Happy Campers: A Camp Punksylvania Interview with Big D and the Kids Table

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Grab your s’mores, your bug spray, a shot of Malort and pack your bags as Riot Squad Media is returning to Northeast Pennsylvania to take over the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA with Camp Punksylvania! The 3-day festival with multiple stages and amazing national and local acts like 7 Seconds, The Bronx, Less Than Jake, will take place from 5 July until 7 July tickets are available here. David McWane, frontman of ska-punk legends Big D and the Kids Table, has joined TGEFM to discuss this year’s festival for the latest installment of our 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! You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to artists like yourselves?

Oh wow, I have never been asked about what I think about ‘the festival circuit’. I’ll do an optimistic and pessimistic appraisal. Speaking to musicians…it’s weird isn’t it?  You see these great festivals all over the world, with your favorite bands on the billings and you think, ‘man if we could only play there’. That feeling brings me back to middle school and observing, ‘the cool kids’, and knowing you’re a “freak”. For an up and coming band, it can feel tough to see these amazing happening and always be turned away. ‘Why not us?’, starts to be felt in your group. I don’t like that type of accidental envy. For me, sure thing, I do like playing these outside, sunny day shows, with a plethora of my friend from other bands there for a lovely fun reunion. But no, I don’t like too big of crowds, (that entertainment), and I really do like the small clubs, (that’s an artful experience), most of all. These days, I feel like the cool kids have finally let us into there parties, so we go, have a laugh, feel proud of ourselves and do our best.

What does Big D and the Kids Table have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?

We are gearing up for our new record and our 30 Year Anniversary in 2025. 

What have been some of the most memorable moments or experiences with the band so far? What’s been the most unexpected? The weirdest?

Meeting, becoming friends, doing a split 7″ and then later for our last record, DO YOUR ART, collaborating on a song with AGATA & YAKO of the band MELT-BANANA. 
And also, just being considered a ‘real’ band. That’s still hard to understand. Speaking to musicians again…we spend so much time on the sidelines of our dream, hoping to just be considered a real musician in a real band and that for me, it has been hard to understand that – it happened. 

Regarding live sets, what are you most excited to bring to the Camp Punk audience? I don’t believe there will be many Big D first-timers there, but what do you want the campers to say about your set when they write home from camp this year?

I hope when we start a song(s), people are WICKED excited that that song is next. Like when I turn to friend and hit them on the shoulder, with a ‘no way!!!’, when I’m at a show. We are trying to play more deeper cuts and songs off of Fluent In Stroll. We want to pleasantly surprise people; We want the last time you saw BIG D always be the best time you saw us. That sounded a little cliche, but it’s true. 

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?

Well I don’t regret this decision, because I don’t do ‘white drugs’, but early in our career a famous punk rocker with a label asked, ‘Hey BIG D, any of you guys wanna do white drugs?’. We passed. “That’s what your problem is”, echoed at that crossroads. It’d be fun to watch a TV series of BIG D and see what would have happened if we had accepted the offer. 

I won’t call it a ska revival because ska is something that’s never gone away, but there is a massive rejuvenation of the scene with We Are The Union, Kill Lincoln and Catbite.  What is going on out there that has gotten so many people back on their boards to ride this latest wave of ska?

“I won’t call it a ska revival because ska is something that’s never gone away…” – Well said. Well they say that every 7 years or so, the past comes back in style. And it has also been said, that when times are really tough, people need to be uplifted by music and SKA is upliftings. But we all know what it really is, all the older EMO and Screamo kids, join the workforce, had babies and because that can be challenging, they all had to bust out their old SKA albums to stay positive. Shit’s spreading; GET IN…!!!

The punk and ska scenes have almost always been at the forefront of inclusion and diversity within the music scenes.   The flipside of course is that the gatekeeping in the scene is also very prevalent?  Why do you think the genre brings in such a welcoming community and is so happy to let everyone in and also seems to shut the doors so quickly behind themselves?

You’re speaking my wonder as well. From what I have gathered, a lot of the popular bands are from either – fortunate families, rich or connected in the music industry. And that is 100% okay. I mention this so that younger bands know that if that community doesn’t welcome them, it’s not because they aren’t good enough as artists. Like life, it seems the fortunate get it first in the music scene as well. Of course you can be an outsider and get there as well, that’s who BIG D is, but it’s a lot more work. But don’t worry about that. Non of the bigger bands seem that happy. The happy bands are more often opening the shows, not headlining them. Make sure you love writing, recording and playing music. If you do, then you’ve made it. Don’t even care about being popular. It’s not what it’s made of. 

There aren’t very many acts with the longevity and consistency of Big D. What advice do you have for the younger acts starting out?

Well, the last bit, of the last question said it. Just love music, love your songs, be a kind band mate and you have it all. Careful about just wanting to be in a big band, because you could find yourself in your own TWILIGHT ZONE, playing songs every night that you don’t enjoy. There aren’t a limited amount of seats in your scene, so be nice and help out other bands. And be happy for their success. You have to build the scene together, and you need the scene, to create the culture or your art. 

Speaking of longevity, with a catalogue as beefy as yours, how do you figure out a set list thats going to appeal to both new fans and fans who have been around for decades?

It’s pretty dang hard. I write a draft and then walk away from it, then look over all the records and make notes of our favorite songs that we haven’t played in a while and then keep approaching the set list, making small improvements each glance. Then I send it to the guys and we try and think of anything else that could be fun. Writing a 30-min set list for BIG D is difficult. We really enjoy playing albums in their entirety live, as everyone knows the score and what’s next. 

If Punksylvania were a real camp, what activities are each of you leading?

I’ll teach campfire building. 

What song are you performing around the campfire this year?

I haven’t written the set list yet, but we’ll mostly play our hits like – “SELLOUT,” “SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND,” “BEER” and a new cover “TAKE ON ME.” 

Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?

A lot of the band names are new to me, so I’ll be walking around seeing band’s for the first time. 

Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?

I would like to dive deeper, or more reiterate the point, that you have to be kind with yourself and with your band mates, love your music, don’t worry about the successes of others; You are playing music for your life, you’re a real artist, you’re brave, you know you’re not a number; This is your time to be alive!