Hello to all,

We apologize for not posting in over two months. This is the culminating semester for all of our college careers and, unfortunately, school is mercilessly beating us over the head.

That aside, let it be known – KEMP RIDLEY ISN’T DEAD. In fact, we’ve gotten to be a part of some pretty cool happenings recently.

A track titled “Little Games” off of our upcoming full-length release, formerly known as “Weird Fishes,” was included on the Scene SC Sampler 2012 that was released in February. It’s such a humbling and gratifying experience to have one of our songs featured alongside other ridiculously talented S.C. bands in an absolutely stacked record. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you’re doing yourself a disservice – IT’S FREE. Click this link and make it happen.

Two Sundays ago, we had the opportunity to do an interview and play a couple songs live on WXRY 99.3 FM as a part of the WXRY Unsigned show hosted by our good buddy, Randy Borawski. We were extremely awkward the entire time and probably didn’t play that well, but it was fun to know that anyone driving around listening to the station could hear us. I also got to drop a few Ed McMahon references and felt highly satisfied (haha…YES!!!).

We’re continuing to plug along in the studio so that we can finally finish the new record and get it out to all of you. We haven’t forgotten about the Kickstarter rewards we owe those of you who donated, we just still haven’t finished this freaking thing yet. Currently, our hope is to have it done in the next couple weeks and use our April 28 show at Art Bar as our CD release party. We’re anxious and overly excited to bring this music to the masses. If you liked our last CD at all, this one is going to blow it out of the water. I guarantee it.

For the future, we’re looking to take our act on the road. That’s right…prepare yourselves for KEMP RIDEY SUMMER TOUR 2012!!! – hopefully coming to a city near you in late May. We’ve teamed up with The Tarlatans, an awesome group out of Clemson that can be found on the Scene SC sampler along with us, to set up a two-week non-stop touring bonanza that will take us up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest for a hot minute.

We’re in the process of booking gigs for the tour now, but we could use all the help we can get. If you have venue/band contacts for anyone in the following cities, we will be forever grateful:

• Charleston
• Baltimore
• Pittsburgh
• New York
• Nashville

Again, we apologize for the posting hiatus and hope you’ve enjoyed catching up with us. Until next time, which won’t be too long from now, enjoy the comical musings of Kyle. 

Long bombs away,

- Cam Powell and kemp ridley

Man, it’s been a while since we posted on the site. There’s a lot to catch up on, so let’s get right to it.

On Thanksgiving day we reached our goal of $3,000 for the Kickstarter campaign. Thanks go out to everyone who donated and/or promoted our link for helping us take this new record from just an abstract concept into a serious and feasible project. Now with sufficient funds, we went to our main man Eric McCoy at Archer Avenue Studio and set up preliminary dates for hitting “record” on the new album.

From December 19 to 22, we laid down scratch tracks for all eight songs to be featured on the CD and then moved into recording the drum and bass tracks, finishing all of that up in time for us all to head home for Christmas with our families. This video documents those four days in the studio, complete with Turner Shull dance breaks as often as possible.

A second installment of this series will surface once we finish up recording the electric guitars and vocals. For now, enjoy this one and thanks again for all the love and support.

- Cam Powell and kemp ridley

This is a busy week for the kemps. We’ve had the distinct honor of working with the Theatre Department at USC with their production of Romeo & Juliet. We’re really proud of all the work that’s gone into making this a great production, and we really hope to see you there this week, Wednesday to Sunday, 8:00pm. That being said, we clearly have a lot on our plate right now.

Later this week, we have a wonderful show scheduled with our friends Octopus Jones, Genius of the Heard, and Marshall Brown at Art Bar. Come on out this Saturday at 8:00 (bands start at 8:45, we go on at 12:30) to hear some great music and have a swell time. Also, we’ve got a few surprises planned for this show that you don’t want to miss.

