Happy Campers: A Camp Punksylvania Interview with Black Guy Fawkes

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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. Folk-punk hero, Black Guy Fawkes, 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! What do festivals, like Camp Punksylvania or Pouzza Fest, mean to artists like yourself?

Funny enough, I just played my first Pouzza fest this year, whilst on tour. Pouzza and Camp Punksylvania are about one thing to me: Community. Punk has always been a space for every outcast, misfit or anyone who has never felt like they belong. So to have one weekend where we take over a giant campsite in the middle of Pennsylvania or even a few city blocks in Montreal and turn it into a get away/reunion for us punks, it's a good feeling. You get to make new friends, see old ones, and dance the night away to the music you love.

What do you have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?

There are a few upcoming things that I can't really speak on just yet, but the major thing that I can say is I'm in the midst of recording my 5th record. Me and the band are back in the studio with our good friend/producer Derek Shank and working on something good. Outside of THAT, the week after camp, I turn 31 and I'm celebrating with my birthday show called “Fawkes & Friends”. I'll have some camp Alumni out like A Day Without Love and Coffee With Lions, alongside my friends Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman and a slew of others.

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

I feel like when it comes to the full band of Black Guy Fawkes & The Co-Conspirators, three major highlights have been being featured on the podcast Welcome to Nightvale, being at Camp Punksylvania for the first time (seeing people actively sing along blew us away), and opening up for Koffin Kats.
For me most memorable has been being able to open up for Frank Turner at Lost Evenings, Violent Femmes (holy fuck), Dave Hause, and recently Laura Jane Grace. Also I got to hang out backstage post show with Hot Water Music and Chuck Ragan rustled my hair. So I think he's my dad now.
Unexpected: Becoming good friends with Linh Le from Bad Cop/Bad Cop was not on my bingo card but she is one of the most fantastic human beings I've ever met. The fact that we got acknowledged online by John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, which I SCREAMED about. I've been becoming friends with people I grew up listening to and its been a full circle moment for me. Most of these bands got me through a lot so the fact that 12 years later I'm sharing drinks and stages with them is unexpected yet heartwarming. Oh and I met Billy Bragg.
The weirdest: I played an after party for Punk Rock Bowling with Codefendants recently in Vegas. If you want the full story, find me before the set at Camp Punksylvania and I'll talk about it.

Black Guy Fawkes put on an awesome set last year at Camp covering Gaslight and bringing up Amy Gabba (your second performance sounded great as well, but I got lost in the woods and didn't get to the fire stage ). What made you want to come back and do it again?   How has it felt being able to watch this thing grow from the inside?  What surprises are in store (please note: if you answer that, they will no longer be surprises to our readers)

I'm coming back this year because I had the time of my life at Camp in 2023. I love what Riot Squad Media brings to the table. I love them to death and I'm just really hype to see this festival grow. As far as surprises, we have a special guest coming up with us this year. You'll just have to wait and find out who.

Speaking of your live sets, what are you most excited to bring to the Camp Punk audience? What do you want the campers to say about your set when they write home from camp this year?

This year's set will actually just be a duo set with me and my guitarist Corey Mackereth. We'll have a few sing alongs more than likely. I want campers to say that just for one moment, they forgot about all of their problems and shared a collective moment with 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?

I don't think there have been any gigs I've turned down unless it's for a MAJOR reason. As far as things to handle differently, I wish I knew when to ask for help when I needed it the most.

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?

That is a difficult question to answer and a question I constantly ask myself, so I'll try to answer the best that I can and at least give my experience.
In some regards I think it's because we're seeing a lot of Black, brown, trans, queer, AAPI and NB and other marginalized faces recently, and I think that's making cis het white dudes feel uncomfortable seeing their space being taken over. And now more than ever, its time for us who are marginalized to start making sure we're surrounding ourselves with those who we can fully trust and vet out the riff raff.
As a black male in punk, I've seen a lot of gatekeeping. I've had folks tell me that I'm not punk enough, call me (for a majority of my career) Darius Rucker, or just write me off for being “too political” or for screaming Black Lives Matter (which, fucking really? When has punk not been political).
When it comes to inclusivity, I will say that I've seen two sides to this. One of these is the performative nature of inclusivity.  At one point in my career, I can say I was used for diversity clout, and what I mean by that is I was tokenized by people who I thought were friends, but in actuality just wanted to show they are progressive and further their career. And during that time in my life, It didn't really feel like home to me.
On the other side, there have been acts, Like Frank Turner, Laura Jane Grace, Violent Femmes, Dave Hause and even Camp Punksylvania that got me on and actually care about my craft and didnt make the focal point my skin color and actually do the work behind the scenes, not just for show and appearance purposes only. And post all of these shows, I can tell that it was a genuine community and not a front.
Being a marginalized act in music is a difficult thing and a vetting process. You have to watch out for those who gatekeep, those who are just lip service, and those who have a hidden agenda.

Many of the Camp Punx artists have not been afraid to get political, and Black Guy Fawkes is certainly no different.  If you had told me a decade ago we'd be looking at a campaign trail made up of a pair of clueless octogenarians set to a backdrop of legal proceedings, foreign wars and record profits  I'd have told you there's no way things could get so bleak…but here we are and it turns out you'd have been underselling the shit-show happening inside the dumpster fire of American government. How is the already absurd presidential race and performative legislation playing into your writing, the live experience and your mental health?

I live with a fear that one day a bomb is just going to drop on me. I've had that fear since 2016. What's going on this current election cycle is an absolute shit show. I'm not going to claim that I have all of the answers, because I don't. I can only do what I can locally, nationally, and globally. So I'll speak out when I can, participate in fundraisers, do my best to raise awareness, push people to vote, and do what I can to keep people involved/informed.

You recently started working on the Fawkes and Friends Podcast, who is your dream guest?  Where do you find the time between touring, writing and occasionally napping to also take on this undertaking?

There are actually three dream guests. So one of my biggest loves in life is the show Steven Universe and I would sell my own kidney to have Rebecca Sugar on to talk about the show, her songwriting style and life in general. I really want John Darnielle on the show because Mountain Goats are insane to me. Lastly, either Frank Iero or Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. I've said before that Frank Turner made me want to be an artist, but MCR made me want to be a musician and was the catalyst for how I got into punk. 

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

Camp Talent Show, Hiking and Scavenger Hunts

Last year when I asked this question, you said Gaslight Anthem's “'59 Sound” and you made it happen… Let's try to manifest again, what song are you performing around the campfire this year?

This year I'm feeling “The Ballad of Me and My Friends” by Frank Turner

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

Oh Jesus Christ. This years line up is fucking insane. I'm gonna say Catbite, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, 7 Seconds, A Day Without Love, Sweet Anne Marie, Codefendants, Matt Pless, The Bronx, The Venomous Pinks, Some Kind of Nightmare, Less Than Jake

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

I love you all.Thank you for being you.