Pack your bags, grab your bug spray, throw back a shot of Malort and follow the inflatable hot dog as Riot Squad Media is returning to Northeast Pennsylvania to take over the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA with the 5th year of Camp Punksylvania! The 3-day festival with multiple stages and amazing national and local acts like Dillinger Four, The Lawrence Arms, The Vandals and Bridge City Sinners, will take place from 20 June until 22 June. Tickets are available here. TGEFM had the opportunity to speak with Beef to discuss this year’s festival for the latest installment of this year’s Camp-centric interview series: Happy Campers. Check it out below and I’ll see you at the campfire!
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! What should our readers know about Beef; your history, your mission, your sound? What does the band have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?
We’ve been asking ourselves lately what is Beef. How would we classify our sound? We are trying to stray from the hardcore title and write whatever the hell we want. Creative freedom is what we are all about and not secluding ourselves to a certain sound. We’ve come a long way from when we first started as a band, musically and finding the right members to add a great chemistry to the band. Our album release is June 20th at Camp Punk! New music coming too!
Beef performed at Camp last year and is returning this year. What makes you want to come back and perform at Camp again? How has it felt being able to watch this thing grow from the inside?
Camp punk was such an incredible and inspiring experience for us. It was our first festival we’ve played and the amount of love and excitement we received from some of our followers really motivated us to give the performance our all. It was so neat experiencing the festival with all age groups and people getting to be themselves with no judgement because we are all there for the same reason… community in music!!
The Camp Punksylvania socials recently posted about the inclusivity and diversity of the team and lineup. From an artist’s perspective, how does the diversity of the lineup and the volunteers improve Camp for the artists and the attendees?
Diversity among staff and bands is incredible because it provides equal opportunities to all and encourages attendees to do the same! It encourages a peaceful and kind environment and makes everything about the music rather than cause discomfort and power displacement feelings.
The majority of artists in the punk, ska and hardcore scene have been CIS, white, dudes. You break that mold. Do you feel that has ever hindered your path within the scene? Do you feel that you have (or had to) work harder to get your voice heard?
Totally, we’ve had gigs where we were clearly not taken seriously as all of the other bands. We’ve worked with bookers who refuse to pay us, and worked with men in the hardcore scene that think being cool with us means having permission to treat other women with disrespect. We’ve been given some crazy backhanded compliments about people’s surprise at how good we are/how heavy our sound is despite our age and gender(s). We’ve grown to be much more selective in who we work with because of our negative experiences with disrespectful people who tend to nearly always be cis white men.
It also makes us unique, however, and provides us some great opportunities that other bands may not receive. We are so proud of every woman in the scene that’s doing it along side us.
We’ve all got a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn’t take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician?
No regrets in our opinion, only lessons! How else would we learn? We’ve worked with producers, bookers, and collaborators who treated us with disrespect, so we learned to be selective in where we play/who we work with. We’ve played some *interesting* venues and agreed to not return to them. Fucking up is the best way to learn what to avoid in the future!
What do you want the campers to say about your set (counselors, performances and activities) when they write home from camp this year?
We want them to be blown away by our latest sound as a group, and want everyone to enjoy our new songs and covers!! We also want them to walk away saving our album that will be available that day for the first time
also for Scowl to watch us for 30 seconds
Many of the Camp Punx artists have not been afraid to get political and in the interest of bluntness, this timeline is kinda way fucked. With all the shit going on, many of us need the community that comes from these small acts of rad at Camp. How do you hope the festival and your performance benefits the scene and community?
We hope to see lots of free Palestine shit happening and support for immigrants!! Staying informed on news happening in our country and around the world is so important because it impacts everyone! It would be awesome to see vendors or fundraisers for those causes at camp and others as well. Last year at camp punk we were blown away by some of the vendors that were offering feminine hygiene products and contraceptives. It’s so encouraging to be involved in a festival that supports women when our country does not.
One of the coolest moments from Camp last year was the Career Mode set when Black Guy Fawkes and others joined the band to perform a few pop-punk and emo karaoke covers. Career Mode is returning this year, what songs could they perform to get you back on their stage to grab their mics?
I believe I was chilling in my hammock last year during this. Maybe they’ll get me to swing onto the stage for some My Chemical Romance or Paramore covers.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see this year?
We are so hyped to see Scowl. We’ve been covering their song Bloodhound for the longest time so fingers crossed they see our set! Also excited to see Cancer Bats and our friends in Soji, Pucker Up and Murphy’s Law
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/