The last few months have been busy and eventful for us: George became a bartender, Ryan Foster cut his arm open on a tin bean can, I got a few poems published, and Charlie’s been building inside the tour bus.

We’ve done some traveling, gone on a few hikes, and played a couple of shows here and there.

The band has also recorded demo versions of over twenty-five new songs. An unknown number of these will be re-recorded in the coming months, to be released on the yet-to-be-named 2nd Camera-Head Shark album. There will be songs about flying mammals, acid trips, Miley Cyrus, telekinesis, rockets, and Timbuktu.

There’s a new open mic night at The Brickhouse Brewery hosted by Chris Cauley of the band Goliath. The show takes place every Wednesday night after 8pm, and we’ll be playing there on a pretty frequent basis. This is a great weekly event for live, original music. Check back for updates on which nights we’ll be performing!

Pretty soon, you’ll be able to download your own digital copy of our debut album Oh, You directly from the website. FOR FREE! The only thing we ask for in return is that you let others know about this sweet, sweet deal.

Also, don’t forget to keep the Camera-Head Shark Flickr feed updated and fresh! You can upload your own photos straight to our Photostream by emailing them to club80hour@photos.flickr.com.

Check back soon for more new stuff.

<3, RYSMITH

The following text is from a feature/interview conducted this summer by Perpetual Toxins, a Long Island-based entertainment webzine.

With the self-release of their 2007 album Oh, You, Patchogue’s Camera-Head Shark turned heads with their refreshing brand of quirky, indie pop, which invokes the Beatles’ more playful moments. Pop in their CD and you’ll be humming their tunes for days.

That album put them on the Long Island music scene’s map, earning them the number two spot in Newsday’s top ten list of local albums for 2007. Not bad, considering Oh, You was recorded in the basement of guitarist/vocalist George Kalivas, where it was also mixed by the group’s good friend Udbhav Gupta, between April and June of 2007. (”We just gave [Gupta] cigarettes and forties and he was taken care of,” said Ry Smith, piano/vocals.)

“It’s very easy to do on your own,” said Kalivas. “The hardest part was raising the money, even though we did it as cheaply as we could.”

“Technology has mixed up the power of the music business,” Smith added. “There’s no reason why people who like to play music and are good at it can’t succeed.”

Joined by Ryan Foster on bass and Charles Stucklen on drums, Camera-Head Shark already has a slew of new material and feels they have moved well beyond the songs on Oh, You. In fact, keeping with the mindset of the music industry during the 1960s and 1970s, when bands would release an album a year, sometimes more than one, Camera-Head Shark plans on releasing a new album this year. “It will be done by the end of the year, don’t you worry,” Smith said.

Kalivas added, “There’s no need to sit on material. We’re constantly writing new songs.”

And this upcoming release will showcase a more unified sound, as the group has undoubtedly grown together over the past year. “We want to brand out and expand the sound of the album. We’re definitely evolving,” Kalivas said. “This album will be more in unison. All the songs have a more cohesive sound and vibe. We’re trying to think about the finished product.” Throughout the history of popular music, records were first sold as singles, and later, focus shifted to entire albums. “Now it’s back to singles and I don’t like that.”

“We’d really like to put out an album that’s a unit,” Smith said. “That’s the way an album should be.”

For now, as they play across Long Island and the New York City area while working on their upcoming release, Camera-Head Shark just focuses on what they do best – playing music. “We just keep playing. We just keep doing what we’re doing,” Kalivas said. “We’ve seen a little buzz has grown and I just hope to see it continue.”

for the article, go here.

This upcoming Monday (September 1st), we’ll be playing in BALTIMORE, MD as the featured band at Maryland Institute College of Art’s Orientation BBQ! Live music starts at 6:30 and it’s probably free. The annual event is held at The Commons, 120 McMechen Street.

This here’s a video-recording of ‘Since The Stone Age,’ at its moment of conception. It was written in Narragansett, Rhode Island at a friend’s condo overlooking the ocean. We had just eaten pancakes. Enjoy!

we will be all up in your shit this month.

August 5th-The Delancey with our friends Trashed on Fiction for a rooftop BBQ! Only $7buckdollars!

August 9th-Galapagos Art Space (Brooklyn), as part of the Jezebel Music ‘Consignment’ indie rock party .

August 16th-Fat Baby

August 21st-507 Bar and Grill (Brooklyn) with Hello Tokyo.

COMING SOON: CAMERA-HEAD SHARK PLAYS SHOWS IN PHILADELPHIA AND BALTIMORE.

We’ll be performing “Punched.”

Update: Here’s the video

If your “Kurbana” itch needs scratching, call the station’s toll-free listener line at 866-955-9290.

Charlie is doing some website makeover-thing; when it’s up is up to him. In the meantime, CAMERA-HEAD SHARK has some monthly news to relay.

-shows: we got ‘em.

July 2nd @ Fontana’s in NYC(MAP)
July 11th @ The Brickhouse Brewery in Patchogue, NY (MAP)
July 15th @ The Colony Cafe in Woodstock, NY(MAP)

-other performances: we got ‘em.

