Interview by tosnob

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Camper Van Beethoven were undeniably on the leading edge of college rock. Their influence on the development of the indie underground scene is immeasurable. Well they are returning to Toronto with related band Cracker to play Lee's Palace on January 16th.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with founding Camper member Victor Krummenacher about the tour and music in general. Here's our conversation:

T.O. Snob: First off thanks for doing this Victor.

VK: No problem.

T.O. Snob: You guys are coming to Toronto to play Lee's Palace on January 16th with Cracker. I caught you there when you were touring on New Roman Times. What's your favorite, or least favorite memory of playing in Toronto?

VK: Well the last time we were in Toronto it was pretty horrible. All of our gear got stolen in Montreal. That pretty much put me in a bad mood for a while. I lost a really nice bass, and I'm not planning on seeing it again any time soon. That's no reflection on Toronto...

T.O. Snob: More of a reflection on Montreal I guess.

VK: Yeah, definitely more a reflection on Montreal.

T.O. Snob: Now you guys have been doing this for 25, 27 years now. How do you keep up it fun for yourself on stage?

VK: Yeah 1983 so going on 27 years. The key is don't do it all the time. Don't burn yourself out. There are different ways of approaching it.

Where Camper is we're all in our 40s, we all have other jobs, and there's a really unique power to the band because it's the first band where people really learned how to play together so there's a really unique relationship. I don't play with them like I play with anybody else. And I play a lot of music that's not Camper these days.

I think the way I keep it going is to keep it fresh by not grinding it into the ground. Perhaps we start writing new music again, which we haven't done in a few years, maybe we'll grind it a little more. But I don't think even then that's really the best way for Camper to function.

Camper's a pretty prickly entity. There's lots of really diverse people and a strong group of personalities. Maturation allows you to realize ‘well maybe this is really fun but don't let me do it for more than a couple of weeks at a time'.

T.O. Snob: After performing hundreds of shows there must be songs that you're sick and tired of playing?

VK: I think I've calculated that I've played "Take the Skinheads Bowling" about 1569 times over the last 26 years. Maybe more really since I used to play it a lot when I played bass for Cracker.

It's something that people want to hear, and it's something that if you haven't played it in a couple of months can be fun. But it's not something that gets me excited. Whereas something like "When I Win the Lottery", which doesn't get played that much, is always fun to play. "Eye of Fatima" I'm always playing with the bassline and playing with the general feel of the song.

I like a lot of the instrumentals. I've always been a fan of the harder stuff. Either musically harder or weirder. Don't come to me asking for some great pop sensibility I'm not that guy. I wouldn't sell myself short, I know what I'm doing. But I like good hard stuff. I like when the band veers off course. I'm much more of a tightrope walker.

T.O. Snob: New Roman Times came out in 2004, what are the chances that we'll hear new material at the show?

VK: There's usually oddities at the show but there's nothing particularly new there. David's been in Cracker mode for a while. There's plenty of new music going around it's just not Camper.

T.O. Snob: You mentioned other projects and I know you have a project of your own as well in McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Can you tell us a little bit more about the sound and inspiration behind that?

VK: That's where most of my energy is going nowadays. You know it's a songwriting partnership between me and Alison Levy who used to be in the Sippy Cups, they primarily played for kids, they were the kings of that whole movement of alt-rockers who are now playing kids music.

We've been friends for a while and she came to me a couple of years ago and said ‘hey I'dlike to do a songwriting project'. It's kind of one part Richard and Linda Thompson, another part old soul, and a lot of ‘60s British blues, there's a lot of folk, and there's a lot of roadhouse music. It's kind of like an artful bar band.

There's a lot of playing, a lot of interplays, a lot of duets. We have some darker, murkier elements too. We've got a fantastic group of musicians and I've been having a really great time.

T.O. Snob: What I've heard sounds very fun and it sounds like you guys had a great time making it.

VK: Well the recordings were done in a small room, very intimate. The live band is not that. The live band is this very lively, loud thing.

The record is available on iTunes and I'll definitely have copies for sale at the show.

T.O. Snob: Finally, what is your New Year's resolution?

VK: Jesus, no. Usually it comes down to ‘I will survive this year'.

T.O. Snob: Looks like you've been doing a pretty good job of that so far.

VK: So far, so good. I've weathered most of the storms around me pretty well. The world is a pretty screwed up place these days so you kind of put your head down and cross your fingers.

T.O. Snob: Do you have any final thoughts for your fans in Toronto?

VK: I'm just looking forward to coming back to Toronto. Hopefully we'll be in a better mood this time. Last time literally we got out, didn't have any instruments, and we had people bringing out loaners.

One thing I remember about that Toronto show was that someone loaned me this late ‘70s bass, it was a beautiful gesture so no complaints, but the instrument weighed about 15 or 16 pounds. It was just one of those nights where it was like ‘man this is hard'. It was a hard day for a number of reasons, it was a really big blow for us financially and otherwise.

So I'm looking forward to being in Toronto in a better mood and pulling off a better show because I feel, while it wasn't a bad show, that we weren't at the complete height of our game. Camper is a really good live band and I hope we can make it up to you all.

T.O. Snob: Thanks again for taking the time to speak with us. We really appreciate it.