Camp Revival

in•ces•tu•ous•sa•cra•men•to•sound

As much as Mason Lindahl’s album Serrated Man Sound defined 2009’s fall season for me, his visit on the weekend of November 21st, 2009 signaled the departure of this fleeting season and the arrival of the bitter cold in Seattle.

Mason was in town to play at Seattle’s Vera Project with local bands: Fences and Hey Marseilles. To escape the cold we stopped at the Capitol Hill Than Brothers for hot PHO. While stuffing our faces we were able to have good conversation with Mason and learn a great deal about the incredible music/musicians that he is surrounded by in his home city of Oakland, CA (Zach Hill / Ellie Fortune / Andy Morin / This list goes on).

After satiating ourselves with noodles and sodium we decided it was time to make some moving pictures. Oddly enough the location we had chosen to shoot at was a beautiful old brick apartment court yard in Capitol Hill. I write odd because it was the exact old brick apartment complex that Mason had lived in during his brief stint in Seattle years earlier; weird right? We were strongly convinced after this chance encounter that the creation of these videos was fate. Unfortunately the property manager did not share in our epiphany as he quickly told us to pack up our shit and be on our way so that we wouldn’t disturb his tenants. With our shit neatly packed we headed to Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park to film.

As can be seen from the video, shooting outside was an act of pure affliction given the dexterity that is required of Mason to play his music. Despite this challenge Mason overcame and performed several songs for us in the frigid weather. The remainder of the day can be seen in the videos above. Don’t be surprised if you can see your breath while watching these videos.

Watch the other video we shot later that day with Mason.

In September Zac Nelson of the bands Hexlove and Chll Pll ————->

<—was nice enough to let me interview him about Chll Pll’s debut release: Aggressively Humble. This being Camp Revival’s debut interview, I didn’t plan out those um, hmm… what are they called? Oh yeah: logistics. I had recorded my conversation with Zac on my phone, but didn’t think about how I was going to pull that conversation off of my phone. After consulting these folks I was able to nab a very, very low quality version. Regardless, you can still hear Zac. He has cool things to say, which are occasionally interrupted by my coughs, chuckles, and Skype’s strange theremin like modulation.

Zac’s musical background

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

How did you meet Zach Hill and how did Chll Pll come into existence?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

What was the process of making the record like?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Was it intentional to only have people named Zac(h)(k) play on the record?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

What are you listening to?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Didn’t catch all of that? Here’s a little assistance:
Trawler Bycatch
Art Zoyd
Von Zamla
Henry Cow
Aksak Maboul
Etron Fou Leloublan
Tim Hecker
The Work

What are your influences?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Zach Hill is the John Henry of percussion. He has been destroying the need for drum machines since he first picked up drum sticks back in 1995. CHLL PLL, one of Zach’s many side projects, will be releasing their debut album: Aggresively Humble on October 20th through Porter Records. CHLL PLL is Zachary Nelson (Hexlove) and Zach Hill, with a guest appearance by Zachariah Dellorto Blackwell (Danava); CHLL PLL should change their name to: Zach Attack!

I’ve only heard three tracks from CHLL PLL, but already they are one of the most exciting projects that my ears have caught wind of, ever. They embody everything that is great about music: It’s fresh, shocking and could fall apart at any moment. The first song to be formally released from the album is “Dick Moves”. There are two more tracks on the band’s myspace. I strongly encourage you to listen to the track: “pass out“. That is the song that really blew my mind.

Dick Moves ( Download )

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.