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Ain’t Nobody Humpin’ Around
Vancouver’s stunning prog-rockers Brass Camel take their show to Cranbrook
By Ferdy Belland
“We just had our five-year anniversary from our first show,” says Daniel James, guitarist-vocalist-bandleader of Vancouver’s stupendous rock-funk-prog-whatsit whizkids Brass Camel. “But for all intents and purposes, the true lineup of the Camel solidified towards the end of 2021, and we’ve been riding high ever since. The band evolved from a group that I pieced together around me into a full-fledged working unit where everyone’s participating and assisting in the songwriting. There was a three-year period where (bassist) Curtis Arsenault and I were playing with a revolving-door series of hired musicians. And then during the pandemic, a lot of local Vancouver bands broke up, so we were able to gather a serious group of guys into the Brass Camel we know today!”
The Brass Camel we know today will be humping their way onstage at the Cranbrook Hotel Pub on Saturday, April 15 to continue promoting their excellent 2022 debut album Brass, with local opening support from the Kootenays’ own psychedelic-rock power trio Garuda.
This promises to be yet another exciting and memorable event hosted by the Pub, which is rapidly evolving into one of the prime live venues in our fair Key City. James explains that Brass Camel is never content to squat on its musical haunches – the humps are always churning with new musical ideas!
“We’re aiming to get more and more new releases rolling in the months to come,” says James. “We already have a whole bunch of new material for the second album. The plan is to get back into the studio later this year, after we finish up our Canadian touring and tighten things up on the road. I do a lot of the writing, as I did right from the start, but we find as this group of five continues to mesh more and more, the Brass Camel creativity is turning into more and more of a collaborative effort.”
The band has been rapidly collecting an above-average stack of respectable press and acclaim from dozens of upscale media outlets (BeatRoute, Red Rock Magazine, Tinnitus, etc.), but one of the most striking verbal thumbs-up the Camel’s received has been the kudos freely given from Big Sugar’s legendary guitarist-vocalist Gordie Johnson, who states: “I’m a big Brass Camel believer right now, and the fact that they’re from Canada…to me, I mean that’s just a bonus! Man, they’re good worldwide. So I’ve gotta say that’s probably my favourite dude in Canada right now.” ‘Dude’ meaning Daniel James himself, who explains how the heck Brass Camel caught Johnson’s eye and ear.
“We played a run of three shows with Big Sugar way back in November 2019,” says James. “After the second show, Gordie struts into our dressing room and says: ‘man, I was tryin’ ta take a nap, but I just heard you guys dropping those Moog bass-pedal bombs and I think I really like your stuff!’ The next night he was watching from the side of the stage, and we were throwing in some Zappa snippets here and there. And he was just gushing after the show! We hung out for a bit and we kept in touch in the months that followed about the possibility of playing some more shows together, for Gordie to produce a Brass Camel release. And then one day a friend of mine sends me this frantic text message saying: ‘hey man, Gordie Johnson just said that you’re his favourite guitar player in all of Canada!’
“I was so blown away! So my friend forwards me a link to this interview Gordie did with Long & McQuade, and I was expecting a little five-second polite lip-service, but Gordie must have gone on for over a solid minute about the Camel, and what kind of music we make, and how he dug us, and it’s been just dynamite having that sort of encouragement and support from someone like him. And it made us a few fans out in Ontario, too! Gordie Johnson is a real one, that’s for certain. I mean, I had the BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ARE YOU READY? poster up on my bedroom wall when I was 12 or 13, and it felt pretty awesome to hear that from him.”
James explains how the Gordie Johnson connection didn’t end with the final shared stage.
“As we were packing out of the Commodore Ballroom together, I tossed him a little Brass Camel trinket, like a two-inch-tall ornament. He was doing these recording sessions for a while out of his home studio, and as of not too long ago I see that little brass camel still hanging on his studio monitor, so it’s great to have such a Canadian musical icon riding the Camel Train!”
And what a wild ride the Camel train has been so far.
“We haven’t spent a lot of time playing support slots or opening slots, but we’ve played with Hey Ocean and the Boom Booms and groups like that. I think, moving forward, we’re aiming for more opening slots to make our audience grow. We had a unique start to this band with our local scene. We started off in 100-person clubs and then worked our way up, bit by little bit, and after not too very long we figured out we’d be paid more if we put on our own shows, so we’ve jumped right into promoting our own shows in Vancouver and assembling the bills ourselves.
“It works out great for the local scene. We’ve managed to build a sweet little niche for ourselves in Vancouver. But with any luck, we hope to find ourselves on some booking agency’s roster. And we’re hoping that our industry showcase gigs out in Toronto in June help us achieve that. We hope to grab a good opening slot for a bigger artist sometime next year and hit the road and bring the Camel to a whole lot of new faces!”
James and Co. are a refreshingly laid-back lot who are huge on talent but quiet on attitude. They’re confident, not arrogant, and they have big plans for the band. Those in upper-echelon positions of the national music industry are also aware of this and have rewarded Brass Camel as such with product endorsements from RotoSound Guitar Strings, Los Cabos Drumsticks, and Sabian Cymbals. And the goals don’t stop there.
“We’re really working on breaking into the United States,” says James. “Now that we’ve cemented this core unit, we’ve got five guys who are all saying: okay, now’s the time – let’s go! We’re definitely aiming to win audiences south of the border, and into Europe as well. Not that we don’t love and appreciate our growing legions of Canadian fans, but there’s just such a larger population to be found out there – especially for the arty prog-influenced stuff that we play. Europe’s going to be an ideal destination. It’s a matter of putting all the professional pieces together and making it worth everybody’s while. We’ve understood by taking on this task of building an original band that we’re going to be penniless for a few years here. And that’s fine. But we don’t want to drive down to Boise, Idaho, and play for five people if we can help it.”
And so, the Camel plods along the desert sands of the post-pandemic music worlds, stopping at bigger and better oases, gig after gig, town after town.
“We’re trying to make everything work out for the long haul. And bit by bit it’s starting to come together here. We’re trying to push everything into motion so that 2024 can be a very busy year for Brass Camel. In the past, I don’t think we ever played more than 15 shows in a year, And we’ve already played more than 15 shows since 2023 began! We’ll probably end this year with 60 or 70 shows under our collective belts. We’ve had some interesting talks with influential people who might want to help us out and we’ll have to see how it all humps along!”
Brass Camel is excited to drag their eclectic yet exciting rock eruption into the Kootenays.
“We’re looking forward to playing our first show in Cranbrook,” says James. “We’re bringing all our production AND the kitchen sink, too. We’re bringing ALL the lights, and the double-neck guitars and everything! We want everyone in town to bring their listening ears and their dancing shoes and we’ll bring it all together!”
Check out local band Garuda.
Brass Camel perform live at the Cranbrook Hotel Pub (719 Baker Street) on Saturday, April 15, with opening support from the Kootenays’ own psychedelic-rock power trio Garuda.
Admission: $10 advance (tickets available at the Pub during regular business hours), $15 at the door
Doors open 8 p.m., showtime 9:30 p.m.
Please visit www.brasscamel.ca for all your modern prog-rock needs!
Photos submitted
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