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Rock
I have been absolutely DYING to catch GUC since I heard they got together. Disco Biscuits + Big Gigantic + Conspirator + Underground Orchestra + RAQ = AMAZING!! They’ve only played two shows before this one and I wasn’t able to make either, so this was one of the shows I was just itching to watch. So much so that I request to be on stage for it.
GUC side stage – The lead up to this show had more buzz backstage than anything I’ve seen so far at the festival, the stage was literally bouncing to the bass. You could see the chemistry between the band members (who have known each other “forever”). An eye here, and a nod there, lead to jams that had the entire crowd bouncing around the entire time (which was quite the feat since the temperature was around 95 degrees during their set.) After a food break and an equipment check the guys were cool enough to spend 15 minutes with me “interviewing” them. I put “interview” in quotes because the group dynamic these guys have together doesn’t lead to many spots where you can ask a question. They really feed off of each other behind the scenes. It’s easy to see how that translates to their chemistry on stage. This group of friends really enjoys chilling and hanging with each other off stage, and it shows on stage.
Hola fellow SCampers!!!
As we approach the weekend we have all been anxiously waiting for, I wanted to take a minute and give you guys a better idea of who I am and what I am going to bring to Summer Camp this year. First and foremost I want to introduce you to the people I am coming to SC with; two of the main people who you will see in my vblogs are dear, close friends of mine who actually introduced me to Summer Camp six years ago and have been there with me every year since, Derrick Lawless and Steve Bannister. Two super chill, awesome people who I met in college and am proud to say will be a part of my life for the rest of it. Come Summer Camp 2050 we will be there rockin’ it out like ever before. There are other friends of mine who are coming, Matt Weiler, Brian Buss, Christina Fountain, and Jake Kuykendall, (if you meet anyone of them, buy them a drink!) most of them are also friends from college who share the love for good music and good times.
One of the reasons that Summer Camp is the ULTIMATE most AMAZING festival is the line up. Every year I think to myself “man there’s no way this year’s line up is going to be as killer as last year’s” and every time I am proven wrong. I not only get to see the bands I already love and follow throughout the year; but there are always so many new bands that I fall in love with.
Some of this year the sets that I am looking forward to seeing for the first time are Gigantic Underground Conspiracy; an awesome compilation of artists from several bands who are sure to put on some jams you most certainly don’t want to miss. Tedeschi Trucks Band, I have always wanted to check them out and for some reason or another have never gotten the chance, with that kind of talent I know it’ll be an amazing show. Sun Stereo a sweet local Champaign-Urbana band with a distinct and fresh jazzy-rock feel, check them out in advance on facebook.
The bands that I have seen many a time before but cannot wait to check out are Lotus, went to their Halloween weekend show in Pittsburgh, PA this past year and it was out of this world good, if you haven’t checked them out – seriously it’s a show you don’t want to miss. Eoto is probably one of the bands I enjoy seeing live the most – they NEVER disappoint and manage to keep every show super fresh. Lastly can we say Talking Heads cover band? This Must be the Band is definitely one of those I gotta check out, can I put a request in? Let’s hear the Talking Heads song your band is named after =)
Alright so I have limited space and limited time and there are tons of bands I am dying to check out (like two bands not mentioned above who are among my all time favorite bands and who I get to see every year 3 days in a row ONLY at Summer Camp? that’s right…moe. and Umphrey’s), but I can’t talk about them all. So to let you know more about myself, I grew up on the Beatles, it led the way to harder rock and then jazz, such as Zeppelin and Dave Brubeck, and from there evolved further to include jam and electronic rock. I appreciate all artistry and talent, but I have a soft heart for drummers as I like to pretend I know how to jam on my used Evans drum set. I love Summer Camp for various reasons, but one of the main ones is that it was the first music festival of my life. Music has always had such an influential role in the essence of my being and there is no other festival that I feel as in touch with the tunes I love as SC. This is not your impersonal mob fest, you come to Summer Camp once and you feel like part of an extremely, extremely, large family forever.
