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. Philly hardcore four-piece SOJI 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!
What should our readers know about Soji; your mission, your sound?
(Jessa Jordan, vocals;She/they/he): We wanna uplift folks and inspire community to deepen. Our sound is as much a battle cry as it is the sound of a high five or your secret handshake.
(Abbey Agpaoa, bass;she/they): We’re here, we’re queer
(Ade, drums;she/they): SOJI is a project I started with our guitarist/my partner Gary after leaving a past music project that left me empty. I also managed and played drums in that band and after a while it kind of stalled out. I felt like I wasn’t making enough progress as a musician and the people I worked with were on a totally different page, I guess you can listen to our song “Diet Liberals” for more on that haha. But I wanted to make music with like minded people who not only talk the talk but walk the walk. Who’s beliefs are not conditional and always look for ways to include and not exclude. I wanted to create a space where we can be honest about who we are and what we go through and speak on that honestly. I asked my long time friends Jessa (vocals) and Maya (ex-bassist) to join and it was full speed from then on. Maya left to focus on her personal project so we got Abbey on bass recently who’s been crushing it. We wanted to make sure we keep the band as brown as possible because there are so few of us in these spaces, especially black and brown femmes. That representation means a lot to us.
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?
(Jessa): My catalyst for wanting to seriously pursue joining a band was absolutely Hayley Williams / Paramore’s All We Know Is Falling. I still return to that album for inspiration lyrically and take so many cues for my stage presence from Hayley’s energetic delivery. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t also acknowledge Tina Bell from BamBam as another huge inspiration. Non-camp bands y’all should know include: Foul Pride, Lake Lenier, Pearl, Indomitable, The Angies, and UgLi
(Abbey): Ever since I experienced a mosh pit for the first time when I was 13 y/o I’ve known I wanted to be in a band – it was a Bouncing Souls show and World/Inferno Friendship Society opened; my older brother took me to that show. Something about the visceral experience of loud angry music, flying elbows to the nose, and being covered in other people’s sweat that made me want to make music that would have a pit.
(Gary Crit, guitar;he/him): Two records that really hit me like that… Kill Your Idols – No Gimmicks Need &
Municipal Waste – Waste Em All. Ya’ll need to check out Constituents from Baltimore… They shred.
(Ade):
For bands/artist that made me go “YES! THAT! I WANT IT!”, I mean Missy Elliot, Kelis, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest, Aaliyah. My childhood was early-mid90s in Laurel, Maryland & DC. So I also was into a lot of go-go music, dancehall, house music. As I got older, I’d say catalysts to start a band were Thursday, the people I’m privileged to call buds in Mannequin Pussy, Grace Vonderkuhn, Veruca Salt, Interpol, Queens of the Stone Age, Slutever, Habibi, Japandroid, Network of Terror (a southern grindcore band from Greenville, North Carolina), Future Islands, The Death Set
Non-Camp bands on my radar are ShyGodwin, UgLi, Lake Lanier, Winter Wolf, and Stress Positions
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to artists like yourselves?
(Jessa): This is our first year even being on a festival of this scale and it’s absolutely insane! We’re so honored and excited and a little anxious! But truly, cannot wait to see some old pals and make some new ones. Festivals are great because it gives us a chance to push ourselves and show up and show the fuck out even more than a usual show and Camp Punx has a legendary lineup this year so it means we get to take part in playing along literal living icons which is equal parts overwhelming and inspiring.
(Abbey): I’m stoked we’re playing Camp Punk – I think it’ll be the biggest show we’ve played and I hope we can continue playing more shows like it. Fests are a great way to reach folks who would’ve never found us otherwise.
(Gary): Generally stoked to play on a stacked roster. To play on a cool home state festival
(Ade): This is huge for us! When we applied we hadn’t even been a band for that long so it was definitely a “f*ck it, let’s do it” vibe which I think is a thread running through a lot of things we do haha. Shamelessly trying things and if it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. We really are very excited because we get to be on a line up with so many incredible people, smaller bands like us and huge acts like the Bronx. We love meeting folks and connecting as well because building community is a huge thing for us. Where can we help others get in where they might have been having issues, who do we know that can open that door, etc. Playing this festival also gets as many eyeballs on us as possible which opens those doors for us to keep doing what we love to do.
What does Soji have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?
(Jessa): We’ve got so many visual and aural treats in the works. Keep your eyes and ears locked on our IG @soji_band. We’re so excited to show more personality and really have fun with our merch and socials. But the shows themselves we have for the rest of the year are unreal! We’ve been extremely fortunate to get asked to do the HIRS Collective show on August 2nd, a multi-day run with MDC and Urban Waste beginning October 10th in Washington DC, and play with hometown heroes BEEF along with Pucker Up and another fun show with our homies in Winterwolf later this fall. It’s SOJI Season!
