Punk band Jon Cougar Concentration Camp released several albums, including the 1996 Melon (BYO Records), produced by the legendary Blag Dahlia, and the 1999 No More Room in Hell (Recess Records), a collection of unreleased demos.
The Camp was founded in January of 1994 by Chris Fields, Clint Graham, Travis Spatter, and Travis Milligan. “There were a lot of people coming and going back then," says Chris Fields. "We were just the four people that happened to be jamming together that night we came up with the name.” They played their first show at the Casbah on January 31, 1994. Less than two months later they released their first 7” EP on their own label.
JCCC toured up and down the West Coast over the next six months. Word of the band traveled fast and before they knew it they were releasing their first full-length album. They juggled drummers over the following year and when asked to tour the entire U.S., Dave Swain came in to replace Clint and Travis. JCCC was a three piece when they signed to BYO Records.
During a break between tours and recording, Chris Fields joined the Queers in 1996 to support their album Don’t Back Down. Fields jumped between the Queers and JCCC for a year before bringing fellow JCCC member Dave Swain into the Queers as well. “I felt bad putting JCCC on hold all the time and leaving Dave hangin',” Fields said. They both did both bands for a while. JCCC even went out in support of the Queers on a U.S. tour and filled in for them in Italy.
During the recording of JCCC’s Melon album, the band brought in punk rock legend Blag Dahlia (Dwarves) to produce. Blag was impressed by Chris’s talent and asked him to join the Dwarves. After being overwhelmed by all three bands, Chris Fields left the Queers and ended Jon Cougar Concentration Camp in 1999.
Fields ended up in End of Power, and going back out with the Dwarves. Dave Swain also toured with the Queers, while Clint Graham co-founded the Waste Aways in 2015. Jon Cougar Concentration Camp played a reunion show in 2006, but no new plans were announced.