Camplified Artists & Bands Part 3 of 3

There comes a time when all good things must come to end, such as the Camplified tour. But that does not mean the memories of great times and the sounds of amazing music cannot still live on, in us. This is the last installment of the bands that have graced the many different stages of the Camplified tour.

The first band I am going to talk about is a young group of guys, BYS.

Their music is of pop punk influence. Over the course of a few tour dates with them the Camplified crew was singing along to some pretty good songs. One of the crowd favorites was “Erased”. This is an upbeat song and sounds like a great old school punk song.

This next artist is a solo artist that has opened for the Jonas Brothers and many other bands of the pop genre. He is a funny, talented and kind guy. All of those qualities come through in his music. That’s right I am talking about the one and only Phil Bensen.

Phil singing at Day In The Park Camp

While on tour he entertained us many of times by creating a song while on stage in front of the crowd just by using a name, place, color anything you can think of that was shouted to him from the crowd. It was one of many great experiences, I will never forget while being on this tour. He had so many great songs for us here at Camplified to choose from but at the end of the day we choose “Slow Down”

There was this band whose music is really hard to define in music genre terms because they have so much going on in their songs. They have a little rap, some singing, some piano…have you guessed who I am talking about yet? That’s right! 2AM Club!

2AM Club singing their hit song "Nobody's In Love" at Camp Danbee

Their music had us wanting to get out on dance floor and dance the night away. Currently they are working on a full-length album that will hopefully be dropping by the end of this year. The song I have chosen, “Nobody’s In Love” was a crowd hit and was one of the songs that we played in our tour van over and over again.

I am at a loss for words on what to say about the guys of Duke Squad.

Rocking the house at Camp Mataoka

Not because they were bad because they were far from that, they were amazing! That’s what so hard is because you can tell right off the bat from meeting them that they are going to be huge! Their music is a pop punk genre but they remind me of a young New Found Glory. Their performances on this tour always got the crowd pumped and going. They even had crowd surfing at one camp to one of their songs!

While they did sing their own stuff they also covered a few hit songs that everyone loves such as “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard and of course “My Friends Over You” by New Found Glory. This band was a hit every camp they played at and they great to always be around. Out of all the songs we chose “Girlfriend” for you guys to give a listen to.

Oh no my time is growing short with you guys as you can tell we only have one more artist to talk about before Camplified Tour is officially at end for the 2009 year. I am really sad but as the band Queen says “…the show must go on…”.

This last artist hails from Barbados. He has a voice of an angel and some say he looks like Lenny Kravtiz between his facial features and hair but I must I think he is own person. That’s right you guessed it! New and upcoming R&B artist Jaicko.

Jaicko performing "Can I"

Even though he was on only on a few dates at the end of tour he still made a lasting impression on the crewmembers and campers. His R&B vocals and background beats flow hand in hand together. While performing a song entitled “Perfect” at one of the camp’s he started singing acappella and had the crowd help him with the vocals it was truly a great memory that I will always had.

I really wanted to capture and remember Jaicko because he is so charismatic on stage and off. Below is a video I put together of some of his performances while on tour.

But the song I have chosen to showcase is his new hit single “Oh Yeah”. This song is upbeat and will be blowing up soon on the radio.

At the start of this blog I said “There comes a time when all good things must come to end, such as the Camplified tour” and I am afraid it is now officially at a close for the year 2009. I hope you all have enjoyed the blogs written by our crewmembers as we all agree we have enjoyed writing them for you!

All of the artists and bands mentioned in these past 3 blogs can be found on MySpace, Facebook and iTunes.

We look forward to Camplified 2010 and what great new exciting music that will bring to us. Until next time I say goodbye, good luck and always follow the sound of music for it will lead to good times, people and memories.

By Lisa Marie Smith

Camplified has its first ever free show at Garden Sk8 Skatepark in Pine Brook, NJ!

Camplified brought the tour inside today as we visited the gracious hosts at Garden Sk8 skatepark. The interior of Garden Sk8 is covered in hand-painted original art and is breathtaking. It acted as the perfect backdrop for our activities and bands today. It was a super fun vibe.

We set up Cartoon Network in the main office area and the kids started coming up to us even before everything was plugged in. It was a tough environment for activities – kids would come by and get excited about what was there but would already have their minds made up about heading in to skate. We had a lot of people coming through and promising to come back. So, later in the afternoon as people were heading out, the Cartoon Network station got really crowded! Luckily, we were able to keep all the kids happy with a lot of help from Lisa (Lisa is Camplified’s own FusionFall pro). We came across some kids with existing accounts but, for the most part, the Garden Sk8 kids were FusionFall rookies. It’s awesome how into the game these kids get – and right away! It was a happy day over at the CN station.

Dylan (5 yrs. old) really got into FusionFall!

Rockband was set up across the lobby and the musical selection was diverse today. Where we usually hear a lot of Paramore, today was a lot of Bon Jovi and Metallica. We love the regular selections, but the music choices today were a great change to our everyday routine. The skater kids had a great time rocking out.

Rocking out to Rockband

The concert was a full bill today – we had four bands on the schedule. First up was Kicking Daisies – they were great. Always full of energy and enthusiasm, Kicking Daisies were a great start to the show.

Duran, Ben, Carly and Caitlin of Kicking Daisies bring the rawwwk

Next up was BYS. We haven’t had them on the tour for the last few dates so it was really nice to see them again. Camplified ’09 isn’t the same without them! They’re a great band to work with and they always bring so much energy to their sets.

skater kids enjoying BYS's return to Camplified

Next up was Duke Squad, a band out of Montreal. The band usually plays originals, but they switched it up today and introduced some covers into their set. Their regular fare is pretty great – super catchy feel-good rock pop, but seeing them take on the music of others was a treat too.

