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 Jordy Days, vocalist of New Hampshire’s Hell Beach, 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 Hell Beach; your history, your mission, your sound? What does Hell Beach have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?
Thank you for having us! Hell Beach is made up of five life-long punks. We have all been in bands since we were kids and this is just the current shape it has taken. Our mission is to keep writing music we love, traveling, and playing great shows like this one! We will also be at Fest this year in Gainesville Florida. We have a lot of shows in different parts of the country between now and then so peep our socials to stay up to date.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania, what does the festival circuit mean to artists like yourselves?
Its always special seeing a friends band from the boston area playing somewhere like Montreal or Gainesville and looking around the room to see its filled with people from our local scene. I don’t know if every scene has that, so we feel super lucky.
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?
During the pandemic I knew I wanted to start a new band. At that time I was listening to Bashful from Richmond a ton, so they are a huge influence on Hell Beach. White Reaper, Bad Nerves, and Wyldlife are other major direct influences on our sound. Also, bands like The Jam, Dead Boys, and even early AC/DC.
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?
We try to bring a ton of energy to the stage. Minimum talk, maximum rock. We wanna get the campers fired up!
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?
In a previous band, we got booked at a really cool show. It was the biggest show we had ever played in our lives at that point. We all got too drunk and high and we just were not our best. I will never do that again haha. Huge wasted opportunity.
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?
I can really only speak to our local scene in boston and southern NH. We have always felt embraced by the bands in our area even if we sound a little different. We have also been very involved with the ska world because of our connection with Bad Time Records and just a ton of friends in ska bands. Ska fans are the coolest and will dance their ass off for your poppy punk rock band. I think that rocks! Thank you ska.
If a scene is not accepting towards you for any reason, build something else. Link up with people and bands who want to support each other. I guarantee you will find them.
I’ve been fairly obsessed with the Beachworld record since last Summer. Tell me a little bit about the album? What was going on at the time that helped kickstart the songwriting process?
Thank you so much! We started writing for Beachworld before our previous EP was even out. I think we were feeling a lot of momentum at the time. Once we talked to Mike at Uncle Style Records we knew we wanted to do things right with the record since it would be a proper release and pressed to vinyl.
Something I have not talked about a ton is the concepts of beachworld that started to become apparent as it came together. A lot of the lyrics talk about escaping in one way or another. Daydreaming, dissociation, or some other type of temporary escape from real life. This gives “beachworld” as a title a little more meaning. It’s a place you go, mentally.
If Punksylvania were a real camp, what activities are each of you leading?
- Midnight Summer Solstice ritual on the beach
- “How to sell your soul to The Devil” workshop.
- Late night boogie board jamboree
- “How to un-fuck yourself” seminar
Campfire singalongs… What song are you performing around the campfire this year?
Maybe a little “Mischief Brew” or “Nature Trail to Hell” by Weird Al.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?
D4, Scowl, TBOTW, Thick, Larry Arms, Jer, and AAA. There are so many sick bands though!
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Hell Beach may be coming to your town very soon! Please give us a follow on Instagram at hellbeachband. We have a short tour in July that goes to Philly, New York, DC, and Asbury park with our friends Megan From Work.
We also have a few un-announced tours so please keep an eye out!
We are currently writing our second record and really excited to share it with the Hellions.
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/