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. Cuzzy and Mat of Buffalo’s Cardboard Homestead 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 can you tell our readers about Cardboard Homestead?
Cuzzy: To me, our mission is about building a community, finding our people, and helping others to do the same through a shared passion for music.
Mat: also we’re a really good shenanigans band. If y’all haven’t found out yet please find us after any set we ever play.
Your sound, your history, your mission? What does the festival circuit mean to bands like Cardboard Homestead?
Cuzzy: The festival circuit is pretty much the only thing that gives me a chance to leave town, and makes me feel like I have an outlet to pursue our mission.
Mat: It’s nice to feel like a real band on these things. I demanded a basket of assorted ham last year and still haven’t received it yet though.
Once again, Mat’s pulling double duty at Camp with both Cardboard Homestead and Working Class Stiffs, not to mention volunteering to ensure the show goes off without a hitch. What made you want to come back and keep doing it all? How has it felt being able to watch this thing grow from the inside?
Cuzzy: Mat is a madman. Camp is the biggest gathering of all our friends from across the country, and easily the most exciting thing I get to be a part of and that definitely keeps me coming back. Watching it grow has been really inspirational, to say the least, and I am incredibly honored to have been a part of it the last couple years.
What album or band or significant singles made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do” Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst? On the flipside to that one… Who are some non-Camp bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should?
Cuzzy: I was in my early teens listening to music and feeling so moved by the tunes and had a realization that I could apply myself to learning music and eventually give that feeling to others; the specific catalyst is when I brought it up to my parents and they loved the idea, most parents don’t embrace their kid wanting to start drumming and I am incredibly blessed to have had that support. As far as non-Camp bands, I gotta give it up to the Buffalo hardcore scene; Spaced, Selfish Act, Inhaler, Wasted Space, Pale Hell, Kill Uncle, so many others. Fans of hardcore should definitely expect to be hearing a lot of noise coming out of that scene.
Mat: Buffalo has some really talented musicians and if you haven’t been to a show out here I suggest you find a reason to. The music and art scene here is so underrated.
What have been some of the most memorable moments or experiences with the band so far? What’s been the most unexpected? The weirdest?
Cuzzy: I like recalling the time I almost got us flattened by a trolley cart the first time I drove in Philly, I’d say that was pretty unexpected.
Mat: Playing the worst show ever in Poughkeepsie and then being swindled into driving to New Jersey for a place to crash with Public Serpents. But, turns out a couple of those guys ended up being some pretty good friends so happy accident I guess. Shout out Fat Chance.
Regarding 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?
Cuzzy: I think one of the biggest strengths in our live sets is our singers’ unique voices. I always like when the band gets props on that.
Mat: I joined this band well after they were already going and I always thought they were a captivating and honest live show. Ian and Josiah have a great thing going with their vocals and the ability to make everyone really feel everything they’re saying. It’s great to watch and great to be a part of now.
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?
Cuzzy: In my life, I would say my biggest regret is sticking with my education in drumming when I was a kid. When I stopped I felt confident in where I was headed and my ability to train myself, but looking back now I definitely ponder where I could have gone if I stayed in the academic circuit. I also wish I could have gone on more tours before we all got old and tired and started careers. Not to say there isn’t time left for both of things, but those are the regrets that spring to my mind.
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?
Cuzzy: I think it’s part of in-group/out-group mentality; to me the scene is like a sanctuary for people that found themselves in the out-group of mainstream society. I imagine people feel a way about maintaining the solace and integrity of the music scene and want to avoid it becoming a more commercialized affair. People feel really strongly about their musical identities, especially punks, in my experience.
Mat: Everyone thinks they invented being cool. Them snobs can shove it. Gatekeeping destroys scenes.
I don’t think its fair to call it a revival because the folk-punk scene is something that’s really ever gone away, but there is a massive rejuvenation of the scene right now. What is going on out there that has gotten so many people back on their boards to ride this latest wave?
Cuzzy: I think the style is becoming more and more relevant and relatable in our society. Also, when Days n Daze released Show Me the Blueprint, through Fat Wreck, I felt like that was a huge moment for getting eyes on the style.
Mat: I dunno I’m just here to play ska bass in the background.
If Punksylvania were a real camp, what activities are each of you leading?
Cuzzy: I’d lead the drum circle. Mat would be the morning yoga director.
If there are any post-show jam sessions, what song would you like to perform around the campfire this year?
Cuzzy: Josiah and I usually lay down some washboard and banjo jams around campfires, his cover of “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” is one of my favorites that we do.
Mat: Those dudes are always jamming. There’s almost a 100% chance you will just see Josiah emerge from the woods playing the banjo and singing to himself.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?
Cuzzy: Escape from the Zoo, The Chemical Imbalance, Working Class Stiffs and Big D and the Kids’ Table are the ones I’ve been looking forward to the most.
Mat: I’m looking forward to seeing a band I never heard of and instantly needing to buy their merch. Happens every year.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Cuzzy: Not for me! Really appreciate you reaching out. I’ve never interviewed before but this was fun and thought provoking.
Mat: I promised I wouldn’t mention Ian by name but I did.
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/
