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Happy Campers: A Camp Punksylvania Interview with War On Women

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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 Sue Werner, bassist of War On Women 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 has War On Women been up to since we last spoke ahead of the 2023 Camp Punksylvania? What does War On Women have planned for us beyond Camp Punksylvania?

Hey! Thank you so much for reaching out to us. We had the BEST time when we played in 2023. Coming up, we have the Positive Force DC 40th anniversary reunion show on June 20, right before this year’s camp! SWIZ IS PLAYING and I couldn’t be more stoked. After that, we are going to Europe at the end of July and playing some cool festivals like Punk Rock Holiday (we played it like 10 years ago or something and I still remember it being the BEST day—that part of the world is so beautiful!). We are also playing this festival called Riez Open Air and a couple more, I think. At the end of August, we are going to play a festival in Elora, Ontario, and we had a really, really great time when we played there in December, so I’m very excited to go back and see what that place looks like when it is not covered in snow. Also, we have a new album that is coming out soon! I can’t give you an exact date right now, but TRUST ME, YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE IT.

This will be my 2nd time seeing you perform at Camp Punksylvania. What made you want to come back and perform at Camp again? How has it felt being able to watch this thing grow from the inside?

So my dad’s family is from Scranton and I have spent a lot of time there. When we got asked initially to play the first time, I was super stoked to play because I knew some of my extended family would be excited to come to the show. But I was also quite impressed with the fact that we got asked something like… a year in advance? It seemed to me like the people running the festival were doing it right, and the conversations I had with the organizers while we were there just reinforced that fact. I think the festival has been growing in a very sustainable way and I hope it can continue to do so—it makes me happy.

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?

Oh, for sure it’s SUCH a green flag for us to see a crew that is actively pursuing diversity and inclusion. Especially in the current climate. I really do think that a diverse team, a diverse lineup—I want it to be the norm in festivals like this!

The majority of artists in the punk, ska and hardcore scene have been cis, white, dudes. You break that mold. Do you feel that your gender has ever hindered your path within the scene? Do you feel that you have (or had to) work harder to get your voice heard?

This is a great question and also a really interesting one for me. When I first got started in the DIY scene (New Brunswick, NJ!) in the mid-90s, I was one of a very small number of women that were involved on the “being in bands” side of things. I was pretty ignorant of feminism in general and also ignorant of other movements in DIY/punk/hardcore that were trying to do something that centered women/queer/trans people. I was pretty ignorant in general, to be honest. I just wanted to play guitar and rock! (I play bass in WOW, but during that time I mainly was a guitar player.) I did not think about my gender very much at all at that time, to be honest. I remember playing some show and a guy in the touring band coming up to me after, saying “Wow, you play like a DUDE!” I did not know what that meant, exactly, but I was clear he meant it as a compliment. I think that my time in the extremely dude-centric DIY/punk/hardcore scene of my youth kind of reinforced this sort of internalized misogyny that I am continuing to try to work through. I do really think it’s a different world now as far as punk/hardcore/DIY goes, and I think we are all working to try to build a better scene and I have a lot of hope that we are making progress.

You are unapologetically pro-inclusion and openly confront the marginalized experience in America on the record. If you had told me a decade ago we’d be looking at a 34-count felon in the Oval Office, a DOJ kidnapping legal residents to send them to concentration camps, a pro-measles Secretary of Health & Human Services and National Security texting war plans with the same flippancy our 11-year-old daughter shows with her classmates, I’d have told you there’s no way things could get so bleak… but here we are and it turns out you’d have been underselling the shitshow happening inside the dumpster fire of American government. How is this performative legislation and political malfeasance playing into your songwriting and your mental health?

I’m going to be honest—I’ve been struggling a lot with my mental health for the last few months. I know a lot of other people are too. It’s hard to know what to do. One of the things I struggle with is hypervigilance, which is the feeling where I have to be on high alert at all times about literally everything. It’s exhausting. As if by knowing all the minutiae of what Elon Musk or whatever is doing I can somehow control it? Fix it? Protect myself and my loved ones? Their strategy of “flooding the zone” is working on me extremely well, I’m sorry to admit. Luckily, I have a good therapist who is working with me on this, but there are some days where I do get sucked down the despair tunnel. One of the things that has been really good though, actually, is touring/playing shows! Having a concrete, immediate goal to work towards—”let’s put on a show”—and having physical activity being part of it—”let’s carry heavy amps!”—is so SO awesome. And shows and ESPECIALLY festivals are a large group of people working towards a common goal, a joyful, subversive goal. It’s wonderful to feel a part of something and I’m so glad I get to do that sometimes.

