Rock Camp Rolls into Proctors’ Collaborative School July 10th

SCHENECTADY – Budding rock stars, sound technicians, and light magicians will join forces for Rock Camp at Proctor’s Theatre July 10-21, with a performance at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga as the culminating feature of the experience. Led by Crispin Catricala, Rock Camp boasts a strong faculty of rock musicians with college degrees – literally – and an invited special guest, Arielle O’Keefe or Girl Blue from Troy.

Catricala took time to answer some questions for Nippertown folks interested in what makes Rock Camp unique for our local musicians and why fans should consider attending the show.

“Rock Camp deals with several aspects of the music, including technical aspects of the instruments, rock’s musical history, songwriting, arranging, rehearsal techniques, stage presence, and more. In the past, we have sought not to have one or two bands that rehearse a set of songs together but rather to have numerous combinations of musicians making up several groups’ song by song for an evening’s performance. This allows the kids to engage with everyone in the camp and not be grouped into one ensemble or style,” Catricala explained.

I was quick to ask about O’Keefe’s presence, and while Catricala is also excited to have her again (this is her second year with the camp), he was also excited to report that a number of local rock musicians are working with the young campers.

“All the artist/presenters that will come in during the two-week summer camp will have time to address the group as a whole but also have time to work with individuals. This year our list of guests is extra special, including the outstanding singer Jay Yager (Jukebox Rebellion), Lori Friday and Kenny Hohman (from Super 400), Producer, Guitarist & Composer Will Severin (Crazy Swedes), and Drummer Doug Kevin (Neon Avenue),” Catricala shared.

Rock blends blues, jazz, soul, and some pop overtones within the genre. So what genre of rock will the camp feature? “Good question!” Catricala responded with some surprise. “From the audition process, we get a sense of what each person’s affinity. The Rock Camp faculty are all avid fans of all kinds of music and are all professional gigging musicians themselves. We incorporate the styles and strengths of the students and suggest material that is many times familiar and sometimes yet known to the group and go from there.”

I was curious what Catricala himself prefers musically to listen to, knowing that the camp extends itself across the rock scene with a lot of flexibility.

“Like many of my generation, the Beatles have to be noted, but I also went through the gamut of so many styles from The Rolling Stones and Cream to Dylan/ The Band and The Allman Brothers Band. Even prog rock groups like Yes and Genesis,” he admitted to having some difficulty paring the list down.

“As to what I’m listening to these days,” he pondered, “I’ve been kind of going down the songwriter’s wormhole of people like Maddison Cunningham, Blake Mills, or Joey Landreth.”

At the close of the camp experience, the community is invited to hear music from the 1960s to today performed by the youth musicians for over an hour and a half. While parents are the likely audience, there’s a good likelihood that audience members will be hearing from musicians who are likely to grace the local stages in the months to come. You can reserve your ticket now by clicking here and completing the short form.