Headstash

Summer Camp 2012: Cornmeal Comes Home

Cornmeal at Summer Camp 2011 - Photo Credit: Andrew Duch

For 10 years, Cornmeal has been a staple of the Summer Camp Music Festival.

The familial atmosphere of the event is championed by moe. and Umphrey’s McGee, who have headlined the event and played three days each for years, and is felt by organizers, artists and fans alike.

Kicking off festival season in the Midwest, the intimate yet large-scale Chillicothe, Illinois event will take place May 25 to 27 and feature Jane’s Addiction, Pretty Lights, Primus, Lotus, Common, Gogol Bordello and many more.

[BUY tickets and find more information on Summer Camp 2012 on the festival's website.]

Playing three days in 2012 (including their traditional headlining slot at the Thursday pre-party, an all-acoustic set and a 2:30 a.m. late-night jam), Cornmeal treats Summer Camp like their own home festival.

Cornmeal at Summer Camp 2011 - Photo Credit: Celeste Valladares

Devoid of ego, the quintet is keeping organic music alive all the while influencing a whole new generation of musicians.

We chatted with upright bassist Chris Gangi about the band’s longtime relationship with the event, embracing their “psychedelic bluegrass” label and playing gigs anytime, anywhere.

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Headstash Magazine: Talk a little bit about your history with Summer Camp.

Chris Gangi: This is actually our tenth year, believe it or not. And we just celebrated 12 years together as a band.

HM: Wow, I didn't realize it was that many. How has your relationship with the festival evolved over that time?

CG: It's fitting in a lot of ways. Memorial Day is really the kick off of the summer. We do a few festivals before it, but I feel like Summer Camp, for us as a band, has always marked the beginning of the festival season.

We were just a young band around the scene from Chicago when we first started in 2000 and we heard about this festival that moe. was doing down in Peoria, [Illinois].

The first time we played there were maybe six people there to see us. I remember we played the Main Stage on like a Sunday at noon and it was pouring rain. We did our set, packed up and pretty much left. I didn't really hang around for the weekend or anything.

After a year off, we came back and made our way up from stage to stage. That's when they introduced the smaller stages for more local bands.

HM: As a band that’s been around the festival for so long, talk about what makes Summer Camp special.

CG: I think it’s because it definitely maintains that small, independent festival feel even as big as it is. They continually try to keep that grassroots feel to it no matter how big it grows and no matter how many national acts they book.

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Cornmeal at Summer Camp 2011 - Photo Credit: Andrew Duch

It's been a really cool thing for us to be involved with especially considering Summer Camp continues to grow year after year while other festivals die out. All the while, they keep it their festival and keep the ideals, goals and community together.

HM: One thing attendees and organizers always stress about Summer Camp is this familial atmosphere that seems to permeate the event. It seems like it’s also really prevalent with the artists, too with a lot of side-projects, collaborations and sit-ins all over the place.

CG: Definitely from the band’s perspective there is [a familial feel to Summer Camp]. I mean, when you're playing the same festival for 10 years, you really have no choice but to have some sort of relationship with the other bands that also come back every year.

Especially since it’s been moe. and Umphrey’s festival for so long and Umphrey's being from Chicago, it’s hard not to be in the same circuit and incestuous family of musicians. The festival has always kept a lot of the local favorites from the Midwestern region We get to check each other out and be inspired by each other.

There's a ton of opportunities for sit-ins and members of Cornmeal are constantly running around. This year's probably not going to be an exception.

HM: What’s interesting about Summer Camp is that even though they have a lot of the usual suspects every year, the festival continues to create a really diverse bill and grow.

CG: I think they do a really good job of continually bringing back the regional favorites as well as branching out to the national stuff. And I think that's what concertgoers want – they want to come to something that's familiar.

I think Summer Camp is one of those festivals where a majority of the audience is a return audience because of that fact and because they know they can and see Family Groove Company and Cornmeal in ways they won’t see them during the rest of the year.

HM: You mentioned you’re going to be all over the place, headlining the Thursday night pre-party, then you play an acoustic show and a 2:30 a.m. late-night. Do you approach each of those sets differently considering the time slot and feel?

CG: We do. Every year, Summer Camp really pushes us to bust out sets that are different and more exploratory than the last and brush up on tunes we haven’t played in years. Last year, we debuted a few new tunes.

