Camp Cope were an Australian alternative rock band formed in 2015 in Melbourne, Victoria. The group's lineup consisted of lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Georgia "Georgia Maq" McDonald, bassist Kelly-Dawn "Kelso" Hellmrich, and drummer Sarah "Thomo" Thompson. The band were signed with independent Melbourne label Poison City Records, where Thompson also works,[1] and independent Boston label Run for Cover Records distributed their releases in North America and Europe.[2] In February 2023, Camp Cope announced their imminent disbandment with a series of final performances.[3]
Camp Cope's music has been described as "part Courtney Barnett, part Juliana Hatfield",[4] and "melodic, uplifting and aching".[5] Georgia Maq herself, meanwhile, described the band's sound as "poweremo".[6] In 2019, Happy Mag listed them at no.3 on their list of "the 15 Australian female artists changing the game right now".[7]
Career
2015–2020: Camp Cope and How to Socialise & Make Friends
As a regular of the Australian singer/songwriter circuit and with a handful of solo releases under her belt, McDonald decided to bring together Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich on bass and Sarah Thompson on drums to flesh out her solo project. Hellmrich had previously played in Sydney band Palmar Grasp, while Thompson had previously played in Brisbane band Razel. The band was named Camp Cope as a reference to Sydney beach Camp Cove, as Sydney native Hellmrich was feeling homesick.[8] The band played support slots with the likes of The Hotelier, Andrew Jackson Jihad, and Waxahatchee, as well as playing their own headline shows.[9]
The trio entered the studio, and by the end of the year had recorded their debut album with producer Sam Johnson. Released on Poison City in April 2016, their eight-track self-titled debut earned them critical acclaim and entered the ARIA albums chart at number 36.[9] The album was nominated for a J Award for Australian Album of the Year,[10] while the band themselves were nominated in six categories at the inaugural National Live Music Awards – winning one, the Heatseeker Award.[11]FasterLouder also chose Camp Cope as their Album of the Year for 2016.,[12] and the group won Best Emerging Act at The Age's Music Victoria Awards that year.[13] "Lost: Season One", a single from the album referencing the television show Lost, was performed by Camp Cope for Like a Version in September 2016, along with a cover of "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.[14]
After a joint tour of Australia at the end of 2016 with Philadelphia's Cayetana, Poison City issued a limited split single that featured new material by both bands.[9] In 2017, Camp Cope supported Against Me! and Modern Baseball on their Australian tours, toured the United States with Worriers, performed at the St Jerome's Laneway Festival and sold out two shows in the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. At the end of the year, they returned to the studio to record their second album.[9]
In early February 2019, Camp Cope announced their first North American headlining tour starting in April,[17] supported by Thin Lips, Oceanator and An Horse.[18] On this tour, Maq started playing a new unreleased song.[19] In September 2019, they embarked on a UK tour with post-punk band Witching Waves.[20]
2021–2023: Running with the Hurricane and disbandment
In November 2021, Camp Cope released the single "Blue", which Rolling Stone highlighted as a "Song You Need to Know".[21] On 19 January 2022, the band announced their third album, Running with the Hurricane, would be released on 25 March 2022.[22] The title single "Running with the Hurricane" was released on 21 January 2022.[23] Both the album and title track are named after the song ‘Running With The Hurricane’ by the Australian folk group Redgum, whose member Hugh McDonald was the late father of Maq.[23] On Instagram, Maq stated: "I didn't like the [Redgum] song to be honest, but the title buried its way into my soul and it felt like my life had been boiled down and summarised by those four words".[24]
In February 2023, the band announced a Melbourne show as part of Brunswick Music Festival while also simultaneously announcing that it would be their last hometown show, and that the band would be dissolving.[25] In June 2023, the band confirmed their final show at the Sydney Opera House concert hall which took place on October 13, 2023.[26]
Other ventures
Side projects
All members of Camp Cope have been involved in projects with other artists.
