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CAMP 7 was a Gainesville, FL band from 1989 to about 1993. The two founding members, guitarist-vocalist Douglas Jordan and drummer Jeff Schwartz, first played together in Fools of the Earth, an aptly-named fledgling trio - also featuring bassist Dan Redman - that played several house parties (and one guerrilla-gig at UF's Orange and Brew) before disbanding due to general laziness on the part of all three members, who were at the time students at the University of Florida.

After a couple of months, Jordan called Schwartz (or Schwartz called Jordan - neither is quite sure) wanting to put together another band, and CAMP 7 was born.

Jordan posted a flyer at local record shops looking for a bassist, and before too long, a highly talkative and enthusiastic Jeff Barker called, thanks in large part to the inclusion of Echo & the Bunnymen on the list of influences. Barker showed up to try out with a brand new, shiny blue Rickenbacker bass and dozens of publicity schemes to make the group - which didn't even have any songs yet - world famous.

The group began practicing over the summer of 1989, and after a half dozen sessions, decided that a second guitar player was in order. Another flyer campaign was launched, and this time they fielded several inquiries.

As it turns out, you can't swing a dead cat in Gainesville without hitting a guitar player.

After several tryouts, they narrowed it down to two candidates - a young guy named Paul with a very nice tobacco sunburst Fender Stratocaster and Brian, a slightly older dude who resembled Elvis Costello and sported a strange, baby-blue, ax-shaped Ovation guitar called a "Breadwinner."

Thing was, though Paul definitely looked the part and was the same age as the others, he couldn't really play very well. Not that the rest of the group could either, but the whole point of adding another guitarist was to improve the musicianship of the band and add some leads.

Brian Kruger (affectionately known as "Kroog") actually seemed to know how to play lead guitar, and he was a super nice guy to boot, so he was eventually chosen. Though no professional gigs were on the horizon, the band set about feverishly working on a 10-song set list - all written by Jordan.

CAMP 7's sound in the early days was decidedly simple, owing as much to Jordan's love of R.E.M. as to his limited songwriting skills.

After playing a house party at the home of friend Robert Johnson (no, not the King of the Delta Blues) which also featured Johnson's new band The Screaming Helens (formed along with fellow Plastic Age veterans Tom Miller and Steve Varosi). The group felt ready for more gigs.

Of course, in those days, there were not many opportunities in Gainesville for bands playing original music. However, there was this brand-new place downtown, called the Hardback Cafe, that not only allowed original bands, but booked them exclusively.

Thus it was that CAMP 7 played its very first professional performance, on Thursday, Nov. 2, 1989, at the Hardback, opening for the progressive instrumental duo Monopoly.

Jordan, who worked at a local restaurant, was able, through shrewd marketing skills ("You've gotta come see my band") to pack the place with several of his coworkers, a hard-partying bunch who consumed copious amounts of beer and tipped generously. Accordingly, the band was asked back.

The group's second professional engagement was at the short-lived but fondly remembered Madonna Mama's, an eatery and pub located across from the UF campus. This gig was notable for two reasons: First, it was the first public performance after Jordan cut off his long hair, and secondly, it very nearly ended up in the police report of the local paper after Jordan threw a barstool accross the room at an obnoxious indigent who was harrassing band members trying to pack up equipment after the show.

After about six months, the band changed when Schwartz and Barker left to form their own group. Kruger switched to bass, and CAMP 7 went through a series of fill-in drummers before securing Chad Salter, a veteran of several Gainesville punk bands who had recently returned to the area from San Francisco.

This lineup lasted about another year and change, with Schwartz occasionally sitting in for Salter when he was unavailable.

By the fall of 1990, Jordan - who still entertained the unlikely notion of becoming a "rock star" - decided he wanted to move the band to a big city, where he thought they might have a better chance of being noticed. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston were all considered as potential destinations.

Naturally, Kruger - a partner in a local legal research firm - had no interest in leaving town. So, Jordan recruited his good friend Chris Gilmartin (formerly of The Fleshies) to return to Gainesville and join the band, which would then relocate to the big city.

Though Jordan and Gilmartin eventually did move to Boston, it would not be for two more years. This caused a bit of resentment on the part of Kruger, who felt somewhat rebuffed by being replaced. Jordan insists such was never his intention, and eventually egos were soothed. Kruger and Jordan would continue to cross musical paths, and to this day still do.

Kruger, who these days is known on the music scene as Brian Krashpad, filled in occasionally on bass for Jordan's current band, Dynamite Charade for the first few years of the band before joining full-time as second guitarist in June, 2007.

By the time Gilmartin joined the group, Jordan's songwriting had evolved away from the jangle pop of the early CAMP 7 days, into a darker, moodier sound more akin to groups like The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen and Bauhaus.

Salter, who was always involved in several projects at once, eventually drifted away from the band. Thus began another succession of rotating drummers until the group found the extremely talented Mark Posgay, who completed the "new" CAMP 7.

A recording session at the now-defunct Pro Media Studios in Gainesville netted five songs, released locally on cassette, including "The Night" and "Piece of Light," both of which illustrated the new direction. The session was engineered by Mark Pinkse, who most notably had worked with Frank Zappa for several years, and Dave Smadbeck, a highly respected musician who co-owned the studio.

(to be continued)