Much Better Sundays

When I made my previous post on bands I saw at both camps, I actually left one band out – Over the Atlantic. That probably tells you the kind of impression they made on me back in ‘07. ‘Wussy music,’ I thought, but I stayed for the whole set anyway because I though Nik Brinkman was a bit of a fox.

So I saw them two years ago, stuck them in the ‘not for me’ box, and never thought about it again. I didn’t set out to see them at this camp. “You’ll probably like them,” I told my friends, as we were making our way to the main stage. Our tastes are pretty disaparate, and they may well adore music that bores me rigid.

This is what I call wussy music – it may indicate that the music: is acoustic/electronic, is performed by a singer-songwriter, is angsty (particularly ‘angsty young man’), doesn’t have much going on structurally, is inoffensive but not exciting, is ‘nice’. I use it to describe bands like Belle & Sebastian, Bright Eyes and Ladybird. For an example from Camp ‘09, The Crayon Fields fall into this category. It does not describe Nick Cave, whatever certain workmates of mine might believe.

This is what I went into Over the Atlantic expecting. If only I had actually read their blurb in the program! It would then not have come as a surprise when I found a full band and a tight sound that actually seemed like it was meant for filling large spaces. Although I don’t know I could have predicted expecting all the songs to turn into U2’s ‘In the Name of Love’. I’m not even joking.

I don’t think my friends were impressed, but I was. I haven’t rushed out to buy the CD, but I’d definitely see them live again. It was a sweet set.

East Brunswick All Girls Choir, Camp A Low Hum, 7th and 8th February 2009

On the last morning, my non-wussy friends and I head to the Noisy Stage, to see East Brunswick All Girls Choir for the second time. One of us ruminates as they’re setting up – “I think these guys would have to be my stand-out for camp,” he says. “They’ve got everything – cute girl bassist, rhythm guitarist who gets made fun of all the time…”

Also, as it turns out, a frontman with the ability to get the whole room to follow him outside whilst he sings a song about everyone having a ballsack. Which was actually less hilarious than some of the stuff he’d been saying the day before.* Who cares if they only had five songs? We were there for the comedy!

Only they were too good songs. I guess some bands do have it all.

*I’m not going to explain, you’ll just have to hope it shows up on Youtube.

Only three of the acts I saw at Camp ‘09 were people I also saw at the first Camp. There’s a strange mix of nostalgia and fighting expectations in there. So what is it like, revisiting bands like old friends? Especially when most of Camp is spent making new ones.

The Sneaks, Camp A Low Hum, 6th and 8th February 2009

The Sneaks moved to London some time in 2007, so this was the first time I had seen them since then. It’s nice to know some things don’t change – there might be a few new songs, but what you get is what you want: half an hour of concentrated dance fun times.

They played twice, once on Friday night outdoors, and again on Sunday afternoon on the Noisy Stage. The latter would have been the best dance I had all camp – not only do The Sneaks have incredibly fun tunes, but when they’re tunes you know, it’s easier to rock out and let go.

So So Modern, Camp A Low Hum, 6th February 2009

It’s a funny feeling when you see your old favourite band in the first time in ages, and you find they’ve all grown up while you weren’t around to see it happen.

So you could say that So So Modern didn’t quite scratch the nostalgia itch that The Sneaks did. Because most of their material was new, and I didn’t know how I felt about it. They’re damn fine musicians, of course, and put on an amazing performance. They only played the once, on Friday night. I was sensible with them and didn’t even try to get close – the nature of the main stage, where the field cupped upwards at the edges, meant the view was pretty good anyway.

The new songs seem to be less random than the old – less of the spontaneous changes which made them so much fun to dance to. (Which admittedly means normal people probably find them more dance-able…) I’d like to get the chance to hear them again, but, in bloody annoying news, both their gigs later this month are while I’m away on a fieldtrip. The geology department just doesn’t want me to have fun.

Grayson Gilmour, Camp A Low Hum, 8th February 2009

Last time I saw Grayson, things were kinda spoiled by my sister fainting (no, not when he came on…). This time, luckily, we were all sitting down! It was full band again and it was beautiful.

There was no ambivalence about new material here… ‘Oh, Statis’ in particular is a fucking gorgeous song and I feel like I wish I’d been paying more attention, like I could recall it better. Which is pretty silly. I am totally looking forward to the new album, whenever that may be.

It was eleven o’clock on Saturday morning. We’d straggled along to the main stage – most people keeping to the shade, but we had to sit right in the middle of the field, in the sun. This gorgeous woman is on the stage; she has an accordion. We are in love.

It is a disappointment then, when the accordion goes away again. For the next song, Ria needs accompaniment. She’s got the backing tracks on her laptop, but she needs something more. She needs an air pianist.

No-one volunteers. We are sitting right where she can see us, where she can point an elegant finger and say, “You. You look like you could play air piano.” We are stunned for a few seconds, then Carmel says, “I think she means you, Hera.”

So up Hera goes, and she does make a good air pianist. It’s only for one song, then she jumps back down and we listen.

Ria has a gorgeous voice. That’s important, when most of the songs you are singing are in German to a Kiwi audience. I would like to hear her sing something from Brecht; I think she could put on a good show. She sings two songs in her ‘bad English’ – I don’t know if they’re German songs she’s translated or what, but melodramatic ballads are all the more fun when you can understand what’s being sung.

At the end, the audience demands one more song. “With the accordian!” Carmel calls. There’s no accordion, in the end, but it is awesome anyway.

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Ria will be playing Mighty Mighty on the 25th February. Visit her Myspace for more info.

Obviously, this blog has not been updated in yonks. Isobel has been travelling; she is currently in South America and you can read some of her adventures at A Life Told in Stories. I, on the other hand, have not left the house at night in months.

Except last weekend, and now I actually feel like going out again.

Isobel and I attended the first Camp A Low Hum together in 2007. This year I went and all she got was an eight page letter from me telling her how much fun I’d had without her. And even an eight page letter is just edited highlights. Here are some of those highlights:

• Crazy German lady forces friend to play air piano
• Seeing bands from Camp ‘07 again, even the ones I forgot about