CAMP BISCO VII

The Summer of 2008 is the summer of the great American rock festival and it may seem like there’s a festival on every corner of every block, in every empty field just outside of every empty city in America. But Camp Bisco is not a festival. It’s a homecoming. It’s a communion. It’s a celebration of — yeah, we’re gonna go there — Bisco. For those first-year campers, “Bisco” is not synonymous with the “Disco Biscuits” although you can’t have one without the other. The Disco Biscuits are four guys in a band. Bisco includes all of us and all of you. And all of this. Last year, “Bisco” was that moment when Hallucinogen in Dub was on the main stage, Amon Tobin on the other, and a tornadic storm ripped through the grounds. Neither act packed up, and in-front of packed audiences, with sheets of rain whipping down both vertically and horizontally, on two separate stages at simultaneous times, they played to the weather and the weather played to them as if the sky itself was part of the audience and the clouds were dancers who showed up at the last minute to join the revelry and throw down to the big beat, electrified by the sounds of Camp Bisco. But the conductors of electricity onstage - Simon Posford and OTT on one and Amon Tobin on the other - also played with reverence for the force that is nature, leaning into it and embracing it as another dimension of the music. The audience soaked up every second, never letting go, never stopping the dance, as if totally entranced in a sacred ritual. And it was a sacred ritual.
This year we’ll do all that we can to make sure the sacred rituals come without the inclement weather, but with such acts as Snoop Dogg, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, MSTRKRFT, Bassnectar and The New Deal all bets are off. Or rather, all bets are ON, as we can guarantee that we’ll have even more of those pure Camp Bisco moments this year. And as for those true moments of Pure Bisco, every night will be punctuated by a Disco Biscuits blowout. Because Camp Bisco may be about more than just the Disco Biscuits, but the band is the heart that pumps blood into the soul of the experience.
We’ve come a long way since our first year in an old oil town in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Camp Bisco has become a place for family (including kids of all ages), music and dancing, color wars, camping, and everything you always wanted out of your summer camp that they couldn’t give, and it’s all compressed into three days in July that will last you 362 days until you come back again next year. For you returning campers, you’re only reading this to see what’s new (and believe us, we’ve made improvements all around, not to mention this year’s line-up). For you first-timers…next year, that’ll be you.
So take a look around our website in preparation for the big week. Bring some postcards to mail to mom and dad, don’t forget the bug spray, and get ready for a respite from all the rock festivals raining down everywhere this summer.

by Benjy Eisen