With only a couple of weeks to go before opening the doors on our 10th year of Toronto Music Camp, we are busy getting everything ready to welcome this year’s summer campers. The instructors are hired, the groups are being put together and the campers are getting excited. It seems like a perfect time to look back and reminisce about the great hits from last year’s camp and pick the top five tracks of the summer. Rock camp bands stole most of the top spots this year, but the voice campers staged quite a coup with a tear-jerker of a cover, easily grabbing them the top spot and raising the bar for both rock and vocal camp of 2015.
Without any further fanfare, here are the top 5 Toronto Music Camp videos from 2014:
1. “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry by vocal camp group The Blue Thoughts.
These young ladies managed to make one of the hallmark songs of innocence sound even more precious with their sweetly skilled voices. The work they put into learning to sing in harmony pays off in the purity of the song, managing to extract tears from mothers everywhere.
2. “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals performed by Dermot and The Frogs.
After watching this cover you might want to keep your eyes peeled for future Dermot and The Frogs appearances. The band brilliantly nails their cover and even does the unexpected, improving upon this classic ballad with the addition of a smooth saxophone. Now why didn’t The Animals think of that? We can’t be sure, but we’re guessing it’s because they weren’t at Toronto Music Camp.
3. “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar covered by Flashback Fridays.
With Pat Benatar covers you can go wrong pretty quickly. Part of her allure is her gritty but pure vocals and her in-your-face rock and roll style. Flashback Fridays, undaunted by the queen of rock’s reputation, took to the battlefield with their best shot. Their sound is tight and their dynamic is brilliant – they certainly put us in our place.
4. “R U Mine” by The Arctic Monkeys performed by The Return of The Tailpipes.
Had it not been for The Return of The Tailpipes, the original Tailpipes might’ve made it to the top 5. Alas, they outdid themselves with the addition of a young female vocalist who possesses an uncanny ability to lower her voice to deftly enough to capture the essence of a deeper male vocal track. The band works well together to stay true to The Arctic Monkeys’ sound. We will be on the lookout for The Return of The Return of The Tailpipes in 2015.
5. “Always on the Run” by Lenny Kravitz performed by Potato, Inc.
This proved to be a great mashup band with a few surprises up their sleeves. Their choice of a funkadelic Kravitz song comes off without a hitch, making it an easy pick for the top 5. This group of talented rockers maintain the integrity of the patented Kravitz-style 90s funk throughout the video, proving that this band is no small potatoes.
All of our music camp groups do a tremendous job coming together, rehearsing like crazy to learn a song in 5 days, learning how to work with professional sound engineers and videographers while experiencing life in a band. It’s always incredible to witness, even more so when the band blows their song out of the water.
So far, 2015 has the potential for reunions written all over it, with several repeat music camp attendees who will undoubtedly come together to form exciting new bands and crank up the volume this summer. Camp starts on July 6th – and we’re almost full! If you haven’t reserved your spot in Rock Camp yet, contact us today!
