Al Campos & SoulHarmonic
History
The band was founded by American artist, Al Campos in 2002 when his friend, Stephen Brumfield called him in Los Angeles asking him to return to Copenhagen and put together a house band for his soon to open night club, NYSE (New York Soul Experience). That phone call in 2002 was the start of this very exciting group, the NYSE house band.
Al Campos left his job working at an after school program called, LA’s BEST located in the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, in City Hall. He also left his friends, family and hometown, Los Angeles, CA to return to his European base and to his Danish wife so that he could start getting the band together and start rehearsing.
Band Members
It didn’t take long at all for Al to decide who he would call to join the band.
His first call was the bass player and old friend, Thomas Risell, followed by the Finding brothers, guitarist Martin & drummer, Michael. The Finding brothers then suggested a very beautiful and talented singer, Susanne Carstensen.
Then one day, Al was taking a walk down the centre of town when he heard a very funky street musician, playing guitar. On the street was a guy named, Bob Porter. Al Campos hired him on the spot and he joined the band, although he would always return to the street during the daytime.
All they needed was a keyboard player. The original keyboard player was Peter Hellemann who did the gig for a few months. He was followed by Swedish player, Mats Madestam. But ultimately, the band finally met the very funky Swedish player, Daniel Fridell who replaced Mats on keyboards and has been with the band since 2003.
NYSE
At that point, NYSE would be the very first night club dedicated to serving it’s guests authentic New York style soul food, cocktails and live soul music 4 nights a week. Never before had this ever been done in Denmark, it was a huge risk and everyone jumped in full force. It was also a time when there were no more than 3 bands in all of Denmark playing this strange and new genre, “soul & funk.”
Al Campos & SoulHarmonic was the only band ever to play soul music night after night for such an extended period of time. The band played nearly 100 nights during the first few months and they were tight!
But all good things must come to an end and after 5 months as NYSE house band, it all came to an end. Al returned to USA and the band went their own separate ways.
Nørrebro Bryghus
Shortly after the band took “a break” and went their own ways, in 2003 a new and very large local brewery opened in Nørrebro, a neighborhood in Copenhagen.
The management heard the band and gave the band a shot to play some gigs. They were looking for a way to pull in more guests & Al was looking for a way to get his band back together again.
Al Campos & SoulHarmonic was the very first band to ever play live music at the Nørrebro Bryghus and the brewery gave Al & his band an 8 month contract, playing at least one concert per month.
This was unheard of and still is. There are not many venues that will commit to such an agreement with many artists. Needless to say, Al & his band brought the guests many nights of funky and soulful music.
This venue is very important to Al & the band’s heart. No matter how large or successful the band is or may become, they will always want to come “home” to Nørrebro Bryghus, the other venue that showed the band how much they enjoyed and believed in them.
The Music
In the beginning,the band played old school cover songs by artists such as, Bill Withers, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and many others. It was important to play songs that the guests may remember or at least have some familiarity with. But of course, Al Campos could not only play other artists music. He began writing his own songs for the band and bringing them into the set.
The summer of 2006 the band began recording in the studio what would become their first CD. When all the recording sessions were complete, the band were listening to the rough mixes when Al turned to the band and said, “we have got some hits here.” Some of the band members, had a hard time believing the words Al was saying. They didn’t dare believe it!
The Royal Recording Studios, Memphis Tennessee
Al contacted the producer, Willie Mitchell of legendary soul singer, Al Green to ask if he would mix the album. He called Memphis, Tennessee at the Royal Recording Studios and spoke with Boo Mitchell, the son of Willie.
Boo mentioned that his dad was getting up there in age and was not really working so much in the studio like before. But before the conversation ended, Al suggested that he send an Mp3 file just to listen to before any final decision was made. Boo agreed that would be OK. The next day, Boo Mitchell called Al Campos in Denmark. “Can you send another track?” Boo asked. Another track was sent and 24 hours later Al got another phone call from Boo. “I played the songs for my dad and he would like to mix the album, together with me.” In February 2007, Al Campos flew over to Memphis Tennessee to meet Willie & Boo Mitchell at the Royal Recording Studios.
That trip changed the life of Al Campos, especially after he heard the mixes and Willie Mitchell said to him, “The torch has been passed to you. You may be an unknown artist to the world now but your music has deep roots and background in soul music. You are the one to carry this music forward.” Al was so humbled and so deeply moved by the words of this incredible man & producer who has written and produced so many huge classic soul hit songs for Al Green, that he just cried with pride.
That CD Willie Mitchell and Boo Mitchell mixed was, “Old School Lovin.’
Released by positiveSOUL Productions, the CD is available on iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon and all other major internet music portals.
In the summer of 2009 the CD was re-released in Japan by Grey Dog’s Records.
SoulHarmonic is:
Martin Finding (guitars), Thomas Risell (bass), Michael Finding (drums), Daniel Fridell (keyboards) & Al Campos (vocals & trombone)
Follow the band & the progress of the upcoming CD:
