Kamp! is a Polish trio whose infectious songs have attracted the blogosphere’s attention. Their sound is a mix of their 80′s and 90′s influences besides new wave, which has been captured in several EPs and a self-titled album released last year. The band has been touring lately around the world performing in many festivals in where we are sure they’ve seen a lot of things. We’ve wanted to know a bit more about them so let’s see what they’ve told us.
GS: Who are KAMP!? (describe yourself)
KAMP: Just bunch of friends chasing their teenage dreams of making music,
being in a band, touring and running record label (Brennnessel
Records). Sounds typical, but it’s true.
GS: We know you love synths, how did your crush start with them?
K:
It was a kind of evolution. Long time ago we started with guitars playing
some black metal stuff. At the same time we tried to incorporate some
keyboard parts – simple piano or organ sounds. Things got complicated when
we discovered VST instruments – more and more we got into computers and
electronic genres. We bought a few keyboard controllers and started
programming our own sounds. It was also a time of retromania and vintage
synths mania (in fact it still is) so we decided to buy some old
synthesizers and had lot of fun. Last thing we bought was Korg MS-20 mini,
it has a lot of boundaries, though these boundaries are really creative.
Touching knobs rules!
GS: When you make music do you like to try new sounds or do you prefer stay
true to your classical sound new-wave disco? Any surprises for the future?
K: It depends. As long as we have had to finish our album we tried to put some
balance between new infulences and our “classic” sound. We love to try new
things so it was a challange not to overdo with different sounds./ moods.
At the moment we have a great opportunity to try anything new that we
wanted to during the album session. We have totally
blank sheet situation and we definitely want to use it. The only thing that we know is releasing EP in autumn. We enter our studio in June and make songs from scratch. Hope it
will be a surprise, escpecially for us.
GS: How you would describe Poland music scene? Do you see a big difference
with the rest of Europe? Any bands to recommend?
K:
It’s getting better and starting to grow up. Rebeka is the best example -
the duo released two singles for Discotexas, two weeks ago they made their
full debut on CD “Hellada” – we are really happy that we could help
them to do it
. We can also recommend We draw A, new project of our favourite Polish
songwriter Peve Lety, better known as part of the duo Indigo Tree. Gazella
and Fair Weather Friends are also worth checking out.
We have also huge scene of electronic producers – Catz’n'Dogz (who are really popular worldwide), SLG, Jacek Sienkiewicz or Viadrina to name a
few. What else? UKnowMe Records, who explore urban / electronic scene.
Our last discovery is Better Person, his first track “I wake up tired” is a
masterpiece and can be easily compared to artists such as Rhye or Autre Ne
Veut.
GS: Your EP “Cairo” sounded amazing, how was working with the Discotexas’
team?
K: Thanks so much. We were absolutely happy about both the song itself
and the cooperation with Discotexas. It was the very first single for
Discotexas (followed by Melt) and our first experience with a proper
label – when we got a great remixer and media support. We really loved
how it worked out and they were really helpful – Hugo (the label HQ),
Luis (Moullinex) and Jerry (from JBAG) they all made the release very
successful.
GS: How does it feel having been one more year at SXSW? Is it as authentic
as it is said? Any special showcase?
K: SXSW is extremely huge and being there twice as an artist was a great
experience. It’s a part of a festival that can change your entire life
as a musician or completely disappoint you. Just a matter of luck.
We were really excited to play the Kitsuné showcase this year and it
was one of our best shows we played in the States.
GS: You are going to play at Liverpool Sound City pretty soon, are you one
of those crazy The Beatles fans?
K: Yeah, we love The Beatles and it doesn’t matter if it is simple rock’n'roll
songs like “Twist and shout” / “She loves you” or psychedelic stuff on
”Magical Mystery Tour” / “Sg Pepper…”. I started listen to their music at
the age of 9 and never gave it back. It’s impossible to imagine how
talented they were. Write so many milestone songs in just 9 years!
GS: Being fans of French music, what do you think about new Daft Punk’s?
K: We are rather disappointed, especially when it comes to collaborations
with such artists like Gonzales or Giorgio Moroder. To be honest – let’s
take anything made by Giorgio 35 years ago and compare it to “Giorgio by
Moroder” – this arpeggio is poorer version of his fantastic lines on “From
here to eternity” or “E=mc2″.
On the other hand there are songs with Nile and Pharell that are really
poppy, hooky things, you feel like you know these tracks for ages and your
body start to move. But are they better than “Something about us”,
”Voyager” or “Face to face”? We are pretty sure – no!
One things is definitely worth admiring – production and care on details.
It’s like coming back to golden era of recording / mixing / production.
GS: Are blogs one of your ways of keeping updated with new music?
K:
Sure, we love them and read them almost everyday to keep things updated.
The problem is there is too much content and too many good blogs to follow,
sometimes you have to try things randomly.
GS: What are you next challenges or upcoming projects? Any collab ahead?
K: As usual we have plenty of ridiculous plans, but we’re trying not to
reveal them before we’re 100 % sure, they’ll become reality. Our next
step as Kamp! is a new EP planned for autumn 2013. Right now we’re
looking for a co-producer and some good remixers and planning a tour
which will promote this release. We’re also waiting for the release of
a compilation containing remixes (also by Kamp!) of one of the biggest
house-music pioneers. Can’t reveal much more.
We also want to develop our label Brennnessel Records by cutting down
Free-download-releases, starting Beatport and Juno sale and
international promotion of polish talented bands and producers. Keep
your fingers crossed!
Follow KAMP!:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kampmusik
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kampmusik
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/kampmusik
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/kampmusik
Instagram http://instagram.com/kampmusik