On that note, for you first timers let me tell you some of the things I make sure to pack. For all you ladies, TP is a MUST. As glorious an experience as port-a-potties are, most of them run out of toilet paper and the best thing to do is be prepared, bring some and put a few squares (can you spare a square?) in your pocket. Next bring some trash bags, it is a privilege to use Three Sisters Park and we need to be responsible, have plenty of trash bags not just for garbage, but you never know what the weather could bring and you’d be surprised how dry one of those can keep you. Glow sticks are essential, not only do they add to the beautiful sea of lights at night on the main stage but they provide a great atmosphere for campsite hangouts. With all the great shows playing all the time, you are destined to catch some day shows and when the sun is strong some sun screen is essential! I have seen way too many people painfully red from neglecting to get their rub down, so SPF 50 it is! Finally, make sure to bring your crazy. This is a once in a lifetime experience to let go of everything that ties you down and let your true inner-self soar, so bring a happy spirit and leave your worries at home!
As your Summer Camp counselor I want you all to seek me out, let me make this your best Summer Camp yet. I want encompass the sweetness that is Summer Camp, and the only way I can do that is with your help. You fans are what keep SC alive and I want to show how we bridge the gap between the fans and the bands. Summer Camp is so much more that just music. It is about you living life; lets celebrate it.
I am going to promote some special Summer Camp spirit; my fellow moe.rons and I will be awarding fellow scampers that show special spirit throughout the festival. For example we will award the sweetest campsite, the person with the wildest outfit, the dude/dudette with the most innovative accessory or the neatest jam shout, and many many more; so let us join together and make this year the best Summer Camp EVER woop woop!!
SCampers for life!
Summer Camp Counselor Maria
For those of you who don’t know, the foundation of any good music event is the street team. If you are on one, you understand what I mean. If it wasn’t for the people on the street, spreading the word, how would anyone find out about that concert? Now imagine putting together a festival…how many concerts are there? There’s got to be at least 50. And since that’s 50 times the size of one show, well we need 50 times the street team. So I implore you Summer Campers, get your street team act together. Go out to your community and tell them about summer camp.
Recently, I made a video for the Umphrey’s show that came through Denver. Check it out here and put something together of your own for Summer Camp.
What up Scampers?!?!!
This weekend I got to see an amazing show, the Kyle Hollingsworth Band, SOLD OUT at Cervantes in Denver! I must admit, I am a casual fan of SCI at best and I paid little attention to their side projects. Kyle Hollingsworth, however, is AMAZING and has opened my eyes…I once was blind but now I see…please don’t hate a wretch like me…
Well, Kyle was super funky and way more synthesizer based than I anticipated. I don’t know the names of his songs, but Michael Kang came out for a bunch and they were some awesome jams. I was way too into it at the time to pull myself away and get any footage, and for that I am deeply sorry. In any case, you can look up some clips if you like but I am telling you, you don;t need to. If the Kyle Hollingsworth band comes anywhere near you, go see him!
The same can be said for some buddies of mine, Roster McCabe. Have you hear of them? Well you will now. Roster McCabe are a great group of guys and are a well traveled band. They were opening for Kyle Hollingsworth at this show and I got a chance to ask them a few questions…You can see that below. I also managed to grab a video of them doing Fame by David Bowie with Kyle Hollingsworth. Check out the video and then check out Roster McCabe. They believe you should have some music in your life regardless of what you got in your pockets so you can download ALL their music for FREE at www.rostermccabe.com/
THE INTERVIEW:
Jeff – Hey guys, so thanks a lot for answering some questions, let’s start off with the basics, where are you from, individually and as a band?
Roster McCabe – Jeff is from Grand Forks, ND; Alex is From Brooklyn Park, MN; Drew is from Bloomington, MN; Mike is from Oconomowoc, WI; Scott is from La Crosse, WI. We all met in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in Minnesota.
J – Nice, I always like to ask, where did your band name come from, it’s usually a good story, no?
RM – It is a great story, yes, but it is also a secret.
J – Haha all right, playing a little hardball, this one should be easier, how long have you been playing together?
RM – Jeff solidified our lineup in January of 2008. We started full time touring in 2009, playing 150 shows in 2009; 175 in 2010; and this year we’ll get to about 180.
