Campers debuted original tunes written during March break day camp
Last Saturday, family and community members filed into a Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI) gymnasium to support participants in this year’s March break Girls Rock Camp. Presented in partnership with Kazoo! Fest and the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition, Girls Rock Camp is aimed at “local female, trans, and gender nonconforming youth.” Throughout March break, this year’s campers learned to play rock instruments, divided into bands, and wrote original music, which they performed at Saturday’s showcase. Camp founders Alanna Gurr and Steph Yates began the evening by thanking their fellow counsellors and expressing their own excitement. “This is the best part of our year,” said Gurr.
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Counsellor Sara Bortolon-Vettor then thanked the camp’s many sponsors, as well as the GCVI janitorial staff for their crisis management: “I thought I was going to get locked in a bathroom,” she said. “That did not happen. No one got locked in a bathroom.”
“I got locked in a bathroom!” chirped one of the campers.
“I don’t think that happened,” said Bortolon-Vettor, as the crowd laughed.
Following a performance by a vocal mashup group, the first band, ILLL Cobras, took the stage. “You ready?” screamed singer Lucia Escobedo, a very small girl in a very large red top hat, slamming her hands on the keyboard.
ILLL Cobras were followed by Dirty Queen, Midnight Travellers, and Alpaca Nachos. The bands all displayed a strong grasp of rock and roll’s love of danger and darkness: “The end is near / And I’m overcome with fear,” sang Dirty Queen. “I think I am going to die / I’m terrified, hiding in my basement.”
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Alpaca Nachos tell all
New group reveals what it’s like being a Girls Rock Camp rock band
All the Girls Rock Camp bands tore the house down at their showcase on Saturday evening. We asked one of those groups, Alpaca Nachos, what Girls Rock Camp is all about.
Will Wellington: What does Girls Rock Camp mean to you?
Nell Roberts (guitar, vocals): It just means having a really fun time and meeting a bunch of really cool girls all week and getting to spend a ton of time with them and working hard…. And playing cards at lunch.
All: [Laughter]
Nathalie Anbek (bass guitar): I totally second that. Totally. Cards at lunch.
Abrielle Reeves (keyboard, vocals): I love the people here because we’re besties now. I love hiding queens from [Nathalie], because she gets so aggravated.
NA: She hides the queen cards from me, and I get mad.
WW: It sounds like most of this camp is playing cards at lunch.
NA: Yes!
Elena Smith (drums): We do play cards at lunch, but I really like camp because we get to play instruments a lot. It’s like music school, which I love!
Emma Nero (keyboard, vocals): This camp is all about forming a band with people you didn’t know in the first place. You get to make music with these people and become good friends with them.
ES: Friends and music! Yeah!
Photo by Will Wellington/The Ontarion