Treefort music fest is relatively new, having only sprung forth in 2012. Though it’s wee young, it’s established itself as a real bonified fest with a diverse lineup of over 260 artists… many of whom you’ve actually heard of! Built to Spill, the Walkmen, Yacht, and other indie trailblazers were all on board. Some of them had beards, but many more did not!

Here’s what we knew before we launched eastward:

1) It was going to be cold. Like dear-god-I-hope-we-don’t-breakdown cold.
2) The Snoqualmie pass had just been closed due to “numerous spinouts” <– this is code for, “your van will think you are playing Xbox and kill you.”

Fortunately, problem #1 was helped out by the nice folks at Core Concepts  who were kind enough to outfit us with some garments which proved to be quite styley. No seriously, they were actually really cool coats. Usually staying warm involves donning a heavy puffy thing that makes you feel like a bloated marshmallow. These coats were flexible, with a nylon shell, stuffed with some sort of space age filling that kept us quite toasty while allowing us to still load gear and take evasive action from groupies.  Behold:

Mychal with Core Concepts Coat

Issue #2 had us panicking about whether we were going to be able to get to Idaho at all. We polled our friends… “go through Portland” some said. “Take a private jet” implored others! “Have them pick you up in a limo!” suggested my father – who doesn’t understand how these things work. Ultimately we decided to just go for it. No “safer” long routes, we forged ahead through the pass, and like some biblical miracle, the skies parted and we enjoyed a beautiful 10 hour drive. Here’s proof:

Mychal can barely see

Somewhere along the way, the joking around started. Maybe it had to do with driving 10 hours without a radio or CD player but you must know that getting 4 guys in a van for that long, some serious reduction in IQ points starts. It began with Hannigan’s spot on impersonations of creepy men in various cultures, and devolved from there. I’ll spare you the details, but somewhere along the way, out of sheer boredom and/or lust for danger, Mychal nearly strangled himself with a KFC bag. I think he did it to try and rid himself of the memory of having just eaten at KFC. I don’t blame him.

The gang, looking like we discovered gold in 1835

Did I mention, there were just 4 guys in the van? Well that’s because the lovely and charming Zarni De Wet (who let’s face it, is raunchier and more inappropriate than all of us anyway) couldn’t make this show. She had to go to South Africa where she is from to family bond and recharge her accent. In her place we quickly ramped up Robert Von Feldt who plays keyboards in my friend Tae Phoenix’s band.

Bob was a good sport, learning our entire set of rhythmically schizophrenic material in a couple of weeks – and pulled it off under pressure. We can’t keep him though because he looks much worse than Zarni in a skirt, and can’t sing nearly as high. (Also, we love Zarni way too hard anyway!)

Brandon, in Core Concepts coat

A quick show was played to a few hundred screaming fans packed into the venue, interviews were granted, pizza was mooched, and then after a quick night’s sleep cut short by the social opportunities afforded by having a hundred rock bands staying in one hotel (hi Truckasaurus!), we headed home. It was even more beautiful on the way back.

Big Sky Country

Look at the cute little cheeseburgers!

Cleaning the epic salt bath

Thank you Boise for being so very nice to us. We are sorry that we kept mispronouncing your name and calling you “New Boisey” from the stage. I assure you we meant it in the kindest way

- Brandon (drummer boy)

Today we are announcing the release of the 4th track off our upcoming album. This one is easy to remember, because it is the title track of the album, “When You Have Arrived.” This one is decidedly more upbeat than our last single and features the trumpet stylings of our own expert beard grower extraordinaire Andrew “Hannigan” Eckes.

The accompanying video, filmed by Christian Hansen Soren, follows the ambiguous adventures of  a man (played by Brad Duncan) in the beautiful ethereal Pacific Northwest. We hope you like it, and we hope it makes you want to dance with strangers and chant along to the chorus which has proven a fan favorite at our live shows.

