The last two times we saw Ginger Root – the synth-heavy, alt-disco/indie soul outfit of Cameron Lew – in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was just last October, when the Southern California band played a WXPN Free At Noon at World Cafe Live prior to a full-length, headlining show at Union Transfer, just a month after they dropped SHINBANGUMI, their third full-length and first for Ghostly International. However, Lew and his band are already preparing to play two more shows in the 215 this week, when they open The Met Philadelphia for Japanese Breakfast [whose latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) served as the theme for the March edition of Philthy Radio on Y-Not Radio] this Thursday and Friday (May 15th and 16th). I recently got a chance to chat with Cameron Lew via Zoom, about a week into this run of dates with Japanese Breakfast, and he told me all about SHINBANGUMI (along with its accompanying film) and what it’s like to return to playing shows as support.
*Interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
Izzy Cihak: You recently played Coachella. How were those gigs, and just the experience in general?
Cameron Lew: It was our first Coachella ever. We played both weekends at the Sonora Tent, the indoor tent with air conditioning, so we were excited to be shaded from the sun and natural elements [laughs]. It [was] a very victorious feeling. There’re so many bands whose dream it is to play Coachella, and for us to finally have that opportunity, it meant so much. And the crowd was really receptive. The crazy thing was that there were people there to see us, that knew who we were, and then there were people that didn’t know but they had a great time. We got to do what we normally do, in festival format, and it was just a lot of fun! We had a great first experience.
Izzy: While you were there, did you catch any especially great performances?
Cameron: At the first weekend, after we played, Kraftwerk was playing the tent over, and we’re all huge Kraftwerk fans, so we hopped over to watch them. I saw a little bit of LISA’s set on Friday night and that was amazing, incredible. The Marias blew me away, as always. The first weekend, I got to sing a couple lyrics with Jbrekkie. That was a lot of fun, as well, and then saw a little bit of Lady Gaga. I think my favorite, because I’m really into the new album, was probably the Clairo set.
Izzy: You’re about a week into these dates with Japanese Breakfast, which are kind of in blocks throughout the rest of the year, or like next six months. How have they been going so far?
Cameron: If I’m being honest, we were an opening band for a long, long time, and then we started doing our own shows, and we got a taste of that, and we’ve been doing headline shows basically since the pandemic ended, so it’s very interesting to go back to an opening slot. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, it’s just a totally different way of playing to an audience. You’re trying to win people over, you’re more aware of the crowd and how they’re feeling, and it’s a really good exercise.
That aside, Japanese Breakfast was one of my hugest influences, one of my favorite bands I listened to non-stop during college. I tell this story onstage every night, hoping that Michelle will hear it, but she told me that she’s doing vocal exercises while I’m doing the story [laughs]. When we did SXSW unofficially, like 2018/2017, I had a paper to write about a piece of music that changed my life, and I wrote it about Psychopomp, Japanese Breakfast’s first album. The world works in mysterious ways, where we’re now on tour with them for like half a year, which is absolutely mind-blowing. The shows have been great. It’s been sort of a learning curve to get back in the opener’s shoes, but honestly it’s less pressure, which is awesome! We’re kinda just there to make people feel good before Michelle hits the stage. And if we see their faces, and we can achieve that accomplishment, then our work is done!
Izzy: What can be expected of the live show when you play the opera house with Japanese Breakfast? You were kinda just here at Union Transfer and World Café Live, but, like you said, it is a different thing when you’re support.
Cameron: The main thing we’re trying to do is give an appetizer sampler of Ginger Root. What I’m trying to do, like how we were openers in the past, is really grab people by the collar for 40 minutes and not let them go, and then people being like, “Oh my god, it’s over!” We’re still bringing visuals, we’re still bringing all the tech stuff that we normally have, just in a condensed format that feels like Ginger Root 101, if you will. And if people wanna stick around for the advanced classes, I hope they come back the next time we’re in town. And, if not, at least they leave knowing a little bit about who we are.
Izzy: Since this is a Philadelphia publication and you have played here a handful of times recently, do you have any thoughts on the city?
Cameron: Philly is one of those places that, in the early days in our touring life, we went through a lot. I opened Union Transfer like twice and then we headlined Union Transfer, which was a crazy thing. I know that the Michelle Zauner Coat Check was a thing at Union Transfer, which is really funny and another full-circle thing which is absolutely insane. The crowd is a little crazier, in a good way. I mean that in the most loving way. You’ve got the giant that’s New York just down the street, basically. They sometimes, rightfully so, feel very entitled to a good show, because, “It’s New York, Baby!” In Philly, there’s something electric and strange in the best way possible whenever we play there, so it’s always a wild card of a show, which is a very fun experience.
Izzy: You recently put out a film that accompanies your latest LP, SHINBANGUMI, so I’m curious how that idea came about? I know that you work in film and video when you’re not doing music.
