John Loeb ’11
A&E Editor

Most high school band names are weird, silly, and nonsensical. The phrase may sound cool, like “Ecliptic Sunshower,” yet it means absolutely nothing and says nothing about the band.

This is why the new Westport-based band, Camp Friends, is unique. The name is the band’s entire back-story synthesized into two words.

“We chose the name because we are camp friends and we thought it was a cool name,” guitarist and vocalist Dan Shure ’10 said.

The band consists of Shure, drummer Josh Rauh ’10, and bassist Spencer Fox, a senior from Hastings High School in Westchester.

Surprisingly, Camp Friends began as a rather ordinary band. They played the simple pop tunes 12–year–olds play, including tons of covers.

“We began playing stuff like Green Day and then it continued progressing to Vampire Weekend and Grizzly Bear,” Shure said.

“Yeah, it definitely began with Green Day, we were all 12 once, you know,” Fox added.

This is one of the few similarities Camp Friends shares with its peers.

Camp Friends has members from multiple states. Members of the band have found interesting ways to accommodate their geographical barriers.

“The internet makes it possible for us to be constantly creative,” Shure said. “Usually, Spencer video chats with a new thing on guitar and then I’ll work on a vocal line.”

Fox later outlined the average Camp Friends creative process.

“I often video chat Dan to show him songs that I’ve written, and if he gives them [with vocals], then I proceed to record them, and send them on over to Josh and Dan, where they make respective parts for them,” Fox said.

This is only one part of the rather large and complex process Camp Friends goes through when writing songs.

The band also has a rather interesting relationship with their influences.

This relationship is what makes them different from their peers.

“We try to, instead of just blatantly ripping off our influences, employ the songwriting techniques they use, but in a way that’s our own, so we try to have as original a sound as we can, while making sure the person who is listening to our music, can get a feel for what kind of music we listen to,” Fox said.

A lot of high school bands merely play classic rock tunes and write songs that show little variety of influences.

However, Camp Friends’ way of synthesizing influences allows all of their diverse influences to show.

“I tend to refer to the drumming in Miles Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ and early Weather Report albums when I want a less abrasive, more floaty sound,” Rauh said.

Camp Friends has great and original ideas, but has just begun as a band.

The band has only played one show, at the Toquet Hall Battle of the Bands in October.

They have yet to record an EP or album, but they have bigger plans.

“Our goal is to play a show in New York City,” Shure said.

Despite a bright future, all members of Camp Friends plan to go to college, potentially splitting the band, but according to Shure, they are all looking to go to schools in the Chicago area.