Cornmeal at Summer Camp 2011 - Photo Credit: Celeste Valladares

This year, we're looking to do the same thing and brush up on some old ones that have fallen by the wayside over the years. Every set is a little different and that's what's cool for us. We've been with Summer Camp long enough for the festival promoters to see the worth in having us play multiple sets and knowing that our fanbase will go out and see us more than one time.

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I think that's where our audience always knows that we won't disappoint is the fact that every set will be completely different. And the time of the day really brings it out, too. Night sets are a lot different than the day sets for us as far as what material we want to pull off and what material we want to save for later.

The Friday night set is traditionally our acoustic set every year. That's something that started years ago without a stage and they eventually built a stage because I think we were causing too much of a ruckus elsewhere.

HM: I think the fact you guys can play all those different time slots and acoustic shows is a testament to your style, that high-energy “psychedelic bluegrass.” How do you guys feel about that label?

CG: Oh yeah, we're fine with it. In the beginning I think we fought against the whole jam-grass moniker, but we're so comfortable in our shoes these days that you can call us whatever you want.

We do what we do and somehow we're still standing. I think you're right – it is a testament to the kind of music we play. It’s a testament to bluegrass in general and how diverse it can be. We can play  acoustic sets, gospel bluegrass and then turn around and play that psychedelic bluegrass. It keeps us fresh and it keeps the audience really looking forward to something.

HM: It seems like with the explosion of electronic music into the mainstream, organic music and bluegrass is in danger of falling by the wayside.

CG: Actually I disagree with you. I think with the rise of bands like The Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons, it's just taking a completely different shape these days. I think that the Americana bluegrass music has just been shaped into this kind of Americana new-folk or whatever you want to call it and it's breathed completely new life into the musical form.

A lot of what these bands are doing is really a traditional bluegrass set-up, and they're just playing songs that might be a little more influenced by indie or popular music, but they're still bringing all those same elements of melodic banjo and droning banjo lines and the bluegrass backbeat really.

[FIND complete lineups, ticketing information and analysis of all your favorite festivals via our 2012 Festival Guide.]

Cornmeal at Summer Camp 2011 - Photo Credit: Celeste Valladares

But with the electronica scene, a lot of people forget that String Cheese was blending those genres many years ago before this craze took off. And you can see how heavily it affected their rhythm section when the two factions split and those guys created EOTO and the others went straighter to the bluegrass side.

When they got back together, you really see that fusion there. I think a lot of people overlook that fact.

HM: Have you guys ever discussed incorporating electronica into your sound?

CG: We haven't really discussed it, per se. I know we’ve played with percussion and used electronic drum pads and we’ve played with a DJ before just to sit in and experiment, but nothing that really seemed to stick with our desired sound. But I'm definitely not saying that it can't happen. I've learned over the 12 years that pretty much anything is possible with this band.

HM: You guys have been around the block by now and have a pretty unique sound in the jam scene, so do you find that it’s coming full circle and now younger, up-and-coming bands are telling you how you’re influencing them and inspiring them?

CG: It takes you aback and is a completely humbling experience. We just play all over the place and we get a lot of local bands that open up for us and they come up before the show and say, “I really love this song and it really influenced me,” or “I’ve been really studying your music.”

But I think that we’re all influencing each other in some way or somehow, but it is definitely a really neat thing to hear.

HM: You guys definitely know how to play a room. I saw you a few years back at a small bar in College Park, Maryland with a few hundred people and then the next week caught you in front of 10,000 people at Summer Camp. Both shows were very different, but really great even though one was intimate and the other was massive.

CG: A lot of people do say that. We've just played every size of venue across the country from places where we're stacking amps on top of amps just to fit and festivals like Summer Camp.

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For us, it's exciting. If we didn't play this dynamic range of places, I think it would really honestly get boring. I love the more intimate venues because you have so much more of a reaction from the crowd and a more personal experience. But then again, there's nothing like 10,000 people rocking out to your music.

HM: Absolutely. Thanks, for the time, Chris. Looking forward to catching you at Summer Camp again.

CG: Great thanks.

 

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Catch Cornmeal at the Thursday night pre-party at 9:30 p.m. on the Starshine Stage, Friday at 6:00 p.m. on the Moonshine Stage and Saturday morning at 2:30 a.m. on the Campfire Stage. For a complete list of tour dates, check out their official website.

Summer Camp takes place May 25 to 27 in Chillicothe, Illinois and features moe., Umphrey’s McGee, Primus, Pretty Lights, Jane’s Addiction, Common and many more. For more information about the festival, check out the event's official website or head over to our 2012 Festival Guide.