Camp Cope are breaking up but not before playing “last ever” hometown show

After nearly eight years of crafting fearless, empowering anthems, Camp Cope have sadly decided to call it quits. But not before playing a final hometown show in Naarm/Melbourne.

The trio – singer-guitarist Georgia Maq, bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich, and drummer Sarah Thompson – were added to the Brunswick Music Festival line-up today (8 February). They headline the Estonian House on 11 March with support from Barkaa – the proud Malyangapa, Barkindji woman responsible for some of the Best First Nations Bars around.

“Can’t think of a more fitting farewell,” Camp Cope wrote on Instagram, noting “this is a special one – our LAST EVER Naarm/Melbourne show.”

triple j has clarified this will be Camp Cope’s last ever show in their hoemtown but not their final farewell show. 

The same post was shared on their Instagram story with the caption “RIP CAMP COPE 2016-2023”. They followed it with a post from fellow Aussie musician Ben Lee, who wrote “Sad news but as with everything @camp_cope has done, integrity fully in tact [sic].”

The news follows Camp Cope’s recent January tour of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in support of their 2022 album Running With The Hurricane.

“Camp Cope have always been loud, fearless, and sincere but on their tender third album, they’re more confessional than confrontational,” we wrote of the record, which peaked at #11 on the ARIA Albums Chart and is nominated for the $30,000 Australian Music Prize.

The band also have two Hottest 100 entries, several J Award nominations, countless memorable live performances and a to their name.

Rest in power, Camp Cope.

Over on Twitter, Thompson said there was “obv[iously] more to come” regarding Camp Cope’s decision to split, while “show ’em, Kelly” Hellmrich called out critics suggesting it had something to do with her becoming a mum for the first time. 

Loud, fearless, sincere

Camp Cope formed in 2015 when Georgia Maq recruited close friend Sarah Thompson and Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich – who she met while getting a tattoo in a Footscray kitchen — to flesh her solo material into a full band.

Following their own shows and support slots with internationals like Waxahatchee, The Hotelier, and Andrew Jackson Jihad, Camp Cope recorded their self-titled debut album live in just two days.

Released on famed indie label Poison City Records on 22 April 2016, Camp Cope debuted at #36 on the ARIA Album Charts and went on to be nominated for the Australian Music Prize and Australian Album of The Year at our own J Awards.

“Most bands take a few years to find their voice. Camp Cope pretty much did it in just eight songs,” we wrote of the album, which navigated Georgia’s personal experiences – of separation, shift work, victim blaming and conspiracy theories – in unfiltered rock anthems teeming with emo honesty and punk attitude.

The standout single ‘Lost: Season One’ was voted in at #74 in triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2016.

In 2018, Camp Cope released the knockout second album, How To Socialise And Make Friends, which earned the group their second J Award nomination.

Tackling music music industry misogyny, sexual assault, and the death of loved ones, the record’s impact was felt far beyond its nine tracks. It practically defined the feminist punk agenda Down Under, with ‘The Opener’ in particular becoming one of the most important Music Moments of the 2010s (and came in at #58 in triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2017).

Last year, Camp Cope hit the Like A Version studio and recorded a cover of Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’. Their spin on the Brit’s triumph-outta-tragedy anthem reached #174 in triple j’s Hottest 101-200.

Georgia Maq has released solo material throughout Camp Cope’s career. Most notably, her surprise 2019 electropop release Pleaser, her savage, self-scathing single ‘Joe Rogan’, and December’s Live At Sydney Opera House EP. 

She’s also collaborated with Alice Ivy, Gordi, Ben Lee, and features in the just-released music video for Jen Cloher’s new single ‘My Witch’. 

“The gayest film clip of 2023 has just dropped and I’m so honoured to have been asked to costar in it as a horny gym trainer cum gay witch,” Maq wrote on Instagram.