| A participant does not get eliminated each week, there’s no telephone voting and no acid-tongued British judge declaring after a performance, "That was absolutely dreadful." In spite of that – or more likely because of it – CBC’s new Rock Camp series hits a lot of reality-TV high notes.
This 13-part documentary program follows 18 would-be rock stars through three weeks of intensive music instruction and competition in Halifax. Shot last August, Rock Camp is a source of pride for executive producer Steven J.P. Comeau. "It is real. It is raw. It is intense. It is the real thing," he contends. "There’s nothing hokey. There’s nothing scripted. There’s nothing staged."
And, while this is not a (fill in the country of your choice) Idol show, Rock Camp does deliver a final-episode music showdown shot before a live studio audience.
The campers, ranging in age from 14 to 18, were selected from hundreds of applicants and were divided into four bands that competed for the right to record a single for EMI Music Canada.
Local musicians featured on the series are Calgary drummer Kadie Ziemski and fellow percussionist Kevin Gaudet from Okotoks. On the show Ziemski must weather some serious squabbling within her band, Jackstay, while Gaudet smoothly pounds out the rhythms for the group If We Were Us.
"Having to play music every day and having nothing else matter… was amazing," says Ziemski of the experience. "I could do that forever." But she admits it was also very stressful. "It was really hard work. I don’t know if that will come across in the show, but it really, truly was."
A good chunk of the work came in the form of TV-friendly challenges like a busking-for-charity competition and a demanding exercise recalled by Gaudet. "We had to take one of the songs we had already written and turn it into another genre of music," he says. Of the arduous task of converting a straight-ahead rock tune into an acid-jazz piece, Gaudet says modestly, "We managed."
Acclaimed and established Canadian musicians serve as the band coaches and instructors on Rock Camp. The students also benefit from the high-decibel tutelage offered by visiting members of such rock groups as I Mother Earth, Goldfinger, Wide Mouth Mason and Gob.
"I really liked Robin Black," Gaudet says of a camp guest and the front man of Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars. "Despite the fact that I am still not a huge fan of his music, I think he’s a true artist. He really does his own thing. He just goes out and makes rock ’n’ roll music and I think he’s very good at what he does."
Since camp wrapped last summer, both Ziemski and Gaudet have returned to playing with local bands. She’s a part of the grunge-influenced Art of Nature and he’s rapping the drums and ringing the cymbals for Thrill Kill. It’s yet to be seen whether appearing on a national TV series will pay career-boosting dividends for either of them. But no matter how the show plays out, both are grateful for the entire Rock Camp adventure.
"Some nights it was like two or three hours of sleep then up at six in the morning and playing until six at night," says Ziemski. "You’re hungry and tired and my band dealt with a lot of stress." But she beams as she declares, "It was awesome!"
Rock Camp airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m., beginning April 5 on CBC. |
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