(Abbey): I’m sure my band mates have covered this in their answers – you can look at what we’ve got coming up on Instagram @soji_band. We got a lot coming up!
(Gary): We’ll be supporting some top tier bands stoppin’ through Philly in August and September. October 10-13 We’ll be hitting the road with MDC & Urban Waste. We’ll also be in the studio this summer to record a few new tracks for our split with NYC’s Winter Wolf set to drop in early December.
(Ade): So many things! We’re going on a mini run with M.D.C (Millions of Dead Cops), and Urban Waste in October, releasing a split with Winter Wolf in the winter, opening up for Sunrot and Ragan in August, and going back into the studio among a million other things. Also at some point, releasing a music video, and a tour down to South Carolina next year.
What have been some of the most memorable moments or experiences with the band so far? What’s been the most unexpected? The weirdest?
(Jessa): Most memorable was definitely playing in a punk house living room in Baltimore and seeing kids literally flying across from the kitchen to the living room. Nowhere goes harder than Baltimore! The most unexpected has been all the reception we’ve gotten so far. Everywhere we go, whenever we introduce ourselves, people are so, so excited to see us play because they’ve been hearing about us and that just warms my soul! The weirdest was definitely some scuzzball photographer commenting under his breath about wanting to shoot me with my tits out when I was trying to get cool before he shot a group photo right after we got off stage or when right after we played “Scumlordz”, which condemns ALL landlords, someone approached us to defend himself as a landlord stating its great income. Not all men but most men really need to be more uncomfortable if not full on terrified of sharing their unwarranted opinions more often.
(Abbey): I think the weirdest and most unexpected experience with Soji was when me, Jessa, and Ade helped care for a band member of another band who passed out from heat exhaustion during their performance. We were watching another band play at a show and the lead singer just randomly started vomiting and passed out on stage. And as soon as we saw it we just jumped into action, I called 911, and Ade and Jessa helped give her shade and water – the awesome part of the story is that the woman who passed out is okay and also its awesome to know I have bandmates who care a lot and can act quickly under pressure 🙂
(Gary): There was that house show in Baltimore with a pit that basically encompassed the entire first floor… Kitchen spin kicks and living room mosh pits ya know.
(Ade): We recently played a show at Fringe Bar in Philadelphia which is known for hosting the Fringe Art show (a week full of various experimental art performances). The building has a dining area in the front and it felt like the most random combination. Like we were interrupting a mom enjoying her glass of wine after a day of sailing on her boat. Then here come a bunch of leftist punks about to scream “f*ck landlords and your yt liberalism” in your face with blast beats hahaha. But we were the ones who got our stereotypes blasted because they loved it! The moms were upfront dancing and there was a rowing team from Florida who were our biggest fans that night screaming like this was the 50th time they’d seen us. It was bizarre in the best way possible.
Regarding live shows, 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?
(Jessa): That they felt seen and heard. We make music for queer and trans punks; disabled punks; Black, Indigenous and immigrant punks; fat punks; undocumented punks and working class punks because those are our lived experiences. Our anger and frustration is a reckoning but so is our joy.
(Abbey): I want to show the world that POC femmes can rip. We have a hard sound and a clear political voice that I hope resonates with the audience.
(Ade): I want people to walk away thinking “I can do that too!”. We always want folks to have a blast and know they can start their own project and scream. Half the time I look like a bubblegum princess and when I sit behind the kit and bash the hell out of the drums I can see folks’ faces change in the “I was not expecting that” vibe. Upend stereotypes of what folks are supposed to look like and what kind of music we should play and what we should be singing/screaming about. I want folks to dance and feel seen.
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?
(Jessa): For me, I regret not being consistent with a vocal practice routine. My voice fluctuates and is super sensitive because I’m a self-trained vocalist so as I work on understanding breath control and my techniques to maximize my performances, its been a lot of painful trial and error.
(Abbey): I wish I had started being in a band earlier. Even though I always knew I wanted to play punk and went to punk shows as a kid, Soji is still the first serious band that I’ve been in. The bands around me were super white and male dominated and at the time I didn’t have the confidence to push aside the casual and overt misogyny. If I were to give my younger self advice I’d tell me, “you’re just as good at music as them. Putting yourself out there and trying isn’t cringe, it’s punk rock.”
(Gary): More likely advice I took. Ha.
