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t amper Van Beethoven made its mark mocking California
punk purists with “Take the Skinheads Bowling," befud
dled its audiences with a meld of ethnic melodies and
punk or ska, and then went on to create experimental
pop classics while cresting the top of the college radio charts.
• In 1988, the band scored a major-label contract with Virgin.
In 1990, during the midst of a European tour, the band broke
up, and its members splintered off to form projects like Cracker
and Monks of Doom. “No one ever expected (Camper) to get
together again," says manager Velena Vego.
In 2001, the unthinkable occurred when the bandmembers
put aside their differences and reformed, releasing the criti
cally acclaimed concept album New Roman Times in 2004. To
celebrate their hard-won 25th
anniversary in 2008, Camper
has put together a striking
retrospective, Popular Songs
of Great Strength and Enduring
Beauty.
The 18-song disc includes
hits like "Skinheads,"
"Pictures of Matchstick
Men" and "Good Guys and
Bad Guys." It has lesser
known greats like "Shut Us
Down," "Opie Rides Again/
Club Med Sucks" and "Seven
Languages," and it has a slew
of amazing rock instrumen
tals like "Eye of Fatima Part
1 and 2," "Border Ska" and
"Skinhead Stomp."
Violinist Jonathon Segel
describes the criteria the
band used to select the tracks
on the record. "When we got back together in 2001," he says,
"certain songs were good to play live in concert and other
songs were songs that people really liked. Those are the ones
that are on this album."
There were some complications putting the retrospec
tive together, in that Virgin retained exclusive rights to any
Camper recording in its catalog. Therefore, a number of tunes
("Pictures of Matchstick Men," "Eye of Fatima Parts 1 & 2,"
"When I Win the Lottery," "All Her Favorite Fruit" and "One of
These Days") had to be re-recorded note by note. "We only had
time to re-record five songs," says Segel, "and those were the
ones that made the cut. I really would have liked to include
'Sweethearts' and Turquoise Jewelry,' but we only had so much
time."
Camper didn't include any songs from New Roman Times
because "they were all too new. We didn't know which ones
were enduring yet."
When listening to this stellar synopsis, I couldn't help but
recognize that the hallmarks of many modern indie bands (i.e.,
unorthodox instrumentation, absurdist lyrics, quick tempo
changes with random, almost organic pauses, the incorporation
of a wide variety of musical genres, etc.) were pioneered by
Camper 20 years ago. Is Camper surprised at its relevance to
modern indie rock?
"We weren't trying to be different when we first started
playing," says Segel. "We grew up listening to and emulating
the rock bands of the '60s and 70s—The Kinks, The Beatles,
The Stones—and those guys just took everything around them,
from the sitar to the kitchen sink, and played rock music. I
think all that stuff has just been hanging around and has been
incorporated into the language of rock."
Did members of Camper think that people would still be lis
tening to and inspired by their songs 25 years later?
"I don't think so," Segel
says. "At the time we were
living so in the moment. We
never had any idea of what
the future would bring. What
was really amazing about
when we got back together
eight years ago, and began
playing many of our old
songs, was how many of the
songs were strangely coher
ent in regard to the political
situation. There's not much
difference in what was going
on politically in the '80s when
you compare it to what is
happening now. You take a
song like 'Sweethearts,' and,
except for a few words, if you
took out Ronald Reagan, the
same song could be written
about George W. Bush... Not
that we ever made our political stuff very overt," he continues.
"It was all very tongue in cheek."
Over the next few weeks, Camper plans to continue touring
in support of Popular Songs... In September the band will host
its fourth annual Camp-Out in Pioneertown, CA with Built to'
Spill and Quasi (past bills have included Neko Case, X's John
Doe, Magnolia Electric Company, and Athens' Dark Meat). In
January, Camper's label Pitch-a-Tent, headed by Athens' 40
Watt talent broker Velena Vego, will release frontman David
Lowery's solo album, with a new Cracker album to follow later
that spring. Camper is also currently writing material for an
album to be recorded next year. These projects will keep Vego
very busy, but fulfilled.
"Camper is my favorite band of all time," she says, "and
working with them has been a dream come true for me, espe
cially since they've gotten back together. They were never
supposed to get back together. No one expected them to keep
making music."
Delrdre Sayre
24 FLAGPOLE.COM-JULY 2,2008
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