Time is running out on our Kick Starter campaign for the new record. We REALLY REALLY REALLY need your help on this, so keep giving and donating. We’ve come a long way, and we are very thankful to all of the people who have donated so far. We’re hard at work writing songs and coming up with cool stuff for this album. Any help you can give us would be great- even just $1. If all of our Facebook fans gave us $1, we’d be almost there! So please please please help us out however you can, whether by donating even a small amount of money or advertising this campaign to your friends.

As always, thank you all for you continued love and support. We couldn’t do what we do without all of you (especially record this album). We’ll see you soon.

-Trey

Our Kickstarter Campaign has officially begun! Please take a moment and check it out here.

DONATE HERE

You can also donate by mailing us a check, if you’d like. Send all checks to the following address:

kemp ridley – 1004 C Avenue, West Columbia, SC 29169

Checks will be deposited into our bank account and then added to the Kickstarter total under the donor’s name. Please include a piece of paper designating which incentives package you would like to receive along with the check.

We’ll be providing you with updates and videos periodically. Be sure to check back soon.

-kemp ridley

Since the debut of our eponymous EP last June, we’ve been overwhelmed by the support and praise that we’ve received from family, friends, critics and fans. As a result, we’re extremely motivated and energized to bring new songs and musical ideas to our devoted listening public. We’ve written a slew of new material since releasing our last record and feel that it’s about that time to get our sophomore effort underway.

The second album, which will be recorded with Eric McCoy and Kenny McWilliams of Archer Avenue Studios, will contain five to seven songs that showcase us moving in a more cohesive direction than on our last release. The “kemp ridley EP” highlighted our diverse and eclectic approach to indie-rock as a newly formed band, whereas the tracks that will be recorded for the new album/EP show us taking root in an often dreamy indie-pop landscape with abundant folk and rock influence. While the project remains somewhat ambiguous, in that we don’t have a title for it or a finalized track listing, we are dedicated to realeasing it to the masses by January 2012. This new CD will be the next step for us in our quest to live up to the lofty musical goals we have as a group.

While all of this sounds nice in theory, we can’t make it happen without your help. We hope to start an official Kickstarter fundraiser site, where you the fans will be able to pledge funds however you see it fit. Care to donate $1? Go for it. Care to back the entire record? We will let you name it, design the cover art, do whatever you want to it – literally. Any donation, no matter the amount, will be greatly appreciated (NOTE: if we don’t reach our goal, all funds will be returned, no strings attached). In the meantime, continue to listen to the tunes we’ve already provided via our Facebook, Myspace and iTunes and share them with your friends. If you want to pick up a T-shirt or sticker from our online store, go right ahead. Any proceeds we receive will go directly toward recording and will be extremely helpful.

We hope to announce the launch of our Kickstarter project in the coming days, provided that the kind people at Kickstarter approve our project. We can’t fully express to you how pumped we are to get this next record off the ground, recorded, mastered and into your hands.

Thank you for your continued love and support,

- kemp ridley

Just to clear up some information that was erroneous printed in the Free Times just the other day, we are not playing a show this weekend at the White Mule in Columbia. Unfortunately, we had to cancel because of many conflicts, chiefly that several of us are unavailable to play. We’re sorry for the let-down to those of you who were really looking forward to the show. Have a happy labor day.

For those of you who don’t know, we’re playing on Daniel Island as a part of the Hootie & the Blowfish Homegrown weekend TOMORROW. We were given a certain number of tickets for the day session (WHICH DOESN’T INCLUDE ADMISSION TO HOOTIE – sorry everyone) and have one left over. If you want the ticket, be the first to do the following:

• My phone number is hidden within a post somewhere on the site, along with a password
• Be the first to find it, call me, and give the password and you will win the ticket
• Make sure you can actually attend, we need to know for sure if you’re coming

Best of luck everyone and we look forward to seeing you Saturday afternoon. (HINT: you might have to backtrack a bit in our posts to find it.)

- Cam Powell