In this age of social media, members of the Q-Tang Klan have been emboldened to aggressively spew their ignorance with arrogance and anonymity, spreading misinformation at every turn. Where would you direct our readers to stay informed without having to wade through the bullshit from the traitors shouting from their bully pulpits?

I have not heard “Q-Tang Klan” before! I am assuming you mean Q-Anon? Great question though. Some of my daily reads are:
Garbage Day (https://www.garbageday.email) — stuff about internet culture
Read Max (https://maxread.substack.com/) — takes on news and stuff but also good music and book recommendations
Metafilter (https://metafilter.com) — forum I’ve been a member of since 2004, I’m capnsue on there, come say hi, it’s the first website I open every day
Pluralistic (https://pluralistic.net/) — Cory Doctorow’s website, lots of good insight from the current “moment” from the point of view of an OG internet person who is sad about what the internet has turned into
Heather Cox Richardson (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/about) — a historian trying to write about the present moment and put it in context
(I am sorry this probably isn’t the best list—every time someone asks me for recommendations I lose my entire memory.)
I am also really trying to read more books, specifically fiction. I just started the Chet and Bernie mysteries series (detective fiction told from the point of view of the detective’s dog) and I’m really digging it so far.
Since you mentioned Q-Anon, I also have been liking the TrueAnon, Q-Anon Anonymous and TrashFuture podcasts. I feel like I sort of need to get my news from… comedy podcasts… more often than I would like.

In a world where students are being detained for exercising their First Amendment rights in a student newspaper, it’s not far-fetched to assume artists could find themselves under fire for their lyrics. With the current political climate, are you finding it more challenging or invigorating to approach the causes you support musically? How do you think musicians can or should traverse such rocky ground right now? What steps, if any, do you take to keep your personal life separated from your musical career? Have you found yourself in any uncomfortable situations with listeners who wanted to use their “trust me, bro” sources to minimize your music and lyrics?

I’m not going to lie—I do get afraid about this stuff. But also, thinking pragmatically, I personally am at lower risk of actual retribution from the current admin than members of more marginalized groups. And that means I need to speak up and stand up when I can because, at the moment, I probably am more protected than a lot of other people. I don’t think I’m personally a very brave person, but it’s PAST time to meet the moment here and I want to try my best. So many musicians and artists I admire have done that in even scarier situations and I hope I will have the guts when the time comes.

What do you want the campers to say about your set (counselors, performances and activities) when they write home from camp this year?

I want them to say “Man, that bass player was GOING FOR IT and had nice hair and also great dance moves!” Haha. Seriously, I think one of the cool things about our band is that… people who have not heard us or seen us before may have an idea of what we will be like, and maybe that idea might not be totally positive. One of my favorite things about playing in WOW is seeing people get won over in real time. I want people to get won over. I want to create new allies.

One of the coolest moments from Camp last year was the Career Mode set when Black Guy Fawkes and others joined the band to perform a few pop-punk and emo karaoke covers. Career Mode is returning this year—what songs could they perform to get members of WOW back on their stage to grab their mics?

Probably something by Michael McDonald or Kenny Loggins or Nik Kershaw. (You would get waaaay different answers if you asked another member of WOW, haha.) I think Jenarchy would grab the mic for ANY emo or pop-punk song. OK, for real though… Avail? Lifetime? Gin Blossoms? “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and Philip Bailey? (I do not speak for the band, just how my music taste is right this second.)

Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see this year?

Makewar! Cancer Bats! Teenage Halloween! Spaced! Single Mothers! I just am stoked to see everyone, TBH, but I am especially stoked to see my homies.

Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?

My folks/extended family might be at the show, so if you see them, give them a high five. And if you see me, please give ME a high five! I can’t wait to hang!