Hellmrich performs solo under the moniker of Kelso. Previous collaborators on the project have included Gab Strum of Japanese Wallpaper and Xavier Rubetzki Noonan of Self Talk.[27] Self-described as 'cute weird songs for cute weird people', Kelso has released several singles as well as an EP, Always a Godmother, Never a God.[28]
McDonald, under the moniker of Georgia Maq, released two solo acoustic EPs: Friends and Bowlers Run in 2013, and With a Q in 2014. A song from With a Q, "Footscray Station," was recorded by Camp Cope as the B-side to the single "Keep Growing". McDonald also released a split seven-inch with Spencer Scott in 2015. On 5 December 2019, McDonald released her debut solo album Pleaser, a pop record which she described as "Paul Westerberg meets Robyn".[29] In 2021, McDonald said on the Creative Detour podcast that she is working on new solo material with no release date set. "I feel good about what I’m producing," she said. "I feel like I can produce things myself. In a really fun and cool way. Now I can kind of tell the difference a bit more between like Camp Cope songs and Georgia Maq songs."[30]
Away from her solo career, McDonald was the vocalist for punk band Würst Nürse, and appeared on their debut EP Hot Hot Hot.[31] She left the band in November 2018 after several vocal surgeries.[32] McDonald was also briefly a member of Melbourne indie rock band Employment.
Thompson played drums in Melbourne indie rock band TV Haze,[33] which has released three albums since 2016.[34]
Activism
In 2016, Camp Cope led a campaign dedicated to preventing and reporting incidents at concerts and festivals called It Takes One. Through this, they put out t-shirts saying 'The Person Wearing This T-shirt Stands Against Sexual Assault And Demands A Change.' Artists such as Courtney Barnett, Chris Farren, DZ Deathrays, Ecca Vandal, Dune Rats and Alex Lahey wore the shirt in support.[35]
While playing the Falls Festival in 2017, Camp Cope changed the lyrics of their song "The Opener" to reflect the lack of female artists playing the festival.[36]
In October 2017, the band performed to help raise funds for Girls Rock! Australia, an organisation which aims to close the gap between male and female musicians in the Australian music scene, by helping improve the skills and training of female and non-male identifying teenage musical artists.[37]
Musical style
Camp Cope is known for McDonald's powerful voice, Hellmrich's distinctive basslines, and Thompson's 'steady, stoic drumming'.[38][39] They have been described as 'rough, minimal rock [with] a punk edge',[40] and the lyrics 'articulate human entanglements with a lack of sentimentality that belies how much [McDonald] cares'.[41] Songs were initially written by McDonald, who then sent a 'crappy phone recording' to Hellmrich and Thompson, before they all came together to create the finished song.[42]
Themes
In 2016, Hellmrich described lead singer and songwriter Georgia McDonald as a "huge conspiracy theorist".[43] McDonald said the song "Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" was "a 'fuck you' to people [who] believe that 9/11 wasn't an inside job. [...] Believing that is like believing that men who rape women aren't responsible for their actions."[44] McDonald said "JFCMSB isn’t named after a meme, it’s just the truth. The song is about the Orwellian way that the media and society try to convince you that lies are the truth. Like victim blaming. And 9/11."[45]
Members
Georgia Macdonald – lead vocals, guitar, piano
Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich – bass guitar
Sarah Thompson – drums
Touring musicians
Jennifer Aslett – guitar, keyboards, piano, backing vocals (2022–2023)
Lou Hanman – bass (2019, 2022; substitute for Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich)
Discography
Studio albums
List of studio albums, with release date, label and selected chart positions shown
The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.
The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. It commenced in 2005. It exists to discover, reward and promote new Australian music of excellence.[69]
^Doria, Matt (1 August 2016). "Camp Cope: Rad Grrrls Club (Pt. 2)". bluntmag.com.au. Archived from the original on 25 May 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2023.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
