Margot's McGill to perform at Bishop

The lifestyle of a touring musician is one Cameron McGill knows all too well. Currently, McGill plays keyboard for Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s but has also been touring with his own band, Cameron McGill & What Army.

“I’m gone twice as much with touring, and it definitely can be difficult,” McGill said. “But I make it work because that’s part of life as a full-time musician, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

McGill said the bottom line is that it is good to be around good songs and being a part of two bands has influenced his music.

“When you’re involved closely with a song’s structure, whether by playing it or just listening, it certainly influences you,” McGill said.

McGill said his musical projects with Margot, such as the recent album release “Buzzard” in 2010, has inspired his work with Cameron McGill & What Army.

“Certain things find their way into my mind, and there’s always glimpses of certain influences in my music that can be traced,” McGill said.

On April 12, Cameron McGill & What Army intend to release the new album, “Is A Beast.” The album’s primary focus will be in the melodies with something that McGill considers to be “folk ’n’ roll.”  

“It’s a little bit of both, but to me this record has a different feel in that it captured more of a live recording approach,” McGill said. “There was no preconceived idea, so there was really no limits. We had an open point of view, which left plenty of room to experiment.”

McGill said since the members of the band live so far apart, their writing has always had an “in the moment” approach.

“It’s on a fairly first-impression basis because touring is really the only time we have together,” McGill said. “It’s what mood we feel right then, and we don’t have a lot of time to think about it.”

McGill said making records and self-funding is a battle, but he will continue as long as he is able to because the process of it all is what he finds rewarding.

McGill joked that his ideal crowd would be “just drunk enough.” Though he said he doesn’t have an exact reaction he looks for in a crowd, intense listening with intense having fun would be great.

“The beauty is just creating something and then letting it go,” McGill said. “It’s leaving it in the hands of people that will hopefully take the time to get to know it.”

McGill played a show at The Bishop last October and will be a part of a free WIUX-sponsored show 9 p.m. Thursday along with local band The Calumet Reel and The Spruce Campbells.

“Not only are the bands really awesome, but it’s free and we hope everyone is going to come out,” Meredith Dover, a junior and DJ at WIUX, said. “It should be really exciting.”

McGill enjoys performing in Bloomington and is looking forward to his future in music.

“I want to do this for my entire life on an exciting level where just to keep going is its own little victory,” McGill said. “I love the atmosphere in Bloomington because I can tell the people there are having just a much fun as I am. I look forward to coming back.”