Right down the street from where we live-We’ll also be appearing (appearing!) at the 2008 Great South Bay Music Festival on Sunday, July 13th. The event is held at Shorefront Park in Patchogue. It starts at 1:00 PM. Tickets are $15. (MAP)

Apple Store-Also, to end the month, we’ll be performing LIVE at the Apple Store in the Smith Haven Mall on Monday, July 28th. This is a FREE concert in a computer store! The first chord strum is at 7 PM. (MAP)

There are more changes coming out soon, so put your shoes on. Go start a band in the sand.

New songs to be posted soon! George is designing and printing t-shirts in the garage! More to come!

Comincio ad essere un po’ stanco. Niente è più una sorpresa, niente mi fa ridere davvero, niente mi azzera totalmente e, ultimamente, cosa ben più grave, non c’è troppa musica nuova che mi faccia escludere tutto il resto del mondo dalla mia vista e rimanere con la bocca aperta senza parole. Stavolta il pacco che arriva, almeno quello è si davvero originale: giallo fluorescente con dentro decine di omini che sorridono, disegnati e tagliati a mano. Tutti rossi. Tutti rossi coi sorrisi neri.

La musica dei Camera-Head Shark è davvero bella eppure io sono piuttosto annnientato. La musica dei Camera-Head Shark prende spunto dagli Smiths, poi vira sul folk e addirittura c’è qualche accenno di pop-punk scazzato e senza troppe rigide regole metriche. Un po’ quello che fa Graham Coxon e che in certi episodi hanno proposto anche i Supergrass. Ma porca miseria quanto sono felici i Camera-Head Shark Per loro va tutto bene, per loro il mondo è blu per davvero e non c’è una canzone, dico una, in tutto il disco che non sia allegra e spensierata. Blues ricoperto di melodia al miele e pop inglese (anche se loro sono americani) di ottima fattura, anche se mai originale. “Punched” rimane il miglior esempio di indie pop song da tenere a mente nel corso della settimana e la mia stanchezza comincia a essere il sintomo di una piccola saturazione dei timpani. Forse per un mese mi butto sulla fotografia.

here’s the blog’s own version: http://www.indieforbunnies.com/2008/06/06/camera-head-shark-oh-you/

We’ve got a few shows coming up–the next one is May 23rd at Olive’s, in Nyack NY. That’s Memorial Day weekend and should be atmospherically fantastic.

That crude Microsoft Paint drawing up there is a poster I made for another upcoming show, at the Patchogue Theatre. We’re performing for a concert series called “Live in the Lobby.” That’s on June 5th, a Thursday. Tickets are 10 U.S. dollars. You can get them by calling (631) 207-1313, or by going here. 100 seats for all ya butts.

We recently filmed for the Fearless Music television program on FOX 5. It was pretty cool, but we’re naturally a little awkward, so that made it funny, which in turn made it less awkward. You’ll see. When we get the air date of our performance, we’ll let you know.

Also, come see us this July at the Greath South Bay Music Festival!! 35 bands over three days right on the Bay, our nautical backyard! Beer! and probably a bunch of games and fireworks! Check back for the performance date and time, soon to be announced.

There are other shows to come, including upstate New York, Connecticut, and wherever else the fun is. Our tour bus will be on the road this summer, and we’ll be with it. There’s some writing going on, and talks of recording again. That should be in the fall. Let’s get through the hot months first, eh, fellas?

-RY

Here’s a few words others have used to describe Camera-Head Shark: Hyperactive. Bubbly. Infectious. Those words could also be used to describe fever-induced puss sores, though. Well, then, here’s some of the comparisons drawn by other music critics and bloggers: Monkees. Barenaked Ladies. Somewhere between Camper Van Beethoven and Cake. Beatles-inspired. From Monkees to Beatles? By now, you’ve realized that this is an odd band, indeed.

Recorded in a basement between April and June of 2007, “Oh, Boy” is an eclectic collection of indie-pop tunes that is remarkable in the lack of similarity between any of the tracks.

It starts with “Punched,” an organ-driven, light pop tune that would sit well on a Belle & Sebastian record, were it not for the violent refrain: “I heard you got punched with a flashlight.” It’s a great song, but instead of ending, it just suddenly stops. As if the entire band had been, well, punched. “Baby Midnight” croons “I need my bones! Don’t take my bowowowowowowones!” What does that mean? I have no idea. But it’s catchy. And the ending coda, where something that may be zombies whispers “We need your bones!” is flat out creepy weird. But I love it! “Pack Up Your Suitcase” sounds like something out of an off-Broadway musical. It doesn’t work as well for me as some of the other oddities on the album, but when a band is as offbeat as this, you can’t expect everything to stick. Some songs even sound like sing-a-longs (”Help Me Out”). Then there’s the country-tinged “I Can’t Wait,” a good closing track, that ends in a psychedelic whirl of fiddle and piano. The album also features twee vocals, violin, cello, trumpet . . . Incredible variety. Check it out.