Summer time camp may elicit recollections of grazed knees, sunburn, and desperately wishing you possibly can go dwelling. So, think about a camp packed chock-full of aspiring rock ‘n’ roll musicians, with internationally famend icons as mentors, and the penultimate efficiency takes place in West Hollywood’s infamous institution, The Viper Room. Oh and it’s not in the summertime both.

Nicely, for round 60 feminine musicians, creativeness wasn’t required. Between December 5 and eight this 12 months, members of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp took half in rehearsals, masterclasses, and jam classes that lined every part from stagewear and make-up, efficiency necessities, diet (the times of dwelling purely on roadside pizza and chips are lengthy gone), and enterprise fundamentals (the times of ignoring cash issues and letting a supervisor function at a distance are additionally over).

And the mentors? A dream forged, to make sure. Nancy Wilson, Sheila E., Lita Ford, Jennie Vee, Eva Gardner, and Nita Strauss have been readily available to dole out hard-learned intelligence, the type they need different ladies had given them in such a structured, supportive atmosphere.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp was based to supply a platform the place skilled, skilled rock stars may share the skilled and private experiences and classes they’d discovered with aspiring rock stars in an area the place questions, curiosity and engagement weren’t quashed by machismo.

After years of manufacturing rock excursions worldwide, David Fishof got here up with the idea for the camp simply over 20 years in the past. The documentary Rock Camp: The Film tells the story of this historic, monumental sequence (streaming free on Amazon Prime or YouTube). Likewise, Rock Camp: The Podcast offers the general public an perception into the type of priceless expertise most of us can solely dream of.

Jam Packed

After the primary day of masterclasses and a gap evening occasion at The Gibson Showroom, camp members met up on Friday for lunch with Nita Strauss, adopted by a 2-hour jam session.

Strauss is a rock legend, which is an unimaginable feat for a lady nonetheless in her 30s. Finest referred to as the touring guitarist for Alice Cooper (a task she’s held for a decade), she’s additionally Demi Lovato’s touring guitarist of alternative, and a solo artist in her personal proper. Maybe no person is kind of as adept as Strauss at educating rock ‘n’ roll expertise. She’s been holding masterclasses throughout the US, Canada, Europe, South America, and Asia for years.

“I’ve really been a counselor at fantasy camp twice earlier than, so I’m very acquainted with the method and what they do, however this can be my first time taking part in one of many all-female camps, which is extremely thrilling,” she says.

“I’ve been on this trade a very long time, so I’m type of used to being round a variety of males. However I used to be not too long ago on a tour with singer Demi Lovato, and never solely does she have an all-female band, however a ton of unimaginable ladies in her crew, in excessive positions, and that was my first expertise touring with a variety of actually succesful ladies. There’s all the time, you recognize, some right here and there, whether or not within the band or the crew, however that is my first time actually being surrounded by so many ladies. It gave me a renewed appreciation of how cool it’s to be in that atmosphere of simply badass babes kicking ass and taking names.”

There’s no tour with Lovato lined up any time quickly, however Strauss is busy together with her solo band, and dealing with the LA Rams soccer crew. She’s additionally received a 3rd solo album due in 2025.

There are tangible, technical expertise which are priceless, however there may be additionally the ‘mushy expertise’, extra basic elements to being a artistic skilled that this camp offers an avenue to share.

Strauss says, “I believe that essentially the most difficult factor as an artist is to place your self on the market authentically and unapologetically. You already know, particularly nowadays, once you put your self on the market, you’re opening your self as much as everyone’s opinion: the great, the dangerous and the ugly, and it’s straightforward to take these opinions to coronary heart in a constructive means or a adverse means… I believe the a very powerful and hardest lesson to be taught is simply to proceed in your path, proceed dwelling your most genuine life and being your most genuine artistic self, and let the chips fall the place they might, moderately than taking the affect from what’s being stated round you.”

Studying From The Finest

As for her personal mentors and lecturers, her lengthy stretch working with Alice Cooper offers a useful, casual schooling.

“Alice has the longevity in his profession that most individuals may by no means aspire to, to be on the degree that he’s at for near 60 years. I believe for those who’re in a scenario like that, and also you’re not consistently studying and rising, then you definitely’re not paying sufficient consideration. I’m positively consistently studying issues and getting, like, a wealth of data, not solely from Alice himself, however from the folks he surrounds himself with: his spouse, his crew, and our band, all the time studying and rising in that ambiance.”