Duke Squad rocks out at Garden Sk8

Lastly, Misha Williams took the stage with her guitar. She was joined at the end of her set by some Camplified staff and the boys of Duke Squad. They all had a great time and as an audience member, it was really fun to watch.

Misha Williams get some help from Duke Squad....and other audience members!

Garden Sk8 skatepark was a new venue style for Camplified. In addition to the great space and our incredible hosts the bands seemed to really enjoy the event. The skater kids were really excited about our activities as well. Over all, it was a great day in Pine Brook, NJ. Thanks Garden Sk8!

Posted by Jess Fontaine, Crew Member

JCC Camp at Medford brings out the welcome wagon – and Camplified rolls into town!

One of the best parts of the Camplified tour is the surprises that we bring in with us on show day.  When the dates are “advanced”  (that’s concert lingo for finalizing day-of-show details) the camp directors hear about all the activities and musicians we’ll be bringing to camp when their day comes.  No matter how clear we are in letting them know what we’re coming with, there are still so surprised.  As we set up the Rockband, Cartoon Network and Yu-Gi-Oh! activities yesterday, it was clear this was going to be one of those camps.  Everyone was ready to party!

The JCC Camp in Medford, NJ is one of those places that acts an oasis away from the rest of the world – even though it’s about 5 minutes off of a main road.  You pull into the grounds and you’re transported – there are paths and trails, buildings for theatrical productions and art classes, and even a hockey rink!  As our sound guys started transforming the hockey rink into a venue fit for the stars, the crew got busy with the activities in the mess hall.  In no time at all, the kids had discovered us and as the hall filled up – the excitement was electric!  The kids swarmed in and transformed into rockstars over at Rockband, the gaming kids headed over to Yu-Gi-Oh! – and were enthralled with our Yu-Gi-Oh! experts almost instantly.

Yu-Gi-Oh! expert Robert shows the kids how it's done. How it's done expertly, that is..

On the other side of the hall, the Cartoon Network station seemed to be overflowing with excited campers.  The Cartoon Networks cartoon previews and videos were so popular, our crew member Lisa was literally running around keeping every last kid queued up for their own viewing.

Cartoon Network station was a hit!

Today’s event was unique as we had two different shows – a morning set with Alexa & Natalee Falk (also known as Faces Without Names), Michael & Marisa, and a few songs from BYS.

Michael and Marisa performed - here Michael rocks out!

The afternoon set featured Phil Benson and a few more songs from BYS.

Phil Bensen entertains the masses!

When the second set was over, the rink was full of kids (both big and small!) clamoring for autographs from the musicians.  There were hundreds of really excited kids who couldn’t get enough of these guys – it was madness!

We ended the day with some more activities and the energy level never slowed down.  The kids and staff at the JCC camp sure gave us a run for our money today – at Camplified we’re pretty high energy and we can be pretty entertaining (we like to have a good time!).  But, today at JCC Camp in Medford we were the ones trying to keep up with the excitement of the staff and campers.  It was a great day!

Really looking forward to Belvoir Terrace on Sunday.  JCC Camp at Medford has set the bar pretty high, but I know the girls in Lenox, MA are going to be great!!

Posted by Jess Fontaine, Crew Member

Taking Mid-Island Y By Storm!

We’re almost two weeks into this tour now and we are still going strong.  Today we were at Mid-Island Y in Wheatley Heights, Long Island. The weather may have been dark and dreary, but the smiles, laughter and energy the children had made it feel like the sun was shining bright and strong.

Dancing in the rain!

Kids took an instant liking to one of our great sponsors this year, MTV Rockband. Rocking out to great legendary songs such as “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor and “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi! There were also quite a few modern songs like “Nine in the Afternoon” by Panic! at the Disco and “That’s What You Get” by Paramore that were a huge hit! But then the rain came, that by no means stopped our bands from taking the stage and rocking out.

Even the Mid-Island Y Counselors rocked out to Rockband!

Through the rain, the bands sang their hearts out and the kids danced both on and off the stage like there was no tomorrow.

Rick Seibold performing while Adam (a member of Camplified's production crew) mixes sound.

Overall, it was an amazing day, even in the rain.

Nothing stops Camplified or the campers at Mid-Island Y!

Posted by Lisa Smith, Crew Member

A Day in the Park

The sun was shining bright on us yesterday at Day in the Park Camp.

As we pulled into the wide open space, I could tell this was going to be a great day. As we set up the day’s activities, we were greeted with warm smiles and welcomes from the camp staff. They were all willing to lend a helping hand to bring a day of fun and music to the kids.

Once the booths of activities were set up, kids were eager to get started playing Rockband, while the future video game developers were demoing the new online game Fusion Fall by Cartoon Network.

Day In The Park campers were focused on the prize. There are future rockstars among us!

After activities and lunch, it was time for the concert to start.  All three of our musical artists were spectacular with getting the kids out of their seats and onto the stage for some participation. The campers were clapping, swaying and dancing along!  As the Meet and Greet (and autograph session) began, campers were able to come by our Scholastic station and check out some great titles that the publisher passed along for them.

Books!

The educator in me gets really excited to see the kids so into the Scholastic books. They're captivated by the idea that they actually get to have one. It's great!

Overall this was amazing. I look forward to what the weeks ahead hold because I have a feeling it will only get better. 🙂

campers, counselors and artists take one last photo!

Posted by Lisa Smith, Crew Member (with additional reporting by Jess Fontaine, Crew Member)

7/14/2009