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 Shi Heng Shi of New York trio Scarboro 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 Scarboro; your history, your mission, your sound?
Thank you for having us! Scarboro has existed since 2012, but we mark 2014 as the true “beginning” when Jack joined the band. We put out our first LP Here Comes the Hangover via WTF Records in 2017, and followed it up with Wolves on the Radio EP the following year. Shi put the band on what was intended to be a temporary pause in 2019 when he ran for Congress in New York as a leftist, anti-war candidate. And then COVID happened, and Shi stayed focused on political organizing and advocacy for a few years. In 2023 Jack and Shi dusted off their gear, and met Radhika, who took her throne behind the kit, and took our sound to new heights.
Our mission is clear to us: spread the Scarboro gospel to stay alive. We went through some dark times as individuals while we were on hiatus, and Scarboro keeps us alive. You can hear the themes of fighting the desire to not exist on every record – of fighting for yourself. We’ve most recently channeled that energy into a new record that’s currently in post-production. We’re proud of what we created and challenged ourselves to create something that is authentic to us but accessible to anyone.
The world is getting increasingly superficial, “social” media has exacerbated that. Every moment seems like a performance. We counter that by focusing on what’s real, warts and all, and being vulnerable in putting that out to the world. As for our sound, I joke that it’s 90s West-Coast punk meets 80s New York Hardcore but with a fresh spin. But honestly, it’s fast, loud, and sincere punk rock at its heart.
What does Scarboro have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?
Literally the day after Camp wraps we’re opening for Get Dead (who are playing Camp on Saturday) at The Woodshop in Brooklyn. We also have a few unannounced shows for the summer, and then primarily working on finalizing the odds and ends of the new record that we’re super eager to get into people’s ears and then prepping touring to support the record.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania, what does the festival circuit mean to artists like yourselves?
We’re kicking off our summer with Punk Island here in NYC before our first ever Camp Punksylvania and for a scene that relies on community you can’t beat that. As much as you want to go to every local show or see every headliner when they come to town, life gets in the way. Festivals, and Punksylvania in particular, create an awesome environment where you’re able to play alongside huge bands, but then get to just be a fan and hang with new people and really connect with folks, and play for new people in a way traditional touring doesn’t allow.
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?
Shi: I loved that post because I’m personally fucking sick and tired of seeing white people preach to other white people about “No Racism! No Sexism! No Homphobia! In our scene”, and you go to the show and it’s a fucking Cracker Barrel. Literally.
So yeah, I’m stoked to see that the Camp folks have been really intentional about living our values and not just clout chasing it. I hope marginalized folks that avoid these things for aforementioned reasons, turn out and have a fucking great and safe time.
The majority of artists in the punk, ska and hardcore scene have been CIS, white, dudes. You break that mold. Do you feel that has ever hindered your path within the scene? Do you feel that you have (or had to) work harder to get your voice heard?
Shi: We’re a band that’s two-thirds queer, two-thirds POC. We’ve been fortunate in our experience, though I know it’s not everyone’s, in the New York City punk and hardcore scenes to have always felt welcomed.
That said, without naming names, there’s a festival we applied to year after year at different stages of our career and not so much as a “thanks but no thanks”. You go to this festival’s site and scroll the lineup and maybe you get half-way through the pics before you see any melanin and never a POC fronted band of any gender expression.
Maybe there is a legitimate reason why despite the existence of so many bands that are POC/Queer, we don’t see them landing even small stage slots. But I do want to draw attention to something that shows a lack of genuine effort to build diverse festival experiences for bands and audiences alike. That’s the thing about the insidiousness of systemic racism – it doesn’t always manifest in intentional cruelty/discrimination, it can be as innocuous as a booker simply giving into bias, or not having a diverse booking team in the first place that will always gravitate to what they know and reflects their experiences/preference.
Like yes, having an all white punk band rail against racism from a stage is great, but what good is it if there’s no pathway for bands of color or other marginalized communities to be the ones on that stage advocating for themselves? So to end this rant on a high note, I got nothing but props for the team at Camp Punk for leading by example and putting in the effort to create an experience that lives up to our aspirations as a scene.
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?
In comparison to other scenes, yes, in practice? It’s a mixed-bag lol. At its core punk and its subgenres have primarily been a home of the outcasts of mainstream capitalist society, so I think that history is why the scene has been more welcoming and inclusive than other genres/communities.
As for the gatekeeping, it depends on who’s doing the gatekeeping, but I do understand when marginalized communities form up their own scenes and maybe shut the door behind themselves. I think when you’ve been told punk is for everyone but you never get to see yourself on the stage, you still have that DIY ethos that says well I’m gonna make a scene where my people feel not only welcome, but not tokenized either.
Outside of that though, gatekeeping is kinda whack. I have faith in my kids’ generation that seems to be genreless and more accepting all around. One minute I can hear Kendrick blasting from one of their rooms followed by Home Is Where and they’re eager to share obscure finds openly and I think that’s pretty rad.
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?
Jack: Not taking better care of myself. It’s not dumb to do vocal warm ups and it’s okay to wait and have a beer after your set. I got too wrapped up in the party aspect of being in a band early on, and it eventually caught up to me. Take care of yourself campers, partying is hard work. And you should treat it as such.
Shi: Taking things for granted earlier in our career. Between the pandemic and the current state of the world, we no longer have the luxury to expect we’ll be able to do this as long as we want and wherever we want. That’s why I’m so excited for Camp and just want to absorb every second of it on and off the stage.
Regarding live sets, what are you most excited to bring to the Camp Punkaudience? What do you want the campers to say about your set when they write home from camp this year?
Shi: I’m most excited to play our new stuff delivered in the old fast and energetic way. I want campers to say “Holy shit, this weekend just started. How are we gonna make it to Sunday?!”
If Punksylvania were a real camp, what activities are each of you leading?
Shi: Bonfire making, believe it or not I used to be a Boy Scout once and I love teaching people how to start fires.
What song are you performing around the campfire this year?
Jack: We’re still procrastinating on that thought
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?
Shi: In no particular order: Scowl, Get Dead, The Vandals, A.A.A., Escape from the Zoo. And I’m stoked for the NYC homies across the board so def catching them all, it’s been cool seeing our peers over the years have their moments and go on to big things and I can’t wait to celebrate them from the pit.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Shi: I just want to thank Camp Punk for having us and express gratitude for being able to be part of this scene writ large. We’ve never been more locked-in, we’re amped for the new record and we’re eager to earn new fans, so if you’re at Camp Friday swing by and party with us! https://lnkfi.re/scarboropunx
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/