There’s no need to disguise the fact that Camo Face — the new ear-catching Richmond-based two-piece —  are also recognizably members of the seasoned punk band, Sports Bar. While their familiar faces are a giveaway, so is their penchant for writing hook-laden songs, ripe for big anthemic sing-alongs. Sports Bars’ fingerprints are all over Camo Face, whose name itself is cribbed from an old Sports Bar song.

Yet Camo Face marks a new era for the duo, one notably absent of conventional guitars. Instead, keyed-in synth samples broaden their distinct vocal melodies to flesh out their rhythm-section bones of bass and drums. It’s a marriage of genre-melding form and function, all simpatico.

We reached out to Camo Face over the holidays, to hear more about their new five-song EP, “Four Leaf Clover,” which was recorded locally at Spacebomb Studios by Alex De Jong, and self-released Dec. 20 on cassette and streaming.

Style: 2024 seemed like a busy year for Camo Face, starting with your first show last July at Don’t Look Back. What set things in motion for the band?

Kemper Blair: Stuart and I are always looking for an excuse to hang out and create something together. Our other band, Sports Bar, only plays here and there these days so we were looking for an outlet to make something, be together, and play music. Camo Face did not necessarily start with the intention of making a new band but rather making songs that were fun to play with just the two of us in a room. We played that first show in July because I had been asked by some friends to help with setting up something for them. Sports Bar was not available so Stu and I figured we would give it a shot.

Stuart Holt: Like Kemper said, Camo Face started because Sports Bar was on a bit of a hiatus and didn’t have anything planned, so we immediately started talking about what else we could do. Many years back [2008/2009] Kemper and I had an electro-pop band called Cubscout and the Rhinoceros where we would play synths and drum machines and what not. This new project, Camo Face, feels like we’re pulling inspiration from that project and mixing it with the past 15+ years of doing Sports Bar.

How will you differentiate between Camo Face and Sports Bar? 

Kemper: I think the easiest answer from our end would be we don’t invite Mark to band practice when we want to work on Camo Face.

Stuart: By replacing the guitars with synths, I think Camo Face is able to play around in genres that don’t necessarily make sense for Sports Bar, which is fun. That being said, the songwriting process for this band is identical to the songwriting process for Sports Bar.

Are there specific musical influences that inform Camo Face’s stylistic shift? 

Kemper: I think, stylistically, we are not that far off from the material we produce with Sports Bar.  Stu and I enjoy writing pop songs that are generally played loud and fast but sometimes soft and slow. In this case, Stu has his synth samples adding the lead dynamic that was previously filled out by the guitars in Sports Bar.

Stuart: I feel like all of our bands are rooted in pop music. That being said, where Sports Bar tends to lean more into garage or psych rock, Camo Face is more pop-punk driven.

Congrats on the release of your debut EP, “Four-Leaf Clover.” Would you walk us through each song, kinda like those DVD special feature commentaries, I for one sorely miss:

“Crimes”

Kemper: Stu showed up with this song fully formed. It is about a deteriorating relationship. Hopefully it is not foreshadowing for this band.

Stuart: This was one of the first songs, if not the first, that we completely worked out and rehearsed as Camo Face. I see it more as a song about the challenges that can arise when a friendship falls out of balance.

“Reason Why”

Kemper: I remember getting really excited when we landed on singing the woo part over the synth lead. One of those moments when it hits and the energy is just right.

Stuart: Ditto. This song was good, but singing over the lead riff was what solidified it for both of us. That being said, my favorite part of this song now is the unexpected synth lead that happens a third of the way through. Love that part.

“Methuselah”

Kemper: This is about the oldest tree in the world and the person tasked with watching over it.

Stuart: Kemper brought an iPhone recording of him singing and playing this one on an acoustic guitar to practice one day and it was immediately awesome. I think we played it once or twice then I went home and wrote the synth parts and that was that.

“Sleeping On Sidewalks”

Kemper: Autobiographical account of a trip to Rockaway Beach with Sports Bar.

Stuart: True story. I also love that this one is simply drums, bass, and vocals.

“Four-Leaf Clover”

Kemper: If there were a genesis for the band this song would be it. New beginning, starting over, looking for the positive with a little bit of luck.

Stuart: Yeah, this song really helped us to identify our sound and lyrically I think it really speaks to what this band is all about for the two of us, starting over and trying to create something fun together.

See Camo Face play Saturday, Jan. 4 at The Camel with Reverse the Curse, Oh Devil and Waxing.