IN
CAMERA
1.
Introduce the band: Name, age, instrument, and your favorite holiday.
Peter
Jex – Bass Guitar – Memorial Day (I hate my Job)
Chris
Jex – Guitar, vocals – Halloween (can dress like a drag queen without raising
eyebrows)
Nic Johnson – Guitar, lead vocals
– Boxing Day (English Holiday, Nic likes to beat his meat)
Brian
Curtis – Drums – New Years (shot shot shot shot shot shot kiss long time male
friend)
2.
How did you all meet and get together? Is this the original lineup?
We
all met standing in line at Planned Parenthood getting HIV testing. Nic walked
up to the counter and said “I think some girl at the minus the bear concert gave
me something” and we all just started talking. It was magic. This line up is original
although there was a 3 month long spiritual journey Peter went on, he was replaced
by our friend Robby for a time but we’re now back to the original line up.
3. Are Chris
and Pete twins or just brothers? How does it affect the band to have brothers
- does it have any affect on the band's chemistry or personality? How about when
you have fights - is it always Chris/Pete vs. the other two guys?
Peter
and Chris are twins. Twins speak to each other in their own special language.
Like for instance if I were to ask you to turn your amp down I’d say “hey I think
that guitar is a little loud can you turn it down” now if you were my twin I’d
say “hey fucknut turn your guitar down and can’t hear myself fucking think…..idiot…god!.”
The fights are frequent but it fuels the fire (for better or worse I can’t tell,
we’ve never been in a band without each other.) We can’t really say what it’s
like not being in a band with twins because.. we don’t know. Our band isn’t really
focused on a music career and our egos don’t extend beyond our individual instruments
so there’s not a lot fighting. Mostly drinking and potty humor.
4.
Listening to the MP3s you have, In Camera sounds like it covers several different
genres - some emo, some indie rock, some hardcore. How do you describe the band
when someone asks you "what do you sound like?" Here on the East Coast,
kids are almost fanatic about putting a label on a band - you're either emo or
screamo or punk or hc. Do you find that in SLC too? And how do you feel about
having to have a "label" for your sound?
We’ve
noticed that traveling around to other towns. Utah is the kind of place where
there’s 1 major label on everything (you can guess what that is.. I’ll give you
a hint, ironically it rhymes with moron). If you’re not a part of that click,
(cult) you grow up feeling like a deviant. Bands in Utah are more like counterfeit
jeans, there’s no label on em. Some could call us cheap rip offs or the best value
around, depends on how you look at. All I know is our favorite bands in the world
practice across the hall from our studio in downtown Salt Lake.
But
if you want a label we’re counterfeit indie rock reverse cowgirl style with a
cigarette after.. and some math.
5.
When you mention Salt Lake City, everybody thinks of the Mormons and the image
is of a place that's dominated by strict and repressive religious beliefs. Is
SLC really like that? And if so, how do you feel the local music offers some reaction
or alternative to that culture?
The state as a whole is more repressive
then I think most people can imagine (you have live it to feel all the subtle
annoyances) We were all raised LDS and have a bitter taste in our mouths because
of it. So you can consider our opinion bias.
The
music definitely reacts to the religious overtones on everything. We’re constantly
reminded of how “wrong” we are. I can’t see how that wouldn’t carry over to the
music. That’s the easiest way we express the frustration. It’s
not really as bad as we make it sound though. It’s very subtle and it’s to the
point where if you live in Salt Lake and stay in the valley you can almost ignore
it completely.
6.
It seems like SLC has a pretty healthy scene. Tell us about some of the other
good bands you're friends with. Are there are lot of all-ages shows in the area?
Where do you play shows the most -- DIY hall and basement shows, clubs/bars, theaters?
I
could name a laundry list. My favorite thing about Salt Lake is the lack of competitiveness
between bands. Form of Rocket, New Transit Direction, Tolchok Trio, Return to
Sender, The Brobecks, Day of Less, Gaza, Loiter Cognition, The Tremula are our
favorites and all of them are our friends. The “Days of our lives” drama stops
in Utah right along with the rock star “making it” bullshit. We
usually play at Kilby court which I’d rather play over any other venue we’ve ever
played at. We’ve played at pretty much every club/venue in Utah. I’ve noticed
venues in Utah are pretty run down compared with the rest of the country but they
also are all run by dedicated people doing it for the right reasons (it’s so hard
to keep a venue going in Utah you have to be). The attitude and atmosphere makes
up for the lack of lighting, 30,000 watt sound systems, big stages and even AC
(at times)
7. Does In Camera's
music have any messages you're trying to put across - social or political?
First of all we don’t have one song about a girl. The only
thing close we have to a love song is about a gay one night stand. There’s a lot
of political messages in our music but that’s more of an expression of our frustrations
then a gimmick or a message. A lot of it is cynical humor about our situation
or things that piss us right off. I can say we’re also free of any blade, cut,
blood, dance, suicide or pop culture references. Listen to the cd, I’d say there’s
more loose theme’s then messages.
8.
Your EP came out over a year ago. Is the band planning to record and release a
new CD soon?
We had a split that came out last spring and
our working on our first LP. I can’t say when it’ll be done but I can say we’re
practicing at least 20 hours a week working on it. We record everything as we
write it and produce the demo’s ourselves. This cd is going to be the first cd
we didn’t record ourselves so perfection leading up to it is really important
to us.
9.
Utah is kind of in the middle of nowhere. What are your options for touring? Where
can you play that's not your home town that is within a reasonable distance? What
are some of your other favorite cities, and why?
Salt
Lake is an easy starting point if you’re going to loop around the west coast.
It’s also an important stop for other touring bands so the show trades and frequent.
My favorite place to play so far is Vegas. We get take a weekend down there relatively
easy and the scene is great once you get into it. Bands like Anias and Brown Eye
Deception have made our experiences down there phenomenal (biggest show we’ve
played has been down there)
10.
The Ramones. Promise Ring. Nirvana. Thursday. Which one of those bands could In Camera not have existed without
and why?
Nirvana.
Because that band sings to our very souls and embodies all that music should
be.
www.myspace.com/incamera and www.incameramusic.com