#iamnucisspace: Camp Amped Instructor Kiran Fernandes!

Meet one of our two new counselors, Kiran Fernandes!

Kiran was born into a legacy of music. Though his father was one of the founders of Athens record label and artist collective Elephant 6 (and also played in the band Olivia Tremor Control), Kiran had initially resisted following in his father’s footsteps, pursuing visual art as his first creative passion. After several of his friends became Camp Amped Campers and started to pursue music, Kiran ultimately became inspired at age 14 to play music as well, and fell quickly in love with every aspect of it. 

Now at 21 years old, he has quite the musical resume. Able to play clarinet, guitar, and keyboard (as well as other instruments) and in several accomplished musical projects, he says that it is consistently the thing he is most grateful for in his life. One of those projects is his band 

“Immaterial Possession”, who’s tagline on social platforms reads “Sun worshipers making songs, soundtracks and film”.  Immaterial Possession moonlights as a performance art group called Peepa Show (only with a different drummer). Like one of his favorite bands “Broadcast”, they draw inspiration from the more performance-oriented psychedelic and Krautrock bands of the mid-1960s, incorporating elements of theater and performance into their shows.

This unique musical-artistic blending is unsurprising, as Kiran’s passion for visual art has flourished with his musical journey hand in hand. His current creations (printmaking, masks, papier-mâché sculptures, puppets, and colorful costumes) often make it to the stage–referencing the movement that upended the art and music scenes of London, Berlin, and San Francisco in the middle of the last century. 

When Kiran isn’t working at Camp Amped, he works as a political canvasser, stagehand, and creates audio/visual work. He describes that music is a piece of his professional puzzle, as he draws work from several passions and values. One of those values specifically is his belief that no one has to play by the rules of the rubric that have already been set. 

This confidence to feel free to rebel and create as one desires is the greatest thing that he wants his campers to walk away with this summer: musicians should challenge themselves to learn the systems and structures that have set the standard for classic musical genres and songs, but also feel comfortable dismissing any and all of those rules at any time in their own independent musical endeavors. Kiran believes that the rules inform the player, but not restrict them in their creative expression; when artists learn to “jump”, make their own path, and learn to improvise, their individuality, authenticity, and skills as musicians grow unparalleled.