(Ade): I was told to leave my first band years and years ago and wish I did. Never feel like you owe folks something because they refuse to take ownership of their actions and things they scream they want to do and let you down by not doing it. Just because you don’t want to start over doesn’t mean you should stay in a toxic environment. Surround yourself with people who don’t say you’re too much, that don’t make you check your blackness/queerness/trans self at the door. You can talk about your pain and your daily struggles with people who will not tell you it bums them out. Write about it, scream about it, swoon about it. You are more than enough and never let anyone make you feel small. I wish I started this project sooner but I also know that I’m grateful for what I learned along the way and can now use them in this space
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?
(Jessa): There’s a desire to protect your community once you’ve nurtured it to a cozy amount. That totally makes sense but it’s also challenging because once you begin excluding, you begin diminishing. The scene, the community, can’t grow and evolve in an echo chamber of the same voices and ideas and opinions. I think people need to remember that we have tools and rules for engaging in community and that there are ways to hold someone accountable when need be. There have been a lot of folks who skate under the radar who should’ve been ousted from the community awhile ago because no one wants to enforce consequences for bad actions and that feels like a worse problem to me. It’s why you also start to see splintered communities because people don’t feel safe or respected and immediately say, well fuck it, we’ll make our own. But the reality is we should find a way to coexist without division. We owe it to future punks.
(Abbey): Well, I haven’t always felt that punk was inclusive. But what I will say is that I’ve always loved the ethos of punk – going against the grain to be loud about injustice. I think it’s important to have space and a healthy outlet to feel and express anger, especially for folks in various affinity groups.
(Ade): The scene can sometimes forget, through trying to make sure we honor the space for safety, love, and understanding, that it can be pushed to where we can become what we are trying to avoid. It’s a very fine line and I think checking in on each other and having those continuous hard conversations are the best way to keep us all in check. That’s part of building a community, making sure that even though those talks are hard, they are honest and come from a place of understanding.
This could be my own confirmation bias thanks to following a lot of the Camp Punksylvania acts for the last year or two, but the whole Northeast PA scene seems to really be thriving right now. What’s going on over there that is nurturing so many killer acts?
(Jessa): I think its both a response to frustration with a lot of the absolute dogshit sociopolitical climate we’re experiencing and the fact that there are a lot of venues available to play in around here. There’s a real hunger for good live music, too so its just the perfect breeding ground.
(Abbey): I really couldn’t tell you as a Southeast PA (Philly) person – But I love to see it!
(Gary): I spent quite a few years living in NEPA and what I can say is NEPA punks know how to put in work. That’s just how it is… Got to make it happen or it won’t. It’s that do or die DIY that is really inherent to the scene there.
(Ade): Things are definitely on fire here! I mean I feel like it’s been brewing for a long time and we have finally been getting the attention from all the hard work folks have been putting in. It also says come through and play these places! The arts here have always flown under the radar and it’s a shame. I just think we’re really getting our moment here.
If Punksylvania were a real camp, what activities are each of you leading?
(Jessa): I’d lead a kayaking or horseback riding session. Or DJing at a bonfire dance party.
(Abbey): Mosh pit 101: moves and etiquette. I’ll teach the kiddies to skank and stage dive, hold up phones and shoes in the air when they’re lost, pick up your homies when they fall – the whole nine yards haha
(Gary): Blunt Rolling.
(Ade): I would be leading some art class where you paint/draw something inspired by the music you are listening to. Or a nap class where we just nap and write in our dream journal
Let’s pretend there’s some post show jam sessions… what song are you playing at the Campfire sing-a-long?
(Jessa): “Saturday” – FallOut Boy because it’s got such a good gang vocals chorus for an a capella or acoustic sing-a-long.
(Abbey): Hmm probably something off Pixies’ Doolittle? There’s a lot of sing a long bangers on there.
(Gary): “For an Old Kentucky Anarchist” (The Orphans)
(Ade): I’m the one clapping because I don’t sing. Maybe have a few marshmallows in my mouth
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see?
(Jessa): BEEF, Black Guy Fawkes, MVLL Crimes, Amora, and No Complyance, Less Than Jake
(Abbey): Big D and the Kids Table – I’ve never seen them and I was huge into ska in the day.
(Gary): DOA for sure has been a long time must see for me. Also real stoked on Bad Cop / Bad Cop & The Karens.
(Ade): MVLL Crimes, Catbite ( also from Philly but I have yet to catch a show!), The Bronx, and Bad Cop Bad Cop
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
(Jessa): Free Palestine. Free Congo. Free Sudan. Free Haiti. Return occupied land to all Indigenous People. FUCK LANDLORDS. FUCK PIGS. FUCK THE SCOTUS.
(Abbey): Nah – ya did great 😊
(Ade): We’re just really excited and honored to play this fest and want this to be a time we can collectively rage in the pit (respectfully)
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/
