Camp Cope is no more. Taking to Instagram, the Australian band posted a farewell message, signing off with “CAMP COPE 2015-2023.” The band noted that their final performance in Melbourne, Victoria, will take place at Brunswick Music Festival on March 11. “This is a special one – our LAST EVER Naarm/Melbourne show @brunswickmusicfest with the incredible @barkaa__ can’t think of a more fitting farewell x photo by @kanye_lens CAMP COPE 2015-2023,” read the post’s caption. In a statement to Pitchfork, a representative confirmed the breakup. “The band’s drummer Sarah Thompson tweeted, ” the music industry is a bin fire,” teasing “more to come. “Obv more to come, but for now, 4eva thanks to all the ppl who were there through the thick & thin. the music industry is a bin fire but that can be dealt with when you have the legends you all are keeping you sane. fire your manager, burn the joint down, morals over $. love x,” she wrote.
Having released their last album Running With the Hurricane, in March, Camp Cope performed in July at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago without bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich, who opted out on doctor’s orders due to pregnancy. Georgia Maq released her debut solo album Pleaser in 2019 and released the single “Joe Rogan” in late 2021. In a Pitchfork interview with the band from March last year, Maq stressed she wanted “to have an impact on peoples’ lives in a meaningful way that makes them feel powerful, and I want how we make people feel to define us.” She added, “Camp Cope is in defiance of everyone who’s tried to bring us down, and it’s like: Well, you can’t, because we have each other, and we’re a mountain together.”
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The piece noted that they had to reevaluate their relationship with making art when the pandemic hit. “It’s great to be able to make music, but at the end of the day, there are more important things in the world,” Thompson said. “That probably changed our perspective going into this record. We felt more relaxed, like, If no one likes this album, who cares? We’re vaccinated and we’re alive.” At the time of the interview, the trio’s third album Running With the Hurricane, was forthcoming, with Maq discussing how its songwriting reflected the group’s new outlook. “This album is empowering in a way that’s different from how How to Socialise was empowering,” Maq says. “We’re so multidimensional, and I love to show that. There’s a lot of power in being soft.” Maq cited the influence of contemporary country, pop, and rap in many of her lyrics. “I finally embraced Taylor Swift rather than some cool underground band no one’s heard of,” she said.
