basecamp is back

A new single and a sit down with the trio…

by Christian Lavery

Nashville's trio BASECAMP is back with ten times the energy and a goosebump inducing new single dubbed "Shudder."

morePolished with hints of post-dubstep arrangements, indie rock guitars and soulful vocals, BASECAMP creates an atmospheric soundscape worthy of the utmost grandeur. The single is taken from the trio's forthcoming EP which includes a collaboration with Body High's Myrryrs, and a track coauthored with a friend who helped compose the band's first single, "Emmanuel." Having only released their self titled debut EP, the guys surely hit the ground running. They have already shared the stage with everyone from CHVRCHES to Chromeo and hope to soon take on the rest of Europe. We picked their brains on everything from how their live performances have evolved over the last year, to what their music collections looked like during their teenage years. We found the answer pretty surprising. Check out the full interview below as you indulge in the track. We're sure you'll hit the play button more than once. Enjoy.Your new single "Shudder" is a track that begs to be played again only after hearing it once and it has beautiful lyrics. What is the story behind the meaning?We don't like to get too specific about the stories that inspire our songs, but in terms of the overall theme, it's sort of the retrospective view of a failed romance. Looking back at the better parts of a relationship that didn't work out. There's a kind of bittersweet feeling of innocence lost to it, but not in a hopeless or negative sense.You played with CHVRCHES for the first time a few months (after having your first ever live shows) and you've even recently opened for Chromeo. In what ways have your live shows evolved over the past year and what are some of the highlights in noting that, as electronic group, you don't necessarily rock out on guitars?I think the biggest evolution with our live show thus far has been how comfortable we've gotten with performing our music live. Haha, when we first started out, we didn't have much intention of ever performing. So when the time came to create our live set, we had to completely dissect everything we'd done and figure out how to make it work on stage. We were all opposed to going the DJ route. We wanted it to feel as organic as possible, and we've done our best to make it so. All that being said, now that we have a stronger grasp on it, we're really excited to evolve even further and take it to the next tier. That's going to be a big focus for us this fall and winter.You've cited Yung Lean as a band favorite; what did your guys' individual music collections look like in your teenage years?Oh man, we were all over the place. Everything from Mos Def to Radiohead to Deftones, Joao Gilberto, Korn (yes, Korn), Dido, The Beatles, Ben Harper, The Roots. The list is novel length and there's really no rhyme or reason to it. Honestly, the only thing I think the three of us shared an affinity for was Nu Metal, as strange as that sounds. Haha, we just liked what we liked.Nashville has been recognized by some as the "home of country music." What is the music scene there like, and in what ways has it either helped or hindered BASECAMP?The music scene here is interesting. The country and rock thing is definitely very prevalent, but there's a much larger variety growing. Things have changed a lot in the last few years. We haven't been very involved in the scene here yet, but we're really looking forward to eventually playing more in our hometown.What would be the ideal 'BASECAMP TOUR'?We were actually just talking today about how much we'd love to tour Scandinavia. Europe would be great in general. I'm sure we could come up with several versions of an ideal tour, but we're pretty easy. As long as we're having fun, we're happy.Can we ask how many songs will be on the upcoming EP, and what were some of the highlights of the recording process? Any collaborations?Right now, it's looking like 5 songs. We've gotten our hands on some new toys, and that's really changed our process. This EP is a lot more hardware based than the first one, so it's been really fun experimenting with all that. Not much in the way of collabs. We did a song with our buddy Ben, who we cowrote 'Emmanuel' with. We also did a song with Myrryrs (Body High) that we're really excited about.What venue, city or crowd has been your favorite to play live for and why was it so memorable?I think our favorite show thus far was School Night at Bardot in LA. Great lineup (Sohn and Deptford Goth), great crowd, great response. Overall just the perfect vibe, but it's hard to call. We've played a lot of really great shows. Canada's been really good to us this year. Toronto and Montreal are quickly becoming our favorite cities.Will you be attending any summer festivals in what's left of summer? Any specific acts you're looking forward to seeing?We're currently at Osheaga in Montreal. This is our last festival of the summer. We're really looking forward to seeing SBTRKT, Lykke Li and Gesaffelstein. Sadly we're going to miss Outkast.

-words by Miguel Angel