LOVE CAMP 7: Bios
Dann Baker - guitar, vocals
As a schoolchild, Baker gamboled about enchanted hills whose paths carried such fraught names as Wonderland Avenue . . . Lookout Mountain Road . . . Skyline Drive. Nearby resided a virtual constellation of rock-n-roll gods . . . daily could be heard the trilling of coloratura Marni Nixon . . .
Imprinted on the young tyke's brain was the unique geography of the City of Angels, from the slanting green canyons to the palisaded beaches to the twin basins stretching out to infinity. And of course the darkly mysterious Bunker Hill, whose Angel's Flight young Dann rode with his father, Dave, for a mere penny!
Did Dann do what pre-latency children do everywhere? Yes, he built forts, conducted wars, and tunneled through dirt piles at construction sites. Ran madly up and down the ravines that bloomed between case-study houses. Approached the shadow of mystery with trembling hands, backed away, approached once more . . .
Key moments were Daryl Genis bringing his Cardinal Red Jazzmaster to school and playing before the class with insouciance (see Vacation Village, track 3). . . the acquisition of Kinks Greatest Hits at Carl's Market . . . the viewing of The Buddy Holly Story (at the Cinerama Dome; see Vacation Village, track #5).
The influence of any number of Los Angeles poets was unavoidable: Brian Wilson, Arthur Lee, Capt. Beefheat, Van Dyke Parks, Ed Ruscha, R. M. Schindler, Mary Austin, Carey McWilliams, John Fante, Mike Davis.
Dann ended up in New York in the early '80s, whereupon he dedicated his life to proofreading and musicianship. He's a virgo and has a special relationship with coral, ultramarine, and hunter green.
Dave Campbell - drums, vocals
Dave Campbell was born the day the music died in the land that time forgot. A plane carrying Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens crashed and burned in a cornfield in Iowa at the precise moment Dave's head hit the delivery room floor in the Red River Valley of western Minnesota, directly in the flight path of the plane that crashed.
Dave grew up in Minneapolis, played basketball with Paul Westerberg, frsibee with Bob Mould, croquet with the Coen brothers, frolicked in cafes on the west bank of the mighty Mississippi, moved to the south side of Chicago to sample the blues and pay homage to self-sustaining nuclear reactions, played a lead-in for the Ramones, moved to the Big Apple, chatted with Madonna in elevators before she was graduated from dance school, moved to Paris, busked on the left bank of the Seine, fell in love, and then landed in Brooklyn, for reasons as yet unknown.
These days he can be found on any number of park benches pondering the 11 dimensions of time and space, and when the sun goes down, he climbs up onto the bandstand where he is still allowed by law to express himself freely without fear of incarceration. Musical influences, in order of impact: pop music of the 60s, the Replacements, Husker Du, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, bebop jazz and Brazilian music spanning the entire 20th century, including the large pillars: Dorival Caymmi, Elis Regina, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Gonzaga, Cartola, Caetona Veloso and Gilberto Gil.
Stephen B. Antonakos - fancy guitars, vocals
Stephen B. Antonakos was born and raised on the island of Manhattan. As a child he pressed his ears against the window of the West End Cafe to hear Tiny Grimes and listened to Cousin Brucie on AM radio. He played tambourine in The Teacher's Dilemma (Paint it Black, Day Tripper).
Further musical ambitions were delayed until the needle dropped on the Allman Brothers' Eat a Peach, side three, track one. After playing guitar for one month without knowing the proper tuning, progress was soon made. He met Bruce Hathaway languishing among the bricks of SUNY Purchase. They kept in touch.
After years of playing, jamming, busking, practicing, and listening he found Bruce playing in a band called Love Camp 7, then a trio. They seemed to be able to make lead into gold and, being an amateur alchemist, Homeboy Steve, as he was called by this time, was intrigued. After a couple of stints as a guest guitarist in the studio, he was scarified and made a regular member of the band.
Bruce Hathaway - bass, vocals
Bruce Hathaway graduated from SUNY Purchase Conservatory with a BFA in classical guitar performance. Immediately following, he was the first guitarist to win the Nadia Boulanger Scholarship Competition for musical studies at the Conservatory of Fontainebleau in France.
After his return to New York , he began composing and playing bass in what would become the critically acclaimed garage pop trio, LOVE CAMP 7. Apart from recording 5 records and touring with the band, Bruce has engineered and produced numerous records with other artists (including Ida, Babe the blue OX, They Might Be Giants, Brainiac, Lunachicks, Ui) at Brooklyn-based Excello Recording.
He continues to play in the band and co-produce the recording sessions, and to compose in a wide range of styles, from classical to experimental, and has scored original music and done sound design for several films.