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Camp A LOW HUM

http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/808

Feb 3-5 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lumiere Reader)

MOST PEOPLE would not go to a music concert without knowing who’s playing. I guess it’s a tribute to Blink’s standing in the local music scene that he was able to assemble a brilliant collection of New Zealand music, and then convince a few hundred people to go camping out in Wainuiomata. No publicity, no advertising, no expectations, but it turned out to be a pretty amazing event - and for those who went, an event they can say they were to first to be at.

I was wondering how indie kids would be able to handle camping. How would the carefully straightened hair and tight clothing handle the demands of the camping environment? And yes, there were people who would get changed six times a day and brought suitcases along for a three day camping trip. If New Zealand was ever invaded and everyone had to go into the bush to fight a vicious guerilla war, I would not want these people fighting for us. I was also wondering how much of the audience were the musicians themselves, over forty bands were present, in a camp that can’t have numbered more than 300 people. Whatever it was, it was great fun, even if a lot of the summer camp ideas never came to fruition. I will take time now to fill in the feedback sheet - I forgot to do it at the actual camp.

Q: Did you care that you didn’t know what bands were playing?

Nope. I expected good stuff and it turned out to be correct. Over the Atlantic, Grayson Gilmour, So So Modern, The Sneaks, The Whipping Cats, Batrider, Ghostplane, the Cosbys, Operation Rolling Thunder, Pig Out, Golden Axe, Phelps and Munro, Liam Finn, The Shocking Pinks, Cortina. Hell that’s not bad. As a mate said, it was interesting going to a concert of up-and-coming bands rather than something like a Big Day Out.

Q: Is Waitangi a good weekend for you? It might clash with Rippon in 2008.

There was a suggestion to move this to the week after Big Day Out. The thing is, people don’t really have a lot of money, so it might be asking quite a bit for people to shell out for two similar priced things. The three day thing worked out okay, but I (like a number of people) had to work on Monday. Could it have started on a Friday night and finished on Sunday? Maybe I’m just being selfish. Also, fuck Rippon, Waitangi is all good.

Q: Should we get international acts for a more expensive ticket price?

Here’s an interesting question. This gig showed that New Zealand has a shitload of talent bursting at the seams. I was mightily impressed with Over the Atlantic, a Wellington duo who have been making an impact overseas (they jammed with the Animal Collective apparently). Their mixture of melody, dissonance and tone was fantastic, and highlights how much of a shame it is their 2006 record Junica hasn’t got a proper NZ release (outside of Slowboat Records). The Cosbys were also great with their 60s soul and glorious taking-the-piss arrogance of singer “Papa” Crawdaddy. Their Dexy’s Midnight Runners-esque costumes and exciting live show (even if they were a little drunk and sloppy when they played) was highly enjoyable. The Whipping Cats played some classic blues. Even if there’s nothing entirely new about their bit (but then the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin made fortunes ripping off the blues), they feature some of the meanest harmonica playing around, and a great live show. Batrider were also very good, they have a very interesting interplay between their guitars and their bass, which is fascinating to listen to. So So Modern were as good as always, and Grayson Gilmour in his solo set played a fantastic off-kilter cover of Weezer’s Buddy Holly. A revelation was Dunedin duo Operation Rolling Thunder, who unfortunately had a brief second set and an extremely late first set which meant not many people saw them. The drumming was out of this world (I haven’t seen a drum-kit hit that hard and so well live), which had an almost melodic quality to go with shoe-gazer-like drone. Very, very good. Phelps and Munro - Wellington DJ Gerald Phillips who has played with the likes of Kid 606 and got airplay from the likes of Mr. Scruff and John Peel - was a welcome change of pace from the usual music around. His set was also wonderful, and featured a magnificent mash-up of Slash’s final solo in ‘November Rain’. The Sneaks were hilarious, they’re probably New Zealand’s equivalent to Art Brut. ‘North Shore Pussy’ is still a very, very funny song.

The Aussie stuff was good too. I missed most of Birthglow, but they looked kinda interesting, and Actor/Model played some very good edgy music. They sound like they’ll be exceptional on a record - I can just fantasise about the layers and sounds now. The best Aussie band (and probably the best band at the Camp - maybe Over the Atlantic excepted) was Bang! Bang! Aids! Not only do they have the best name in the history of pop music (well out of the bands that are from Melbourne), their set was incredible. It was nihilistic, it was outrageous, it was mind-poppingly loud and fast and controlled. It was brilliant. Their little 7-track ep, with hand-drawn pictures by little kids is cool too.

Other highlights were French band Ladybird with their impromptu camp-fire, Golden Axe’s twisted sounds, and Collapsing Cities fun (if slightly derivative) dance-punk. The only real disappointment (but then I only saw about 20 performances in total) was the Shocking Pinks. Their studio stuff is great, but this performance, despite the high, jangly notes even had people on E nearby bored. But he’s off to work with DFA, so I doubt he’d care.

So, the quality of the music was enough to keep people happy, and I’d rather not pay that much to see a couple more bigger bands. Another alternative could be to open it up to a little bit of promotion - surely a couple hundred more people would have added a little more atmosphere, and opened this type of music, not only to people who are already in the know, but also to people who have no idea that New Zealand makes such fantastic music.

Q: Various things that the Camp did that was unique. Please rank their importance with 10 being hell important and 1 being “whatever”.

Bands Playing Twice - Once indoors, Once Outdoors - 10. Noise control weren’t happy but screw them.

BYO - 10. Good lord, I can’t recommend that enough.

Old School Games - weeell, I didn’t see much of it. It would have been fun if a little more, but the egg & spoon race, the wheelbarrow and the tug-o-war were cool. Did the bullrush ever happen?

Bands playing in random places, the locally produced food/drink, poster art were all good.

So all in all, kudos to Blink for organising a great festival. Kudos to the bands. Kudos to the fact we live in a country with great music. Boo to the fact not many people realise it.

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