Music
Press
"Campos has a fine voice with expressive phrasing combined with a sultry edge...fiddle playing capable of imaginative improvisation with a warm tone" Hardwick Gazette, Jan, 2007 - Hardwick Gazette
"Randy Bulpin is an excellent musician on acoustic, electric guitars and dobro...a prolific composer of well put together melodies with poetic lyrics" Hardwick Gazette, Jan, 2007
- Hardwick Gazette
"Bulpin's guitar work, songwriting and production is outstanding" Melbourne Sun, August, 1994 - Melbourne Sun
"Featuring the tasteful violin playing of Leslie Campos..." Doug Floyd, review of Blue Moon Revisited, CD by Scott McClatchy, AltCountryTab.com, January 2002 - AllCountryTab.com
“The original songs on this debut album have well developed melodies with lyrics that integrate the softer rhythms or folk music with the moodiness of the blues, the drive of ‘60s/’70s rock with the human focus of country, these predominantly love songs often have an autobiographical element just below the surface of the time when they were written.” David K. Rodgers, Hardwick Gazette May 30, 2007 - Hardwick Gazette
Besides the normal "Americana" they also have for instance the jazzy
bluesballad "Second avenue serenade" which is written by Leslie and is an
autobiographical song about her, while living in New York.
* The beautiful warm sound of Leslie"s fiddle forms a nice adding to the a dobro and laid back sound of Randy's slide and also their voices form a wonderful harmony.
*Together they deliver a strong Americana debut, which should not pass unnoticed, because the compositions are strong and they are brought to us by two skilled musicians which make Laslo Cameo a band we will hear more about
in the future.
Ronny Bervoets - www.rootstime.be
Laslo Cameo is an acoustic/electric duo comprising Bulpin and his partner Leslie Campos. This duo — he's an Aussie ex-pat and she's a former New Yorker — has been performing since 2003. They both hold daytime jobs as teachers in nearby school systems. Campos said she decided to leave New York after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
I first heard this fine acoustic duo at River Run Restaurant in Plainfield and thought Laslo Cameo should be playing bigger, more lucrative venues. In the four years they have been in Vermont they perform at a variety of small rooms including the Bees Knees in Morrisville, which is their home base, and similar snug eateries.
On "2nd Avenue Serenade," Laslo Cameo stretches out. In the studio they are not constrained by just two instruments and can add other musicians to the mix. Along with Campos' fine violin playing and Bulpin's guitar and dobro work, there's a rhythm section and occasional keyboards as well as several harmony voices. In all, this CD of folk, acoustic pop and blues-tinged numbers is very successful.
Campos has a great voice, which is both powerful and sultry. On the title track she shows the power of vocal subtlety but on the opening track "How Can You Lose?" she lets loose a no-holds rocker. Beyond her strong vocals, Campos shows herself as a fine violinist, and her instrumental work, which is not heard enough on this CD, is flexible and fluid. As this album covers a variety of genres, her fiddling emerges as very adaptable. It's nice hearing blues and rock violin. The instrument can sound like an electric guitar given the right player.
Bulpin is a guitar-playing find. He's got the right touch on acoustic, electric and dobro styles. The primary songwriter for the duo, he has found a home in the blues-rock genre. "Stella Joy," the fourth track, is a good example of Bulpin's writing style and guitar playing. This tune cooks with bluesy guitar and Campos adds her swampy fiddle to the mix.
Other tracks have Bulpin on slide guitar and in a variety of styles. Australia, his homeland, may be down under, but obviously Bulpin wasn't exiled to the outback. He's absorbed the essence of American blues in word and guitar technique.
The duo cooks on "House Trained Man," a funky dance tune that both performers wrote. It's a good contemporary take on relationships.
In all, this first offering from Laslo Campos is a very satisfying release. I'm hoping they'll be able to add extra musicians to their live performances and get to play bigger venues than the Bees Knees so we can hear this album live.
- Argus Times 10/5/07
We have three rock albums: Duane Carleton's "Once Lost, Then Torn Down," Laslo Cameo's "2nd Avenue Serenade," and Grace Potter and the Nocturnal's "This is Somewhere." ......... Laslo Cameo, from Hardwick, released a fine soft-rock album with excellent vocals by Leslie Campos and Randy Bulpin........
- Times Argus 12/14/07
Discography
Second Avenue Serenade CD: This is Laslo Cameo's debut work. In the past Leslie and Randy have featured as session musicians on dozens of albums both in the USA and Australia. Currently tracks from the CD are being played on local FM radio in northern New England and Australia, and internet roots radio in the USA and Europe.
Photos
Bio
Formed in 2003 by Leslie Campos and Randy Bulpin, Laslo Cameo represents a unique blend of world cultures. Leslie is Connecticut born with Hungarian and Greek roots, while English born Randy was in fact raised in Australia, the largest penal colony in the world! With extensive individual touring and studio experience, and meanwhile expressing their shared desire to play groove-oriented and roots based material, the band was quickly established. An 11 track studio CD, ‘Second Avenue Serenade’ has been released and is being distributed through independent labels that support artist ownership and mutual integrity.
Randy Bulpin (guitar and vocals) was initially heavily influenced by the British bands of the sixties, progressing to American roots music. He plays both acoustic and electric guitars, specializes in slide and dobro, and has extensive experience as a professional touring and recording musician, while also achieving success as a songwriter and producer. In twenty years of touring Randy has toured Australia and New Zealand several times over, and shared the stage with many international stars including, Kriss Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, John Prine, The Knack, Ricky Nelson, Joe Cocker, Bo Diddley, Status Quo, Uriah Heap, John Hammond, Australia’s own Little River Band and Men at Work, and interestingly Stephan Grapelli who mentioned a young Randy from the seventies in a 1983 biography by Raymond Horricks, ’Stephan Grapelli’. Randy’s extensive studio experience has served him well as co-producer of their debut CD, as well as current and future production projects with other artists.
Leslie Campos (vocals, violin, and acoustic guitar) moved to Vermont from New York City where she had a successful career playing violin in a variety of bands including an all girl bluegrass/ country act called the Bushmills, and the Scott McClatchy Band, with consistent CD sales in European markets. She has also performed in off Broadway shows both as solo artist and an orchestral member. An asset for Leslie in the past has been that violin skills include a wide variety of styles from conventional classical to jazz, bluegrass, rock and country. Leslie’s beautiful and sultry singing voice is an integral part of the Laslo Cameo sound, and her own songwriting abilities can be heard in the album’s title track ‘Second Avenue Serenade’, a haunting jazz/blues tribute to life in New York City.
Leslie and Randy composed their first song, ‘How can you lose’ on the beach in Australia, and they continue to write already having a number of individually and co-written compositions for their next recording venture. As you listen to “Second Avenue Serenade” you will hear the influences of blues, jazz, country, R’nb, and sixties rock in both the writing and performance of their songs.
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