The Camels - History

History

After cutting their teeth in the pub circuit around Sydney, The Camels began recording their self-funded debut album All You Ever Needed with producer Tim Powles (The Church) in October 2002. "The Party's Over/Summertime" (double A-side single) was released in December 2003 and received generous airplay on Triple J national radio and also Sydney's Nova 96.9 radio. "Over When I Met You" was the follow-up single released shortly before the All You Ever Needed album was independently released through Shock Records in May 2004.

The band began touring Australia extensively in the second half of 2004, and while the album's title track was becoming one of the band's best known radio songs, they also become known for their live acoustic version of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", performed on Triple J's weekly cover song segment. The band finished the year with an appearance at the Homebake festival in December 2004 & also the release of a remix of "Summertime" by DJ Regal of UK Hip-Hop act The Wiseguys.

2005 saw the band continue touring relentlessly, this time embarking on their first major national headlining tour "The Camels Coastal Surfari". They performed over 60 shows in 4 months,including a support slot with their international heroes Cake, and earned a reputation as one of Australia's hardest working bands. Sydney's Drum Media & Adelaide's Time Off magazines both featured cover stories for The Camels' national tour.

The band returned to the studio in September 2005 to record the follow-up single "On Top Of The World", a tribute to Edmund Hillary& Tenzing Norgay, the first two people to climb Mount Everest. This was recorded in Melbourne's Birdland Studios with producer Lindsay Gravina. After a performance at the Come Together Music Festival The band was then commissioned to write 3 songs for a documentary about Sydney's Bra Boys surf gang from Maroubra and returned to Birdland for the recording.

2006 saw the band record three tracks for the Bra Boys documentary, as well as songwriter Jamie Holt contributing the film's theme song "My Brothers' Keeper" & 18 other pieces for the original score. The film was released on the 15th of March 2007, and has become Australia's highest-grossing documentary.

In December 2006, The Camels recorded Romance with producer Tim Whitten which became lead single on The Romance EP, released 17 March 2007 through Roadshow Music. The Romance EP also features two tracks from the Bra Boys documentary.

The Camels are due to embark on the "Causing Trouble" national tour to promote their latest release.

The bassist of the group, Matthew Smedley, now teaches at a school in a large, rural town as an English teacher. Loved by his students, especially with his teaching of the classic novel "The Crucible" constantly referring to the protagonist, John Proctor, as JP, Johhny P or the Proc-Dog.