metal is probably a good description.”
Byrd lists Hendrix as a major influence on his music, but there are also the likes of Dustin Kenzie of Thrice and Adam Jones of Tool, along with bands Meshuggah, Tesseract, Karnivool and Chevelle.
“Most of those bands are hard rock/metal,” Cam says, “but I have been influenced by everything under the sun.”
The current incarnation of Veio played a recent gig at Dante’s in downtown Portland.
“We are hunting for new management and looking for new bookings,” Byrd says. “We have a bunch of songs lined up in our back pocket, ready to be released. The first one in that bunch will be out in the next two months. Then it will be ‘release, release, release.’
“We are excited to get all this new music out. We are moving forward with it and trying to get back out onto the road. That’s the main goal.”
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Learn more about the band, buy merch, and view tour dates here.
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