Why this CoCaCamp* site ?
Caravan, the legendary progressive rock band from the Canterbury area in Kent, South East England, was formed in 1967.They were very successful until the late 70's, although maybe a bit in the shadow of their friends from Soft Machine and Camel.
Nevertheless, fans didn't forget Caravan and even the individual members, who were still performing, got homesick sometimes.
In the early 90's, Jasper Smit and others tried to get Caravan back on the tracks and for that reason formed The Continental Caravan Campaign, CoCaCamp*.
CoCaCamp* successfully mobilized fans and bandmembers. The results were a number of concerts and ... a restart of Caravan.
letter: CoCaCamp*, c/o Jasper A. Smit, Kleingouw 34a, 1619 CB Andijk, Netherlands
email: Jasper A. Smit
by email: Douwe Poelstra
About CoCaCamp*
To me, Caravan at the ARROW Rock festival in 2004 was a reward for ten years of hard work on behalf of this unique band.
A big fan from the very beginning, in the 80's I started to get more and more worried as nothing was heard of the band anymore, and no new albums were forthcoming.
But everyone knows what happens in those situations, all good intentions aside, it takes another couple of years before you actually do anything constructive about it.
And so it was that in 1990 I came into contact with Richard Sinclair and Pye Hastings. They weren't really excited about a possible permanent return to the live-stage: wasn't there the danger that they would become their 'own' Caravan tribute band, playing their old songs over and over again?
They would only consider such a move if it would be financially rewarding and if there would be new songs that they could play.
The message was clear: there would have to be a solid, and especially permanent fanbase, big enough to sustain new material and live concerts.
Together with fans in England we tried to organise that, the English fans in England, and me in 'the rest of the world'.
For that purpose The Continental Caravan Campaign was established (CoCaCamp*). Next it was off to visit all kinds of live venues with pamphlets to try and find the fans.
Thus we gradually made many contacts worldwide to try and convince concert promoters to sign the band up for some live gigs (Many thanks to our own MOJO for their support of this cause). On top of that the band had succeeded in getting money together to record a come-back album, 'The Battle Of Hastings'. The rest is history.
It started with two concerts in September 1997 in the Netherlands (Tivoli Utrecht and Oosterpoort Groningen) and after that everything just escalated: Germany, Spain, France, Japan, Canada, U.S.A. and of course England.
But best of all: Caravan composes and plays new songs again which will convince every fan, young or old, that the band is alive and well. Not to mention the new spin they've given to some of their classic tracks. Many a fan, including myself, thinks the band is better than ever. Come and convince yourself! And for those of you who want to join the growing band of fans, please contact me.
Jasper A. Smit
1994 with a Richard Sinclair gig in Amsterdam
click to enlarge
CoCaCamp*azines
Sense and nonsense in the CoCaCamp*azines
In the 90's, CoCaCamp* produced some leaflets to stay in contact with the fans.The leaflets are now digitally available in our archives (collector items!).
We are sorry to say that the CoCaCamp*azines are only available in the Dutch language.
Click here to view the CoCaCamp*azines
Caravandidate your 10 favourite Caravan songs
In 2006, hundreds of Caravan fans sent me their personal Caravan top 10. Nearly 100 songs were nominated. So we can definitly say there is an All Time Favourite Caravan Top 10:Place Points1 3465 Nine Feet Underground 2 2680 For Richard 3 1968 Winter Wine 4 1620 The Love in Your Eye 4 1620 Golf Girl 6 897 Memory Lain 7 836 In the Land Of Grey and Pink 8 780 The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again 9 504 And I Wish I were Stoned 10 459 L'Auberge Du Sanglier
