Ethos Music Camp

In today’s pay-to-play world of CEOs and job cuts, it’s always nice to find a medium with undeniable meritocracy. This is how I felt before learning about the Ethos Music Camp, where aspiring musicians get to learn the ropes of the music industry from experts in the field (for instance, one of the guys from Red With Envy)—only having to spend three weeks of their time, plus a grand of their parents’ money. The DVD (filmed during last summer’s camp in Chico) features the kids getting into bands, writing and recording songs, then performing real shows on the Warped Tour. No question about it, today’s indie rockers have a silver spoon in their mouth. But then again, what on earth could they be teaching these kids that they couldn’t learn from experience? As for a documentary film, the DVD keeps relevant material to a minimum, spending time demonstrating that, at Ethos, kids will have plenty of time to go skateboarding and eat at Smokin’ Mo’s. Maybe they should have taught the kids how to make a convincing promotional film.