TWEED: Can you describe the founding of Denali? Where are you from/previous bands/age?
CAM: Well my part in the founding came along after talking to Maura one day. I had heard the songs she demoed and liked them. About a month or so later we ran into each other again. She mentioned that she, Keeley, Jonathan were playing around with the songs, but that she didn’t want to be the only guitarist. I offered to help, and that was it basically. I played in bands before this, and they were important to me, but this band is probably the most important work I’ve ever done. As for my age, I’m old enough to know better.
TWEED: What was it like growing up in your hometown? What about the experience pushed you toward music?
CAM: I grew up on a horse farm in a rural part of South-eastern Virginia. The one stoplight in town was about 4 or 5 miles away. Though it was the South, my parents were both Yankees so I think they pushed me towards more cultured things I guess. Art, music, a lot of reading. The radio stations that reached that part of the state were pretty weak, and once I finally heard bands like the Cure and the Smiths, it was like salvation. Going from Blue Oyster Cult and Don Henley to Robert Smith is kinda jarring, but it was everything I wanted.
TWEED: What are Denali’s influences? What are your favorite bands, past and present?
CAM: I think we all have our own influences as opposed to the band as a whole. Mine tend to be from my youth as opposed to bands presently, and I think I only ever want to maybe capture the mood of something I loved as a kid. I think the Cure, Brian Eno, the Stone Roses, the Cranes, Depeche Mode all made very cinematic pop-music. It was the visual qualities that I remember the most. I used to draw to the Cure for hours on end. Really cheery stuff, too.
TWEED: Does the coming national election make you nervous?
CAM: I’m nervous of spending four more years with Bush as president. Though Kerry is a very conservative Democrat, I still hope that, if elected, he would have the wherewithall and absence of pride to make more logical decisions overseas.
TWEED: What’s your take on the issue of gay marriage?
CAM: I see marriage as a civil right and therefore believe that it should be everyone’s freedom.
TWEED: How has the band’s chemistry changed with the new line up? Does it feel like you’ve lost or gained something in the transition?
CAM: As of right now, it’s just the live chemistry, and it’s great. I think if anything, it’s just different. Not better or worse... it’s a much different feel to some of the songs. If people are disappointed, then we haven’t heard from them yet, which is reassuring.
TWEED: Do you fear being marketed to the masses as a band with a sex object lead singer?
CAM: Are you asking that because Maura’s female? Aren’t most bands that get marketed to the masses banking on the sex appeal of at least one member of their band? I guess what I’m saying is that it’s just part of the process. People need something to latch on to, and before they have the patience to sit through a song, there sometimes has to be something else to grab attention. If it’s a stylin’ picture, then so be it. I don’t want the image to distract from the music, and there’s always that danger, but Iike Jonathan once said, “Rock and roll is sexy.”
TWEED: Are any of you currently involved in side projects?
CAM: I am not. I have no extra time. Luckily, Denali satisfies almost all of my creative tendencies.