Cameron: The past couple EPs leading up to SHINBANGUMI, I wanted to kind of create this world that Ginger Root would live in. So, we kind of expanded upon that. I really, really wanted to make this visual component to this album that had a story from music video to music video, so you could listen to the album in track listing order, and then watch the album in track listing order with all the music videos, and there would be a cohesive storyline with cut scenes and drama and action, and it all coalesced into this big finale. That paved the way to give this album a visual identity, apart from the sonic identity.
Nowadays, with bands, there’s so much noise, and I’m always trying to figure out how to cut through the noise. And why not lean hard into the visuals and create something else for people to digest, not just with their ears, but with their eyes, as well? Very fortunately, it was an honor for Adult Swim to air that, and it was a dream come true. I grew up watching Toonami, it’s what got me into anime and all that stuff, so I have a soft place in my heart for that channel. So, to have that screened there was incredible. We put out a VHS of the whole album and it’s already sold out, so people tend to also resonate with it, which is awesome!
Izzy: What would you consider to be your biggest cinematic influences, or maybe even just the things that most inspire the visual elements of Ginger Root, specifically.
Cameron: I love lost media, I love VHS-ripped tapes on YouTube. I think that’s obviously very apparent when anyone watches my visuals [laughs]. I think what inspired the aesthetic of SHINBANGUMI was, during the pandemic, I was self-teaching myself Japanese and I was learning through immersion, which means you just watch things that you’re interested in, without a textbook, and try to basically give your brain enough examples to dissect the language on its own. I was watching a ton of stuff from ‘80s Japanese media that I was absolutely enamored by. Also just tons of stuff from the ‘80s and ‘90s of America that I loved. That really influenced the look and the feel of the visuals for SHINBANGUMI, and also what we’ve coined “The Ginger Root Cinematic Universe.”
Izzy: Considering that the album’s been out for the better part of a year now, I’m curious if you’ve had any favorite reactions to it?
Cameron: With this tour, with Jbrekkie specifically, and then also kind of with our headline tour we did last year, a lot of people will always come up and say, “I have never seen a live show that incorporates visuals like you guys do.” And that’s always a great feeling, because we put in a lot of work trying to figure out how to bring the visual universe to the stage, and I’m so happy people are resonating with that. That’s been a really cool reaction.
If I’m talking about the overseas reaction from Japan, which is the place that I’m taking a lot of inspiration from, a lot of people are just dumbfounded how this dude from Southern California is paying so closely an homage to the ‘80s. There’re young people who are like, “My parents grew up watching this and it’s exactly like how it was,” and there’s people from the ‘80s era that are like, “How do you know about all those shows?” “How do you know about all those music television icons?” and stuff like that. And I’m like, “I just crazily went down into a rabbithole and watched all that stuff.” That’s been a really cool reaction, because I know a lot of bands that do take influences from another part of the world, there’s always the question of how will the original country react, and it’s been more than warm, and more than welcome, to the point where it’s a dream come true and it’s a crazy reality that I still have to pinch myself in order to feel that I’m not dreaming.
Izzy: I know this is your first album for Ghostly International, which is such an amazing label. I love Kate Bollinger and Hana Vu and TOPS. How is it working with them and being a part of that whole label family?
Cameron: Ya know, you hear label horror stories all the time, and I think that was my biggest worry signing with a bigger label, but I wanna say they have been some of the nicest people to work with. Of course there were growing pains, just from the sheer amount of scalability that this past project has had. The fact that they were like, “Yeah, just kind of do whatever you want and meet the deadline and we’re all good,” and everything I showed them, they were like, “Yeah, this is great! Keep going.” It’s the most supportive and most trustworthy relationship. And I’m very happy that it turned out that way because, like I said, I’ve heard a lot of scary stories about bands working with labels. I can’t thank them enough for trusting what I do and trusting Ginger Root and giving us a shot. I know that I’m super proud of what we’ve made together and I can’t wait for the time when I’m able to sit down and think about what I want to do next with Ghostly, because it’s not the end at all.
Izzy: You have a ton of upcoming dates, currently running through early September, both headlining and with Japanese Breakfast. Are there any shows you’re especially excited about?
Cameron: Yeah! On one of our headlining runs we’re going to Florida for the first time, and I have gotten a lot of flack from Ginger Root fans for never playing Florida. So, I can only expect that those shows will be absolutely bananas, so I’m looking forward to that. We’re a SoCal band, so playing The Greek with Japanese Breakfast is a sentence that I still can’t believe that I have to say out of my mouth sometimes. That’s definitely one that we’re looking forward to. New York in a couple weeks, four nights at the same venue? That’s insane. And not only from a performance aspect, but I think that’s going to be the first time that I have five nights in New York to just kind of hang out and see friends, so it feels like a vacation even though I’m on tour, which is an incredible feeling. It’s not announced, but we might be doing some more stuff from September all the way till November. It’s still in the works, as well as some big news coming in July. It’s definitely not over, there are more shows to come… Oh, as well as Bonnaroo! We’re playing Bonnaroo! Never thought we’d do Coachella and Bonnaroo the same year, but here we are! I’m just very excited overall to meet a bunch of new people!
*Get your tickets to May 15th here.
**Get your tickets to May 16th here.
