| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: Scotland is famous for many things: The Edinburgh Festival, haggis, Scotch whiskey, and, of course, indie band Camera Obscura.
Never heard of them? Don’t worry - come October 29, you will. Camera Obscura will be performing here as part of the Esplanade’s Mosaic series, and the band is “real excited” about coming over here, said band co-founder Tracyanne Campbell.
But, she warned, if you meet them, do not - repeat, do not - mention the TV show "Doctor Who" in the presence of bassist Gavin Dunbar. “Gavin goes on and on about 'Doctor Who'. Never ask him about it because he won’t shut up,” she said over the phone from her home in Glasgow.
Other oddities in the band? “Kenny (McKeeve, guitarist) has lots of boots and shoes - he’s like a male Imelda Marcos,” she reeled off. “And Carey (Lander, keyboardist) is obsessed with buying and owning books, and she never likes you to have read a book before she has.”
Yes, with such diverse tastes, there’s never a dull moment when you’re in this band.
Camera Obscura (meaning “darkened chamber” - a term referring to early devices that projected an image on a screen using either a lens or pinhole) started out as a threesome in 1996 with Campbell, Dunbar and John Henderson.
Twelve years and three albums later, the band has expanded to six members - Lander, McKeeve, Nigel Baillie (trumpet) and Lee Thomson (drums). Henderson left the band after their second album was released.
One thing Campbell can’t get people to do is to stop describing the band as “twee”. “The term ‘twee’ would suggest to me a band that has no ambition ... no integrity or substance, a bit childish - but that’s not us at all,” said Campbell. “(A journalist) told me many young girls feel empowered by the word and it can be a positive and powerful thing in (how) they express themselves ... it’s not negative at all.
“So I’m quite confused by it all. If people listen to the band and think it’s a positive thing, by all means, we can be ‘twee’.”
Twee or not, one word that does describe Camera Obscura is “dedicated”, especially when it comes to their fans ... well, maybe not so much for the obsessive ones.
“There was one time we were about to perform in Glasgow and somebody called the venue to say that my mother was ill so we wouldn’t play - all because this person couldn’t get any tickets to the show. That’s kind of creepy, but thankfully that doesn’t happen a lot!” - TODAY/sh
Camera Obscura performs on October 29, 7.30pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets at S$58 from Sistic.
|