J – Cool, and what festivals have you played before?
RM – We’ve played a couple big ones but we’ve also played a lot of really cool smaller festies that are definitely worth mentioning. The full list is: Summerfest, Harvest Fest, Shangri-La, Bella Music Fest, Midwest Fest, Rock the Vine, Bandit, Co. Fair, Ifdakamp, Browntown, Jam-Boree, The Family Reunion, Great Aberdeen Pigout, Cosmic Railroad Family Gathering, Prairie Grass, Engelbrechts Homegrown Fest, Jam for Jam, and this year we’ll be doing Wookiefoot’s Snowball Festival in January.
J – Well hopefully this year you can add Summer Camp to the list…Including all those festivals, what would you say your biggest show has been so far?
RM – It’s a tie between opening for Stephen Marley at Summerfest, Matisyahu at Shangri-La Festival, and a show we did this past Saturday at Cervante’s Ballroom in Denver with The Kyle Hollingsworth Band and Michael Kang. Kyle sat in with us for a rendition of David Bowie’s fame. Definitely a show we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.
J – All right, let’s switch gears a little bit, because I like to know more about the inner workings of bands and to see how that all goes, so, I know it’s a rather vague question, but tell us a little about where you are at in your career as this band and what kinds of initiatives you are taking to continue moving forward…
RM – We’re still a growing and changing band because we’re still so young. This is only our third year being on the road full time and we’ve changed A LOT in that short time. I’d imagine we’ll continue to change and evolve as time goes on cause we get bored easily. We’re constantly writing and re writing our tunes to get them to a point where we’re happy with them and to get them to the point where we think they’re good enough to share with people. We’re also constantly introducing new instruments into the band as we evolve. A most recent introduction is the use of Ableton Live to get some of the new stuff sounding as close to a DJ as we can while still playing all the actual parts. We’re never satisfied with where we’re at. We always want to sound tighter. We always want to reach new highs with our performances. We always strive to be a better band in every way possible and I don’t think that we’ll ever stop doing that.
J – So, are you trying to get into Summer Camp? If so, what is that process like?
RM – Absolutely. Summer Camp has been on our list for sometime. We think it’s a great festival with awesome people so yeah, it’s definitely something we would like to do. Really we’re just trying to grow as much as possible in Chicago and the rest of the area as possible to ensure that we’ll bring people to the fest. We’ve been doing a good job of that recently, so hopefully they’ll take notice this year.
J – Anything you’d like to add to tell the fans of SC music festival?
RM – All of our music is available for free on our website at rostermccabe.com/downloads and we’ve got a bunch of live shows on the Live Music Archive. To get a good feel for what we’re doing now make sure to get a recent show because like I said before we’re always changing – even if you listen to something from 6 months ago it won’t sound how we sound now. And if you guys dig what you’re hearing make sure to let the people of Summercamp know!
THE VIDEO: David Bowie\’s Fame by Roster McCabe feat. Kyle Hollingsworth
Some of you may have read my post on the Almost Famous Halloween, if not, check it out…What you don’t know about that show is that I created an electric light guitar suit to wear there.
This lead me to a dream, a dream of Scampers of all lights and colors! Where Blue Lights, and Yellow Lights, and Red Lights, and Purple Lights can glow together!
I challenge you Scampers, to light up Scamp 2012…Let’s see what you got! Check out the video below and LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!
Hey Campers,
We are so excited that the following artists will be joining our hosts moe. & Umphrey’s McGee at the fest this year.
Primus
Weir, Robinson, Greene Acoustic Trio
Gogol Bordello
Ozomatli
Cornmeal
Victor Wooten
Greensky Bluegrass
Infamous Stringdusters
Hot Buttered Rum
Family Groove Company
DJ SOLO
Positive Vibr8ions
Chicago Farmer
Spankalicious
The Giving Tree Band
Brainchild
And this is just the beginning. We will be announcing so many more artists in 2012! Make sure to get your Not-So-Early Bird Tickets now before they sell out. Our Not-So-Early Bird Layaway Tickets are also now available.
Have an amazing weekend!
Your Summer Camp Director