There’s No Shutting Them Down

Camper Van Beethoven Celebrates 25th Anniversary

originally published July 2, 2008

Camper Van Beethoven made its mark mocking California punk purists with "Take the Skinheads Bowling," befuddled its audiences with a meld of ethnic melodies and punk or ska, and then went on to create experimental pop classics while cresting the top of the college radio charts. In 1988, the band scored a major-label contract with Virgin. In 1990, during the midst of a European tour, the band broke up, and its members splintered off to form projects like Cracker and Monks of Doom. “No one ever expected (Camper) to get together again,” says manager Velena Vego.

In 2001, the unthinkable occurred when the bandmembers put aside their differences and reformed, releasing the critically acclaimed concept album New Roman Times in 2004. To celebrate their hard-won 25th anniversary in 2008, Camper has put together a striking retrospective, Popular Songs of Great Strength and Enduring Beauty.

The 18-song disc includes hits like "Skinheads," "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and "Good Guys and Bad Guys." It has lesser known greats like "Shut Us Down," "Opie Rides Again/ Club Med Sucks" and "Seven Languages," and it has a slew of amazing rock instrumentals like "Eye of Fatima Part 1 and 2," "Border Ska" and "Skinhead Stomp."

Violinist Jonathon Segel describes the criteria the band used to select the tracks on the record. “When we got back together in 2001,” he says, “certain songs were good to play live in concert and other songs were songs that people really liked. Those are the ones that are on this album.”

There were some complications putting the retrospective together, in that Virgin retained exclusive rights to any Camper recording in its catalog. Therefore, a number of tunes ("Pictures of Matchstick Men," "Eye of Fatima Parts 1 & 2," "When I Win the Lottery," "All Her Favorite Fruit" and "One of These Days") had to be re-recorded note by note. “We only had time to re-record five songs,” says Segel, “and those were the ones that made the cut. I really would have liked to include 'Sweethearts' and 'Turquoise Jewelry,' but we only had so much time.”

Camper didn’t include any songs from New Roman Times because “they were all too new. We didn’t know which ones were enduring yet.”

When listening to this stellar synopsis, I couldn’t help but recognize that the hallmarks of many modern indie bands (i.e., unorthodox instrumentation, absurdist lyrics, quick tempo changes with random, almost organic pauses, the incorporation of a wide variety of musical genres, etc.) were pioneered by Camper 20 years ago. Is Camper surprised at its relevance to modern indie rock?

“We weren’t trying to be different when we first started playing,” says Segel. “We grew up listening to and emulating the rock bands of the '60s and '70s - The Kinks, The Beatles, The Stones - and those guys just took everything around them, from the sitar to the kitchen sink, and played rock music. I think all that stuff has just been hanging around and has been incorporated into the language of rock.”

Did members of Camper think that people would still be listening to and inspired by their songs 25 years later?

“I don’t think so,” Segel says. “At the time we were living so in the moment. We never had any idea of what the future would bring. What was really amazing about when we got back together eight years ago, and began playing many of our old songs, was how many of the songs were strangely coherent in regard to the political situation. There’s not much difference in what was going on politically in the '80s when you compare it to what is happening now. You take a song like 'Sweethearts,' and, except for a few words, if you took out Ronald Reagan, the same song could be written about George W. Bush... Not that we ever made our political stuff very overt,” he continues. “It was all very tongue in cheek.”

Over the next few weeks, Camper plans to continue touring in support of Popular Songs… In September the band will host its fourth annual Camp-Out in Pioneertown, CA with Built to Spill and Quasi (past bills have included Neko Case, X’s John Doe, Magnolia Electric Company, and Athens’ Dark Meat). In January, Camper's label Pitch-a-Tent, headed by Athens’ 40 Watt talent broker Velena Vego, will release frontman David Lowery’s solo album, with a new Cracker album to follow later that spring. Camper is also currently writing material for an album to be recorded next year. These projects will keep Vego very busy, but fulfilled.

“Camper is my favorite band of all time,” she says, “and working with them has been a dream come true for me, especially since they’ve gotten back together. They were never supposed to get back together. No one expected them to keep making music.”

Deirdre Sayre