If this version doesn’t make you shake your pants, then there is an even more fun version available as a remix on the single by Front Line Assembly/Delerium member Jeremy Inkel. We don’t have an official policy of releasing remixes with every song, but we’ve been enjoying it. If you would like to remix one of our songs, get in touch with us on Facebook and maybe we can work together on something! In the meantime, open your eyes and ears, and prepare to arrive. – Brandon

(until we can get video embedding fixed, watch the video HERE)

It’s been a while since we’ve updated our blog so I wanted to recap some things that are going in Campfire OK world. Firstly, we are about to rock your pants off. Seriously, there is a question whether any audience member will be wearing pants by night’s end. The reasons for this tremendous trouser-trouncing are:

1) New songs: We have a whole album of new material we are trickling out 1 song per month. Expect to hear some new ones.
2) Lights: We are working with Ben Stull to coordinate some lights for our show. We aren’t Radiohead with a 6 figure light budget (ok, it’s a 3 figure one…) but we are going to give you a little something extra to amuse your eyeballs. We care about all your senses. (except taste… we didn’t make cupcakes, sorry)
3) FREE MUSIC: A free EP of music for every single person that attends the show. It will only be available for 1 week and features some stuff never released!

So, buy your tickets and come down and share the love with us,

- Campfire OK (brandon)

Attention all would be movie stars, aspiring playwrights, and other beautiful people of California… we are coming to Los Angeles to Play the Hotel Cafe on Oct 23rd! It is our first chance to frolic amongst the tan and beautiful people there. Of course, our fragile Pacific Northwest skin might burst into flames immediately upon experiencing your full power sunlight, but we want to stress, this will NOT affect the show. In fact, we may incorporate it into some sort of extreme pyrotechnics.

It’s an early show, 7pm, so come down early and join is in melodious revelry. (BM)

Oct 23rd 2012 – Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
7pm
$10 (tickets)

It is with great bustling joy that we announce to you the release of our new single and video ”Wishing You The Best!” It is the first song off our new album “When You Have Arrived” which we will be releasing in tantalizing measured increments in the next months.

Watch the video:        HERE
Download the track:   HERE  < It’s free for a little while. You can pay what you want.

Many of you know know this song. It’s been a staple of our live set for a while now and it’s the song we get the most requests about as it isn’t on our first album “Strange Like We Are“. Funny aside, there actually WAS a version of that song slated to go on that first album, but it was entirely different than the version you’re hearing now. It used to be more of a hard stomping piano-rock thing that didn’t seem to quite work. Or perhaps we just liked this version better. Maybe when we do our 11-disc retrospective, that version will come to light!

Thanks everyone SO much for helping to make this possible. Special bonus thanks to Christian Sorensen Hansen for filming, editing, and producing this video. A lot of work, (and some very shivering cold mornings) went into this feast for your eyes. We will be releasing some behind the scenes pics and commentary soon.  In the meantime, enjoy! Share with your friends. Request the song on KEXP or your local Peruvian radio station.

We will be releasing new songs every month or two throughout the year… stay tuned! - Brandon

photo by Laura Musselman

Found a poster in Fremont!!! Will you JOIN THE PARTY?

TICKETS HERE  // RSVP HERE

I am about half way through a 19 day tour with our friends in Anberlin. I am main support, on a 3 band bill with this really cool band Monsters Calling Home opening the show. The tour is an acoustic tour, which is really cool because Anberlin is usually a pretty heavy band, and they are playing all of their songs in a Fleetwood Mac style for this tour! Opening solo has been A real treat, but has also made me miss playing with the rest of the band immensely. Getting in front of 500 people a night with just a guitar has been such a learning experience, and has made me even more grateful for anyone who listens to our music, and has also been so fulfilling to have people come up to me after the shows and talk with me in states that we have never played.

On the bus, we have been watching movies (all the Harry Potter movies) and totally goofing off. The whole band and crew has been so generous and caring. I honestly feel like I have a new family of friends that I will have forever. We have been playing baseball, football, cornhole (a beanbag game) and swimming in lakes all the time!! I have been drinking coffee with the drummer Nate Young, and running with the singer Stephen. They are by far the most hilariously funny band around.

I am so excited to be home, and show you all songs from the new album at the crocodile! It’s gonna be an amazing night.

Best from the bus,

Mychal

(Me and Nate Young)

Here are the rest of the tour dates!

AMAZING poster designed by: Benjamin Shown

Mychal is headed out to play solo acoustic for Anberlin the next couple weeks. Boy do I miss him already. If you are in any of the towns he’s touring through, please go see him or tell a friend to go!

Check out the dates/places HERE!

-Melodie