Local band Elder Grown is hosting a slumber party. Billed as “Elder Grown’s Summer Camp,” it’s a camping event without any of the summer camp high jinks you may remember from the 1979 classic film “Meatballs.” There will be no shenanigans with the junior camp counselors and no rivalry with the smug camp from across the lake. But there will be festival frolicking and music.
Elder Grown’s Summer Camp will take place Saturday at Tico Time Resort, and will feature multiple acts, including headliners Elder Grown.
Elder Grown, who are brothers John and Paul Hoffman on bass and drums, saxophone player Sam Kelly, guitar player Guillaume Metz and keyboardist Brandon Clark (all band members sing and will also switch instruments at any moment), are laying groundwork for what could become a full-blown annual festival, of which they would lead the musical charge.
“It started as just doing an Elder Grown show, and then it blossomed into more than a show, as we’re going to have four other groups on the bill. So more than a regular show, less than a festival. And its dipping our toes into branding what could become a festival for us, an Elder Grown festival,” Kelly said. “So, we’ll see how this year goes and maybe we’ll bump it up to two days next year and make it a proper festival.”
If you go
WHAT: Elder Grown’s Summer Camp with Elder Grown, Ava Swan, Rachel Angel, Nelleke, Forest Thump.
WHEN: 5 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Tico Time Resort, 20 Road 2050, Aztec.
TICKETS: $15 music only, $20 music and camping pass.
More information: Visit www.eldergrownmusic.com.
Playing before headliner Elder Grown are Forest Thump, Ava Swan, Rachel Angel and Nelleke. Forest Thump is the only local support act; featuring Dennon Jones and T.J. Highland, they are self-described as “electronic violin-infused electronic music,” and coinciding with the show is the dropping of the band’s latest single, which features Elder Grown’s Kelly.
The remaining three support acts are all musicians Kelly recruited from outside the Southwest.
The saxophone player spent fall 2021 and spring 2022 in Valencia, Spain, studying contemporary performance and production via the Berklee School of Music. Through those studies, he met Swan, Angel and Nelleke. Swan is a plugged-in folkie, hovering around the alternative country and pop world; Angel is a North Carolina-based indie-rocker; and Nelleke is a singer-songwriter whose soft sounds drift in the dreamy and subtle psychedelic. All four openers are solid support for Elder Grown, a diverse bunch that vary from haunting and mellow, to pulsing EDM, to hook-heavy indie-rock. And, it turns out a bunch of Berklee-educated musicians are all stoked to come play in the Southwest.
“I really didn’t have to do very much to convince everyone to come out to play. I got so close to all of these folks over the year we were in this program together that as soon as I told them about Summer Camp, they all jumped at the opportunity to come out and play,” Kelly said. “I think given the circumstances around how difficult it was for all of us to move to Spain at the tail end of a pandemic, this group of people are particularly equipped to jump at a fun opportunity, no matter the challenges.”
And in typical festival fashion and flair, look for the sets to be loose and laid back, with plenty of opportunities for the support musicians to jump in and jam with the headliners.
“I think we’re going to make it a big family occasion. We’ll have the girls sing some backup vocals, or maybe having one or two of them take the lead on a cover or two. So, it’s going to look more like Elder Grown with friends,” Kelly said. “We’re going to make it a bigger production than it usually is. There will be a jam vibe to it, for sure.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
