Camping in Alaska

Last updated

Camping in Alaska
Origin Huntsville, Alabama, US
Genres Emo
Years active2012–present
Labels
Members
  • Austin Davis
  • Jacob Stewart
  • Jacob Hill
  • Eli Long
  • Dani Fandre
Past members
  • Ben Cape
  • Robin
Website campinginalaska.bandcamp.com

Camping in Alaska is an American Midwest emo band from Huntsville, Alabama, founded in 2012, and credited with having had a significant influence on the emo revival genre.

Contents

History

Band members Austin Davis and Jacob Stewart met when they were 11 at a taekwondo class. [1] [2] They initially bonded through a shared disinterest in the class and interest in punk music. [1] [2] The two began writing music together at the age of 15. [3] After developing their sound in Davis' parents' garage, the band began playing DIY shows in northern Alabama with the addition of Ben Cape and Jacob Hill. [3] [2] In 2013, the band released their debut album, Please Be Nice (stylized with all lowercase), which became a hit with the 2010s Midwest emo scene after the song "C U in da Ballpit" (also stylized with all lowercase) gained significant traction on YouTube. [4] The demo was originally recorded in Davis' mom's garage before the band rented out a studio space for several hours to record the album more professionally. [2] The band has stated that despite the success of "C U in da Ballpit", they all hate it. [5] The song was not originally meant to be on the album; it was written in two hours after the band realized they had overestimated the studio time needed to record the other songs, so they used the opportunity to write and record one more. [6]

Cape left shortly after the release of Please Be Nice and the band put out their sophomore album –Bathe (stylized with all caps) –in 2014; the album was picked up by Broken World Media shortly thereafter and it was re-released on cassette with the label in 2015. [3] In 2016, the band released Welcome Home Son (also stylized with all caps), which took a darker and more serious tone than previous releases; [3] the album is primarily concerned with the themes of addiction, homelessness, and loss, [1] [3] [7] as all of the band members have experiences battling addiction. [8] [9] The darker tone contrasts with Please Be Nice, which focuses on themes of skating, being in high school, and hanging out in parking lots. [3] [2]

A hiatus caused by the band's drug use followed the release of Welcome Home Son, [10] but in 2022 –with the addition of Dani Fandre, Davis' partner –the band released Lost and Found, a collection of acoustic demos recorded between 2017 and 2018. [3] [2] [11] In 2023, the band released Hollow Eyes (again stylized with all caps) which was followed by a tenth-anniversary tour for Please Be Nice. [3] [1] The band announced their upcoming album will be titled Eggbeater Jesus, after a local landmark mural on a church in Huntsville; the name was chosen because, during his bout with homelessness, Davis had slept outside of the church in below-freezing weather. [2]

Influence

Camping in Alaska has been considered influential to Midwest emo and the emo revival movement, particularly its debut album, which has been described as a cult classic. [12] The band has cited Sunny Day Real Estate, Modest Mouse, Fugazi, Pavement, and Jawbreaker as influences. [1] [2] [3]

Members

Current members [1] [3]

Former members [1] [3] [13]

Discography

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Long no longer plays bass for the band; he is now one of the band's guitarists. [2]
  2. ↑ In Cortés 2023, Davis recounts that the band's name was chosen by "[o]ur old drummer, Robin". The last name is not mentioned, nor is the time frame in which they were in the band.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cortés 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Wake 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The Masquerade 2024.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ Wake 2023: "Davis: Well, something that everybody online who digs into us knows is that we hate that song. [Laughs]"
  6. ↑ Wake 2023: "But that song, when we were 17, we had bought $900 worth of studio time to do our first album. We had extra time after everything, because it went smoother than we thought. And so we had like half a day left and we’re like, OK, well, let’s not waste it. So I wrote a song in two hours on a notebook and then we jammed it out."
  7. ↑ Jamar 2024.
  8. ↑ Cortés 2023: "A lot happened between age 17 and age 28. We're all in recovery from addiction, so a lot of our newer stuff is definitely colored by that. I would say most of our new songs are about dealing with addiction and homelessness, stuff like that. Our old stuff I guess I still relate to in the way that when people hear it, it makes them feel like they're 15 again. That’s the best I think you can get out of it."
  9. ↑ Wake 2023: "A lot of us in the band have dealt with bad drug addiction in the past"
  10. ↑ Wake 2023: "During their original run, Camping in Alaska released three albums, before disintegrating due to drug use."
  11. ↑ Frawley 2022.
  12. ↑
    • Cortés 2023
    • Wake 2023
    • Jamar 2024: "The album became an unexpected online cult favorite, marking Camping in Alaska as young vanguards of Midwest emo [...]"
    • IDIOTEQ 2022: "In September 2013, Camping In Alaska released their debut, please be nice, and would play a few shows. Over the years, the record has become a relic on youtube and r/emo, becoming a cult classic."
  13. ↑ Camping in Alaska 2013.

Sources

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