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 Buffalo punks On The Cinder 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 On The Cinder; your history, your mission, your sound? What does On The Cinder have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?
On The Cinder has been doing the DIY punk band deal for a long time. Every step we’ve made has been through our own gumption and the generosity of the friendships we’ve built over the last 12 years. Our house shows in buffalo and our diy label flower house records b have given us a vehicle to develop as a name in the underground punk rock scene and the community we’ve cultivated is our family. And there’s always room for more friends so if you dig our music come be a part of us.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania, what does the festival circuit mean to artists like yourselves?
Festivals are great to make new friends and to network with bands from all over the place. Getting put on a festival means alot to a small band, it shows an organizer believes you deserve I’ve if the limited spots they have available. So festivals can be validating and each has their own culture to explore which adds to the fun.
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?
All three of us have very different answers, but bands like Strike Anywhere, Propagandhi, and A Wilhelm Scream definitely sparked our muse when we got this band started over a decade ago.
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?
Those guys are sweaty haha. We bring a high energy performance and play as big a sound as 3 people in a band can make. On The Cinder’s songs delve into some of the hardest emotions to deal with while trying to be as relatable to an audience as we can. We don’t right feel good songs, we write good feeling songs.
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?
When we started out we toured non stop, our lives were about going on the road and partying. We wouldn’t trade those memories for anything, but maybe being smarter about touring would have been wise. If you’re on a 5 week tour, maybe go past the Mississippi River?
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 see this at all levels of the punk rock scene. When a group of people come together for a common cause, they are often united by a trust that seals the relationship. Whether it’s friendships or relying on something said person brings, their value to the group is accountable. Letting new people in is scary and when you have a base network that is tried and true, why risk losing the identity you’ve established. As a band, we’ve often had to make our own doors with outsiders who found us or we found them.
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?
It’s a sign that this festival is for everyone. So often companies use vague slogans and stolen imagery to express the concept that they are open to diversity, though when you unite diverse people and have a common effort to be involved in that instills pride in what the group is working towards. Actions speak louder than words, they should teach that in seminary school.
If Punksylvania were a real camp, what activities are each of you leading?
Tyler: golf camp
Jason: class on how to take naps during work calls
Mike: TedTalk: Sending emails that no one ever answers
What song are you performing around the campfire this year?
“Wonderwall”
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?
Get Dead, Lawrence Arms, Cancer Bats, War on Women, Houston and the Dirty Rats, D4, and all the Buffalo homies: abruptors, working class Stiffs, cardboard homestead
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
We’re going on tour in the UK this July and have new music on the way. Check out our latest record Heavy-Handed. We’ll see you out there
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/