Grab your s’mores, your bug spray and pack your bags as Riot Squad Media is about to take over Northeast Pennsylvania with Camp Punksylvania! The 3-day festival with multiple stages and amazing national and local acts like The Suicide Machines, War On Women and A Wilhelm Scream, will take place from 1 September until 3 September, tickets are available here. Kelly and Luis, the legendary married punks known as The Dollyrots, joined TGEFM to discuss their upcoming appearance at Camp Punksylvania for the latest installment of our Camp-centric Roll Of The Dice interview series. Check it out below and I’ll see you at the campfire!
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists such as The Dollyrots?
Kelly Ogden: When we say “yes” to a Festival it’s usually because either we believe in the cause, or we know we’ll get to see friends. The punk rock community really isn’t that big, so chances are if you’re playing a festival that’s part of the scene it’ll turn into a kind of family reunion. Just gives you a chance to play with bands you’ve run into at club shows over the years, play catchup, and get to see each other’s current sets.
Luis Cabezas: And if it’s a good enough festival to fly out for, it’s easy to tie in some shows in the region and hit up some cities within a day’s drive.
What album or band made you go “Yeah, this is what I want to do” Not just an influence but who or what was the catalyst?
L: For us, it was The Donnas‘ self-titled first album. The one that sounds like a demo all the way through. Because, even though we grew up listening to punk rock, starting with the basics like Ramones, that era seemed removed to a couple of teenagers coming of age in the late 90’s. So when we heard this album, that was so raw and melodic, that channeled that Ramones-like energy and simplicity, but conversely was current and sung by girls, it made us think “wow we can do that too, even though we’ve never been in a band before.”
K: It was truly like, if they can do this, so can we. We know four chords too.
Following their live performances and the release of “The Chipmunk Song” what’s next for The Dollytots?
K: We just finished up 3 legs of the “Year of the Bunny Tour”, the most recent being the West Coast. We fly out to Camp Punksylvania and a short series of dates in the Northeast at the end of August, then doing a couple more mini-legs on the U.S. East Coast before the end of the year. The new album Night Owls comes out October 13th through Little Steven‘s Wicked Cool Records, so we’ll be in New York City for that. Album release party time.
L: “The Chipmunk Song” was a fun diversion for a fan who asked us to do a cover of a campy song from the original “Chipmunks” 80’s movie; it turned out really good! Not an official release, but it was something out of left field that was cool to see out there in blogs and under the radar. We have a home studio, so sometimes we’ll do cover or novelty songs just for fun, sometimes for legit compilations. It’s kind of a bonus of learning to make music on our own after all this time; the latitude to cut a track without the need of renting out a studio space or hiring extra personnel. Just us, our instruments, some mics, pre-amps, and the ability to mix our own stuff.
You’ve been in this scene for a while, 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?
K: We don’t live with regret; it’ll eat you up in the same way letting a bad review or a bad show get to you. Over time all the little mistakes kind of fade into the background. It just isn’t a part of our belief system, if anything the mistakes are part of the story and make you better the next time you encounter a similar situation. Just do your best at every turn and move on. That may sound like a bullshit answer, but it’s truly our philosophy.
What pieces of advice do you have for the up and coming acts performing at Camp Punksylvania?
L: We’d say to keep playing shows, play as many shows as you can because to some extent you’ve gotta exploit the 10,000 hour rule. And make an effort to meet your fans. Whether that means hanging out at the merch table after the show, saying hi if you see them in line outside the venue before doors, wherever the opportunity arises. Because that’s how you make lifelong fans, and it’s the lifelong fans that keep you going when you need it most.
Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in. What activities would the members of The Dollyrots be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp?
L: We’re really good at making campfires and can ride horses, so maybe the “setting stuff on fire and riding off into the sunset” part of the camp?
If you were to create a punk sleepaway camp, who are you assigning as counselors?
K: It would be our pals Bowling For Soup. They’re Texas boys, so they’re good at all that outdoor stuff. We’ve seen Jaret catch a snake in real life!
End of the season Campfire; What song are you performing?
K: Obviously, it’s our song “Because I’m Awesome” acoustic-style. It’s our show closer.
L: We’ll bring tambourines or something so it’ll be a real kumbaya moment.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
L: Our tourmates Tsunami Bomb for sure. We haven’t seen them play since the final Warped Tour a few years ago and Camp Punksylvania is one of 4 dates we’re playing with them around the festival. They came up in California, just like us, so the roots of our friendship are pretty deep. Linh from Bad Cop Bad Cop is also playing a set. We’re bummed Bad Cop can’t play but looking forward to seeing her for sure.
K: We’re also stoked about War On Women, but we have another show on their date so unfortunately we’ll miss it.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
K: We have a new album coming out, and the first single “Night Owl” just hit the streaming services. But we also have a pretty extensive back catalog as well; 7 full length studio albums, an acoustic record, a B-sides collection, plus splits and features with other bands like The Queers, Bowling For Soup, and many more.
L: Kelly’s a morning DJ on Sirius/Xm’s Underground Garage so catch her every weekday there too. We run all of our own social media and stuff so feel free to reach out to us there too!
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
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/
