Jeremy Warmsley is a British musician from West London. Elizabeth Sankey, hailing from London’s suburbs, sings, acts and writes. Together they are Summer Camp, a DIY indie-pop band inspired by 80s idols like legend movie director John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Blondie. On stage, the duo uses cheesy lyrics and overacting to tell a made-up story of teen love in the American suburbs.
Summer Camp played a show in Bangkok last Saturday at Centerpoint Studio, a massive black warehouse space on Sukhumvit 105. Bangkok fashion icons Sretsis and artsy party organizers Supersweet Live collaborated to put on an outdoor live exhibition right outside the venue. The exhibition wasn’t your usual pre-concert alcohol binge; people were getting glitter tattoos, reading in bean bags, and chowing down on Polka Dot Cafe’s tacos and french fries. It captured the essence of an 1980’s American high school fair. Fresh, young love was in the air.
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The crowd was a different affair, with all of Bangkok’s trendsetters decked out in summer’s latest garments. Stripes were everywhere, along with outrageous colorful prints and equally fantastic shoes. As people tried to stay cool while wiping sweat off their brow, the evening’s theme song could have been “Hot Child in the City” as glittering kids ran amok.
Local Bangkok band Chladni Chandi took the stage first. Set to release their Indian-inspired debut album Tri at the end of May, the classic bass-guitar-drums trio plays hippie rock. Crowds sat down for the performance. Smoke machines diffused the red stage lighting, making the performance look like a live version of an old photograph.
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Second up was Japan’s animation artist and musician Wisut Ponnimit. He played a solo set, then was joined by keyboardist and singer Ikuko Harada. Their soft, pretty musical performance to cartoons projected above the stage was adorable in that way that only the Japanese can be. Ms. Harada endeared the crowd to her by speaking Thai and using her hands to signify the tones. Mr. Ponnimit drummed using his hands coupled by Harada’s soulful voice. One particular song, Ice, had the audience under a spell. Translated lyrics: “Love is like ice cream, we can’t have to much. Love is like ice cream, we wanna have it again.” Meanwhile, kids fiddled with their parent’s gigantic phone-pads and munched on french fries.
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Summer Camp fans were screaming before they took the stage. Kids swapped out for drunk youngsters and Bangkok hipsters. The band’s album Welcome to Condale embodies the Western high school stereotype of keg stands and skinny dipping. As people took pictures of themselves, looked at them, laughed, and took more pictures, the Thai chit-chat was dotted with peeps practicing their Brighton accents, so every now and then a mod-English “Fuck you” would drift over the crowd.
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Ms. Sankey entered in a Sretsis brown-and-white polka-dotted jumpsuit with bright red lipstick, reminding me too much of that Feist video. Mary Poppins played on the screen behind her. They started the gig with an upbeat sugar-pop number, then divulged into the more melodramatic Nobody Knows You, displaying their musical prowess. Sankey bopped around stage, flirting with the crowd as she winked and blew kisses. Molly Ringwold would surely be jealous of her. They seemed genuinely astonished at the enormous crowd.
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“Last week we were playing in a basement to 80 people,” she said. “Bangkok, you’ve made our lives.” Warmsley, who is used to playing in big crowds as he toured with Regina Spektor and The Shins, also seemed flattered by the dozens of cameras swarming around him. Clearly they had not performed in Asia before.
Ms. Sankey’s brilliant stage presence juxtaposed nicely with Mr. Warmsley’s cute, nerdy shyness. Or maybe it was all just a part of the act? She announced they would play some new songs, following the announcement with an, “I’m sorry.” A fan in the crowd had a camera strapped to his head and she called him forward, saying, “That’s some James Bond shit.”
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The new songs sound a lot like their old songs. Expect a few more dance numbers. At one point the duo surprised the crowd by hopping offstage and singing as they wandered around. Ms. Sankey’s sure got some vocal chords on her and Mr. Warmsley proved his status as a talented musician.
Overall they proved to be pop stars of serious talent!