When it comes to particular guitar expertise, Strauss says, “Taking part in guitar is sort of a circulation state for me, like a meditation. And I discover that the extra simply I can get into that meditative state of practising and creating, the better it’s for me to enhance. So, protecting these artistic channels open, permitting your self to make use of instruments like improvising or writing, and never solely enjoying different folks’s songs. Studying different folks’s songs and solos is a good way to enhance, however I believe the actual leaps and bounds are made once you’re enjoying imaginatively and also you’re simply enjoying from the center. Once you’re discovering your individual licks, and pathways, and chord adjustments and progressions, you’re in your artistic aspect.”

As for the ultimate efficiency on the legendary Viper Room?

“Viper Room is a fully iconic place,” Strauss enthuses. “I’ve performed there many occasions myself and been to life altering occasions there. It’s highly effective for ladies standing on that legendary stage to really feel that mojo, that vibe, you possibly can really feel the historical past of everybody who has come earlier than you.”

Get Rhythm

It’s not simply guitar gamers both after all – one of many high-profile mentors hoping to fulfill Strauss for the primary time is none apart from the pioneering drummer Sheila E. Two days after Strauss’s workshop, Sheila E. hosts a Q&A over brunch, adopted by 2 hours of jams and rehearsals earlier than heading to The Viper Room.

Boasting a profession that has spanned over 50 years, Sheila E. was the primary feminine drummer and percussionist to obtain a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame. This 12 months alone, she has been on months-long a US tour, recorded an NPR Tiny Desk Live performance, and deliberate a complete 2025 touring schedule that features jazz festivals and cruise journeys. In some way, she’s additionally discovered the time to document episodes of her personal YouTube sequence Sheila E. TV. She was born into this profession, in accordance with her memoir The Beat of My Personal Drum, which particulars her relationships together with her percussionist dad, Pete Escovedo, and her godfather Tito Puente.

Certainly, aged 5, she carried out alongside her dad in entrance of 1000’s. Her collaborations with Prince from the mid-Eighties are legendary, together with his album Purple Rain and Signal ‘O’ the Occasions. In 2021, she and her father have been recognised with the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In April this 12 months, her first-ever Salsa album, Bailar, was launched has been nominated for 2 Grammys for Finest Tropical Latin Album and the observe Bemba Colorá that includes Gloria Estefan and Mimy Succar for Finest International Music Efficiency.

“David is a buddy of mine and I had performed a camp earlier than, however by no means this particular one,” she says. “I believed it was a cool thought, and was very enthusiastic about it, particularly attending to mentor and play along with different folks.”

E. says, “On the time of enjoying early in my profession, there have been possibly one or two ladies enjoying percussion that I knew of. Now, there’s a variety of younger women and girls enjoying, everywhere in the world. Social media has been a cool option to attain out to younger folks from India to Slovakia to Japan to say ‘you play superb, hold doing what you’re doing!’”

E. says that earlier camps have attracted “attorneys, medical doctors, faculty lecturers, all varieties of occupations who would are available and play with us. It’s known as fantasy camp since you’d put in your bucketlist to ‘play drums with a rock ‘n’ roll band’, and this fantasy camp is that someday you’ve dreamed of.”

At a time when keyboard critics are noisily lamenting any alternatives granted to ladies that aren’t equally accessible to males (oh, the irony!), E. sees this as a uncommon, essential software for ladies to realize a foothold in a notoriously macho atmosphere.

“The world can’t exist with out ladies, we’re the rock of most households… Males want us greater than we’d like them! To not be imply, however why can’t we work along with males supporting us and giving us our due respect and appreciation as ladies? There’s no competitors between genders, however this camp is a chance to allow us to shine – as diamonds, as queens.”

She provides, “I’m a tremendous musician, and I simply occur to be a lady.”

What each Strauss and E. hope members take away from their camp expertise is a confidence in their very own means, a ardour for studying for all times, and a readiness to work collaboratively throughout any and all obstacles.

Strauss says that, finally, “You need to retain this love for what you’re doing regardless of the large quantities of adversity you face, and that applies to any musician. As artistic folks, you’re extra vulnerable to get harm once you put your emotions and your artwork on the market. You need to love what you do and be pleased with it. For instance, she may have made much more cash writing protected pop songs, however Demi [Lovato] has fully reinvented herself to play punk pop music, and we had a good time on tour.”

E. says, “This [fantasy camp] is a chance for anybody to come back alongside and perceive easy methods to work collectively as a crew. Individuals who have by no means met one another studying easy methods to play collectively is a very powerful a part of being an artist – understanding that we’d like one another, now we have to come back collectively, and that makes a great unit and a terrific artist and musician. It is advisable to know easy methods to talk and be a part of a gaggle.”

Discover out extra concerning the Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp at rockcamp.com