Camera Concert
A band in a box / Camera Concert (2005)
(Chikaree Records distributed by Bang!)
About the project A Band In A BoxQuotes:
“A Band in a Box is the name of Zita Swoon’s newest live CD, DVD and concert tour. Concretely, this means: an unplugged performance, not on a stage but in the center of the hall, which for the occasion was outfitted with a lowered ceiling of red plush. The audience sat cozily around the combo and seemed to literally embrace the band. Stef Kamil and court consciously chose for a cheaper concert formula, because touring with a sound installation and crew costs tons of money. So no PA, no clever sound mix, no battery-powered microphones around the drums and amplifiers. The musicians and audience had to make do with four insignificant monitors.” The voice of the people- For cuttingedge.be , Royal Circus
“A concert with chairs, and it isn’t a traumatic experience. It’s a pleasure, so clean and pure, the tears honestly gather in your eyes. Beautiful songs like Hey You, Watshadoing? Thinking About You All The Time and Song For A Dead Singer are performed in a reserved and sober manner by Zita Swoon. It’s so quiet you can hear a coin fall, the bottles of beer clanging. During the semi-amplified soulful, funky songs the band’s pleasure is infectious. The background singers sing with a lot of passion and feeling, and the musically gifted Carlens becomes completely free. Unforgettable!” Haika Nanninga for LiveXS April 2006 Nighttown, Rotterdam
“ The place exploded when the intro of Jintro and The Great Luna reverberated. A wave went through the audience, people jumped out of their chairs, stormed the center of the space, cheering reverberated and Zita Swoon completely disappeared into the dancing crowd. So that’s what Carlens meant when he said ‘feel free to dance a little’. (-) We’ve never seen Zita Swoon like this. A Band in a Box is one of the concert pre season’s highlights” Sash Van der Speeten for De Standaard10/02/06 Royal Circus
“This is what we expect from Zita Swoon. And this is what we expect from a live album: authenticity, beauty marks, songs that shackle you to your chair, which instill you with energy, pleasure and inspiration and which make you proud to know this band. This is the real thing.” VPB for De Standaard
“Camera Concert: A Band in a Box by Zita Swoon? I know it’s no rock ‘n roll, but I like it. Very, very much, even” Godb for HUMO
“On Camera Concert: A Band in a Box, recorded like a live album but without an audience, we hear ballads which would bring the sailors in Antwerp to tears and indecent calls to swaying hips.”
“In the current formation- with three black singers and percussionist Kobe Proesmans- Zita Swoon’s record is right on. This is glowing European soul that has completely come of age. This live CD eagerly digs in the verve and sound that the Antwerp band found with the album A Song About a Girls even though old hits like Hot Hotter Hottest and Disco! are completely refitted in a natural groovy jacket and Raining Pleasure (a cover by the Triffids) sends shivers along your back. Class as seldom heard before in Belgium.” PVD for Focus Knack
Musicians:
Stef Kamil Carlens (SKC) (vocals, electric & acoustic guitar), Eva, Kapinga & Leonie Gysel (Radio Candip) (vocals), Joris Caluwaerts (fender rhodes, roland juno, accordion, piano), Tom Pintens (piano, electric & acoustic guitar, vocal, minikorg), Bart Van Lierde (bass, upright bass), Aarich Jespers (drums, percussions, thumb piano), Kobe Proesmans (percussions, drums, violin)
Arrangements:
Zita Swoon
Produced by:
Stef Kamil Carlens
Artwork:
Aarich and Jelle Jespers.
Photography:
Photo: Stephan Vanfleteren, Band photo: Bache Jespers