A penchant for the nomadic lifestyle is often a common prerequisite amongst musicians in the underbelly of the industry, meaning floods of artists will congregate in certain flourishing hotspots to kick on and create, before departing in search of less pricey-pastures and un-plagued gigging spaces.

This is something that is currently helping musically aggrandise Grand Rapids, Michigan, with new inhabitant James Harris being a contributing factor to the burgeoning underground music scene.

Meticulously dividing his time between two current projects; his own inception Youth Camp and the stirring two-piece SAPPHIC, Harris and his musical peers make up an impressively creative corner in the city that boasts numerous bands, independent labels and a slew of sought after demo-style cassettes being passed around as a result.

Youth Camp began prior to the aforementioned relocation, as a pseudonym for Harris to release his early bedroom demos. Demos they may be, but there is something about the chiming guitar cutting through the ambient atmospherics, which characterise many of his early tracks, that have seen them transformed so successfully into a live setting. It caught the attention of Real Estate, no less, who plucked Youth Camp from Internet obscurity for a support slot and flung Harris out into his natural environment, something Youth Camp can hopefully achieve more frequently given Harris’ obsessive will to perfect his next release.

Matthew Liam Fogg: Writing and recording everything Youth Camp yourself, what are the perks of working alone?
James Harris: I find working alone very enjoyable.  I am in control of every aspect of the music, and beyond. It sounds conceited, but it has always been sort of hard for me to trust people to play my music. Playing with a band is a lot of fun and is, I feel, way more enjoyable for someone to watch. But it is always hard for me to let something that was so personally conceived try to be recreated by others. This is probably something that a lot of artists struggle with, I would guess. But luckily I’m playing with my best friends right now. It is really nice. Very proper.

MLF: Can you tell me about the writing/recording process?
JH: That first EP was recorded when I was in high school. I recorded a song a day for around 5 days or so. I would track it, mix it, draw the artwork and put in on Bandcamp in one day. That’s something, looking back, that I sort of regret. Not to say that its wrong, but there is so much bad, underdeveloped music that people put online, just to have something on the internet. I feel like I contributed to that, and still do. It’s not that I release every song I ever write or record, but sometimes I feel like I post songs before they have reached their full potential. It’s a problem, but I think I am getting over it. That’s why it has taken so long for me to put out a follow up to that first EP. I’ve written and rewritten this new album/EP countless times. There are 20 or so songs that I have been working with since my first EP. I’ve cut it down to the songs I feel work the best together.

MLF: You recently relocated to Grand Rapids, what were the motives behind doing so?
JH: I moved to Grand Rapids for a few reasons. I am in another band called SAPPHIC. It’s a two-piece post-punk band. The other member had moved to Grand Rapids, so I decided to move here so we could keep consistently writing and playing together. Right now I am going to a liberal arts college in here, and that was another draw for me.

MLF: Are you intent on keeping things lo-fi/small, or would you welcome the opportunity to take Youth Camp to bigger places?
JH: Youth Camp is something that started in my parent’s basement and didn’t grow for a while. I am just now starting to play shows consistently. And yes, I would love to have a record produced in a real studio; I just don’t have the money at the moment.

MLF: Given there’s plenty of demos of Youth Camp to hear online, what can we expect from your album later this year?
JH: You can expect a more mature, concentrated sound. The new material is still poppy, but I don’t think it’s as ‘kiddy’ as the first EP. Those songs are fun, but other than that, they don’t stand for much. The newer songs are pretty personal and are, lyrically, above all, about my mistaken perception of people. I use a lot of synths on the new songs, something I didn’t do on my last release. I have been working a lot on my skills as a producer over the past few years, so I would hope that these recordings sound a bit better too. I am hoping to make the leap from lo-fi to medium-fi.

MLF: How was the transition from writing and recording everything yourself, to playing it with a band in a live setting?
JH: It is definitely interesting. I really enjoy both recording and playing shows. I tried playing a few solo shows, and they were quite awful. I think this lineup is the cream of the crop. All the shows we’ve played together have been really fun.

MLF: Are there any other musical projects you’re currently working on, like Fever Blanket?
JH: Fever Blanket was a band I was in in high school. Of all the bands I’ve been in, it’s the one that did the least amount of work, yet is the most recognised.  It’s pretty sad. I don’t feel like I was ever there doing that sort of music. It’s like a past life to me. But it was fun when I was there. I devote a lot of my time to SAPPHIC. It is sort of my main priority. I make computer music with a friend over the Internet.  She lives in Paris, and we’ve never met. It is really fun, and really nice to collaborate with her like that. I make the tracks and she’ll sing over them and shit, and then she’ll send them back to me to mix. We call it Brats.

MLF: Given other recent Grand Rapids groups and small labels such as Room 843 that are rereleasing your material, is there something of a scene emerging in Grand Rapids?
JH: That’s a good question. There is sort of a new scene emerging in Grand Rapids. Or maybe I am just now finding out about it. There is this venue called the Bunker that hosts a lot of punk shows. That’s kind of where the new scene is being born/bred, I think.  There is a pretty popular house show scene that goes on.  There are these two neighboring houses that throw a lot of pop punk shows and stuff like that, which is something I’m not really into. They are pretty cool about setting up shows though so you can kind of make it your own. There is a new house that does shows called the Powder Room. They seldom throw shows, but when they do, they are really tasteful and pretty well attended. Room 843 is a new Grand Rapids label run by some of my friends. They are putting out my tape pretty soon, so watch out. Between the Powder Room and The Bunker, there is some pretty cool stuff happening in Grand Rapids.

MLF: Do you think this is the way to go about things now; to simply make music and put it out there, with other bands around you and smaller labels and to cut out the big wigs and make music more accessible?
JH: Yeah. I think it is a cool idea to be in control of everything regarding the release of your record. I have not really experienced the disadvantages of a label.  There is a Japanese label called Canata Records that released the first Youth Camp EP online and they were really chill. That’s the only label experience I’ve really had with this band.

MLF: You’ve caught the attention of Real Estate, who you recently opened for. Is it rewarding/exciting when you gain feedback like this to music you’ve put online and played live?
JH: Yeah. It was really cool to hear from Real Estate. They were playing a show in Holland, MI that wasn’t technically on their tour, and they needed an opener. We ended up getting the spot, and we had a really good time. Those guys are too chill.  It’s always exiting to get positive feedback.  When I first moved here, there were a bunch of people that I met in Grand Rapids who were into Youth Camp, and I had been friends with them for weeks before they realised that Youth Camp was me.  So it goes.

MLF: What keeps you motivated to be constantly involved with music; writing, playing and performing?
JH: I make music mostly for myself. There’s nothing better than laying down a dope track, playing it back over and over again and getting really stoked on it. It’s a cool feeling, but a fleeting one. It only lasts so long and next thing you know, you’re rewriting that song or remixing it, or losing interest in it. That always seems to happen to me.

Visit Youth Camp’s Bandcamp and follow them on Facebook
Visit SAPPHIC’s Soundcloud and follow them on Facebook and Tumblr
Visit Room 843’s online shop and follow them on Facebook and Tumblr