Sometimes this gig is just freaking awesome.
Back in January of this year, I was turned on to a local act that quickly became one of my favorites - Day Camp. Their throwback 1990's sound takes what's best about Pixies, Lemonheads and TMBG and mixes it with their own sardonic and cynical lyricism as well as tremendously groovy rhythms.
Day Camp's self-titled debut album gathered some well-deserved national attention and earned them the title of "Midwestern velocirockers" - a moniker that I can merely envy because I didn't think of it first.
In very simple and succinct terms, Joshua Biehler (guitar, vox), Patricia Feghali (guitar, vox), Nick Hill (bass, vox), and George Jenkins (drums, artillery) have something very special going on and I, by virtue of my previous review - as well as our mutual love of hockey and cats - have developed a good enough rapport with the band that they were willing to share with me a tiny preview of their latest creations.
The 2-track "sampler platter" contains the songs "No Regrets" and "Doesn't Matter Now." Both songs extend the continuum that Day Camp started a year ago - the energy and the pulse is very much in the same vein as their earlier work. However, what I noticed right off the bat is a stronger focus on the drum and bass interplay and less on the grinding Husker Dü-like guitar. I didn't think there was a way to take the old-school, pogo-punk rhythms of The Minutemen and make them danceable, but Day Camp appears to have done just that. Smoldering on top of this head-bobbing/booty-shaking energy is Pat Feghali's voice and guitar that should make Kim Gordon [Sonic Youth] jealous.
Day Camp is not a PBR and vegan burrito band. Day Camp is a chicken wing and 8% or higher IPA band, and I think they like it that way.
I don't yet have the inside-scoop on when the new album will be out. But believe me, I'll try to let you know as soon as I do. In the meantime, I hope that, by putting this mini-review out there at this time, I achieve the exact same effect it had on me when I first listened - that it makes you yearn for the next Day Camp album the way a 5-year old yearns for Christmas.
