Space Kamp finding its groove at the convergence of hip hop, psychedelic rock, and reggae

Courtesy of Space Kamp.

Dailyreggae.com caught up with Adoo and Oskee from Space Kamp to learn about the Pennsylvania-based band’s Electric Lemonade album, new single Sunrays No Shade, and the positive mentality driving the duo forward.

Tell us about the inspiration behind Space Kamp, your journey as musicians, and how you started collaborating.

Oskee: We came together in about 2017. My buddy Adoo had this idea of creating this band and we kind of rolled with the punches. At first, we didn’t know our true identity; we were still trying to find it in the creation of the first album, Terpene Station, but then around the middle of 2018, we started really honing in on the vision and creating the music and sound that we wanted Space Kamp to be.

When we created Electric Lemonade and we found the sounds, we realized we wanted more studio musicians and an organic sound, not just getting plug ins. We wanted actual drums, guitar, bass, synths, pianos, and Rob (The Viking) does a great job of putting that together. It’s been a great journey ever since.

Space Kamp had a busy 2020. When did you release the album, Electric Lemonade?

Adoo: It came out in June 2020. We were on tour and we had the opportunity to get a session at Hyde Street Studios, which is formerly Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco. We couldn’t pass that up being able to record at that studio. So many classic albums and classic songs were cut in that building. We recorded the title track, Electric Lemonade, there. We recorded the rest of the album in British Columbia at The Chamber Studio. San Fran is one of our favorite places in the world. I always say that the connection that Oskee and me have and brought us together really tight was the times we were in San Francisco. We’ve toured twice together and performed in San Francisco and both times we were lucky to have a couple of days off. Just the culture and we’re both very much into classic rock and psychedelics, so Hippie Hill and Haight Ashbury and the culture that goes behind it really brought us together. You really get to know each other more when you’re on the road and that’s really how we found our sound getting to know each other and have these experiences.

Were you in other bands before you started collaborating on Space Kamp?

Adoo: I had a solo career and went under the moniker Adlib for many years. I toured pretty heavily from 2008 to really up until we formed Space Kamp. I was doing the solo straight hip hop thing for those years.

Oskee: I was in a previous group called Cassette Deck Kings with my buddy Gibbs before Space Kamp. Also, I had a solo album that I was making and that took a back burner once we started getting the ball rolling on everything.

So, before you were more focused on hip hop, but in Space Kamp, you’re bringing in reggae and psychedelic rock influences. When it comes to reggae and psychedelic rock are there a few bands or artists that stand out as big influences to push you in that direction?

Adoo: Yeah, for sure. I think both of us really explored even when it was a straight hip hop thing for both of us. We always explored different sounds and we definitely have always been influenced by other music and genres. A lot of touring I did was with punk rock and different groups. There are so many influences to name. Obviously classic rock. When we are driving on the road, we were listening to Grateful Dead, Jimmy, Janis, and those great ‘60s psychedelic stuff. As far a reggae, a lot of Jimmy Cliff, and all the old Studio One recordings. Stuff like that; Scientist; King Tubby.

When you’re on the road, what can new fans expect to see at one of your live shows?

Oskee: A lot of energy. A lot of colors and a lot of good positive vibes. Every time we go to a city, we go in there, we hit up one of the diners, drive-ins, and dives. Feel the vibe of the city, so by the time we get to the show, we really feel connected to the people that are there from the city and we just put out great positive vibes. A lot of smiles. A lot of herbs in the air. It’s a great time you know.

What was the musical process like during the creation of Electric Lemonade?

Oskee: When it comes to the lyrics, we both put equal parts into the wording of the songs. Whether we’re together creating a song, or he’s in his car, and something pops in his head. He’ll call me instantly and let me know what he just did, and I’ll let him know if it’s cool or not. Same with me. If I’m home, I’ll call him and be like, “Yo, I just wrote this.” As far as getting the music done, we basically do skeleton demos, real roughs over instrumentation, a piano or drum, little guitar riff and then we’ll send that to Rob The Viking, and he has studio musicians, which he brings in and they bring it their own flavor and help make the music come to life.

Girl Like You is a really cool song. Tell us the inspiration behind that song and what started first. Maybe there was a beat, a chord progression you liked, or the hook that you came up with?

Oskee: That’s one example where Adoo was driving one day and he came up to me and was like, “Yo, I wrote a hit man.” He started harmonizing Girl Like You and at first, I was a bit drawn by it. I was a little bit taken back. I wasn’t sure we wanted to do a song like that then. But then once everything started coming together, the beat started coming together, the words started coming together. I had no choice but to jump on it. It’s a beautiful song.

Adoo: Yeah, it was funny. The album had a bit of a different feel. Girl Like You kind of started a bit of an avalanche of new material over a week and a half. We had picked the track order for Electric Lemonade and I was driving to Oskee’s house and that hook just came into my head. I got to Oskee’s house and only hearing the hook, he was looking at me like I was crazy and then we stuck with it. We wrote the verses and as soon as we did that, the next day Oskee came to me with 500 Miles. He wrote it that night and then two days later, I came back with Home Grown. Then O came back with Life’s a Beach, so over a course of a week and a half, four new songs came together. We had the album pretty much finished. We had our plane tickets to go to Vancouver and record and then all of a sudden to weeks before we left, we wrote those four songs.

We love those tracks. It helped give the album a bit of a higher vibration. It was a little bit heavier before that. We had a couple of tracks similar to Electric Lemonade that were a little bit longer, but we felt the new tracks helped balance the album out. Now, we’re working on the follow-up and some of those really heavy songs are definitely going on the next record.

What is Space Kamp working on right now? Do you have any new music coming out?

Adoo: Yeah, we just released our first new song since Electric Lemonade. It’s called Sunrays No Shade. We’re continuing to promote Electric Lemonade to push the album. Often artists put something out, promote it for a couple of weeks or months, and just because of the way culture and society is right now, feel like they have to get on to the next thing. We’re trying to do a little bit of both and are taking an old school mentality, where we want to work the album because we believe in it and want to continue to promote it and push it. At the same time, we want to stay very consistent and stay working and busy. We plan to continue to release new songs throughout the year and push the new album until we decide to put the next record out. We could probably put out two or three albums right now with the amount of material we have.

What else should music fans know about Space Kamp and your message?

Adoo: Our message is really strong about looking on the bright side of things. That was the whole point of the name Electric Lemonade. It’s about taking lemons and making them into something special. It’s kind of the same with Sunrays No Shade. Don’t put any attention into negative energy and just try to stay positive, especially the way things are right now. It’s difficult to look at the positive side of things. Every day it feels like you have a new obstacle, whether it’s financially or just being able to move around and do things. Missing being around people. No matter how bad things are, you can try and find something to look onto the bright side of and try to find the good from the bad. I think that’s our main message.

We just started this thing called the Rebel Hippies Community. Rebel Hippies has been around since before Space Kamp. We’ve created this card. It has a QR code on the back. It’s completely free and people can go to rebelhippies.com or SpaceKamp420.com and all they have to do is put in their information and we send this card to them. We pay for the postage and everything.

Once you have this card and the QR code on the back, we’ll give you access to new music, early looks at videos as well as special discounts on merch. The other cool thing about it is once things get back to normal that card will give people discounts to live shows. We’re looking forward to continuing to build that. We’d like to put some other groups and companies behind it as well, so Rebel Hippies is not just a Space Kamp thing.

Where is a good place for fans and new listeners to listen to Space Kamp and support your music?

Oskee: Our supporters can go to whatever streaming platform they so choose. Apple, Spotify, YouTube. On social, you can find us at SpaceKamp420. That’s on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.