Well, it's been kinda dead lately, so I'll put anoher post here to see if I can kick-start things a bit.
After '86 I had a period of several years where I wasn't in bands, and eventually I grew to miss it, even though most of the bands I had been in were "party bands" that didn't play in "real" venues very often. I had written a couple original songs but hadn't really yet learned the best of way of doing that for me. So I started looking for a band that would do originals, preferably one that had a songwriter in it already.
Now, because I'm lazy, I'll let the lead singer of Camp 7 tell the story, as it appears on the Camp 7 myspace page (
http://www.myspace.com/Camp7 ):
CAMP 7 was a Gainesville, FL band from 1989 to about 1993. The two founding members, guitarist-vocalist Douglas Jordan and drummer Jeff Schwartz, first played together in Fools of the Earth, an aptly-named fledgling trio - also featuring bassist Dan Redman - that played several house parties (and one guerrilla-gig at UF's Orange and Brew) before disbanding due to general laziness on the part of all three members, who were at the time students at the University of Florida.
After a couple of months, Jordan called Schwartz (or Schwartz called Jordan - neither is quite sure) wanting to put together another band, and CAMP 7 was born.
Jordan posted a flyer at local record shops looking for a bassist, and before too long, a highly talkative and enthusiastic Jeff Barker called, thanks in large part to the inclusion of Echo & the Bunnymen on the list of influences. Barker showed up to try out with a brand new, shiny blue Rickenbacker bass and dozens of publicity schemes to make the group - which didn't even have any songs yet - world famous.
The group began practicing over the summer of 1989, and after a half dozen sessions, decided that a second guitar player was in order. Another flyer campaign was launched, and this time they fielded several inquiries.
As it turns out, you can't swing a dead cat in Gainesville without hitting a guitar player.
After several tryouts, they narrowed it down to two candidates - a young guy named Paul with a very nice tobacco sunburst Fender Stratocaster and Brian, a slightly older dude who resembled Elvis Costello and sported a strange, baby-blue, ax-shaped Ovation guitar called a "Breadwinner."
Thing was, though Paul definitely looked the part and was the same age as the others, he couldn't really play very well. Not that the rest of the group could either, but the whole point of adding another guitarist was to improve the musicianship of the band and add some leads.
Brian Kruger (affectionately known as "Kroog") actually seemed to know how to play lead guitar, and he was a super nice guy to boot, so he was eventually chosen. Though no professional gigs were on the horizon, the band set about feverishly working on a 10-song set list - all written by Jordan.
CAMP 7's sound in the early days was decidedly simple, owing as much to Jordan's love of R.E.M. as to his limited songwriting skills.
After playing a house party at the home of friend Robert Johnson (no, not the King of the Delta Blues) which also featured Johnson's new band The Screaming Helens (formed along with fellow Plastic Age veterans Tom Miller and Steve Varosi). The group felt ready for more gigs.
Of course, in those days, there were not many opportunities in Gainesville for bands playing original music. However, there was this brand-new place downtown, called the Hardback Cafe, that not only allowed original bands, but booked them exclusively.
Thus it was that CAMP 7 played its very first professional performance, on Thursday, Nov. 2, 1989, at the Hardback, opening for the progressive instrumental duo Monopoly.
Jordan, who worked at a local restaurant, was able, through shrewd marketing skills ("You've gotta come see my band") to pack the place with several of his coworkers, a hard-partying bunch who consumed copious amounts of beer and tipped generously. Accordingly, the band was asked back.
More about Camp 7 in subsequent posts. Here's some pics. First official/paid gig, at the Hardback Cafe:
Third show, back at the Hardback, apparently all I owned back then was a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt:
NOW SOMEONE ELSE share some of your history! I knows you got stories, people.