Camp Cope was an Australian alternative rock trio formed in 2015 in Melbourne, Victoria. The group consists of lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Georgia "Georgia Maq" McDonald, bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich, and drummer Sarah "Thomo" Thompson. In February 2023, Camp Cope announced that they would play a final show at Brunswick Music Fest on 11 March 2023 before disbanding.
Their eponymous debut album, released in April 2016, reached the top 40 in the ARIA Albums Chart, and was nominated for a J Award for Australian Album of the Year. They were also nominated in six categories at the inaugural National Live Music Awards and won the 'Heatseeker Award'. Website Faster Louder choose Camp Cope's self-titled debut album as their Album of the Year for 2016. The group also won Best Emerging Act at the 2016 The Age Music Victoria Awards. In 2019, Happy Mag listed them at no.3 on their list of "the 15 Australian female artists changing the game right now".
Camp Cope has been described as "part Courtney Barnett, part Juliana Hatfield", and "melodic, uplifting and aching". The band describes themselves as "power emo". As a regular of the Australian singer/songwriter circuit and with a handful of solo releases under her belt, McDonald decided to bring together Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich on bass and Sarah Thompson on drums to flesh out her solo project. Hellmrich had previously played in Sydney band Palmar Grasp, while Thompson had previously played in Brisbane band Razel. The band was named Camp Cope as a reference to Sydney beach Camp Cove, as Sydney native Hellmrich was feeling homesick.
The trio entered the studio, and by the end of the year had recorded their debut album with producer Sam Johnson. Released on Poison City in April 2016, their eight-track self-titled debut earned them critical acclaim and entered the ARIA albums chart at number 36. "Lost: Season One", a single from the album referencing the television show Lost, was performed by Camp Cope for Like a Version in September 2016, along with a cover of "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
After a joint tour of Australia at the end of 2016 with Philadelphia's Cayetana, Poison City issued a limited split single that featured new material by both bands.
In 2017 Camp Cope supported Against Me! and Modern Baseball on their Australian tours, toured the United States with Worriers, performed at the St Jerome's Laneway Festival and sold out two shows in the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. At the end of the year, they returned to the studio to record their second album.
The band's second studio album, How to Socialise & Make Friends, was released on 2 March 2018 by Poison City Records and Run for Cover Records. In June and July 2018, they took part in their second United States tour, co-headlining with Run For Cover label-mates Petal. In late August and early September 2018 they undertook a partial UK and European tour with English band Caves. Meer op wikipedia...
