Roll of the Dice (Camp Punksylvania edition): 3 questions with Condition Oakland

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 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. Tyler Troutman, better known as emo-folk outfit Condition Oakland joined TGEFM to discuss his 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! The dice had a fickle roll, so we only have 3 questions with you today…. Expect some multi-part queries haha! What can you tell us about Condition Oakland, the members, the name, your sound and what you stand for?  What can our readers expect from your live performances and what’s next for Condition Oakland?  Is there anything you want our readers to know about the band?

Thank you for having me! 
My Name is Tyler, Condition Oakland is an emo/folk punk project I started around 2009. A lot of times it’s me playing solo,  however when Condition Oakland does play full band it usually consists of a solid line up of close friends. The name comes from the Jawbreaker song and the street I grew up on, Oakland Avenue. The message is to stand up for equality and stand in solidarity with the anti-fascist movement, keep your head up when shit get heavy, and try and have fun while doing so. Our set at Camp Punksylvania is right after the Suicide Machines and we’re planning a pretty sing along heavy set. 
Besides that, I’ve been spending time writing a new record and planning a fall tour with Sweet Anne Marie and Tim Holehouse.

You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists like yourself?  Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?

Playing a Festival is pretty cool for a band our level, We’ve gotten to play a lot of cool stuff over the years. We played Pouzza fest and a few other festivals, and it’s gnarly because you’ll play with a bunch of bigger bands but it’ll be in a multi venue setting so it’ll feel more like a gig where you get paired with bands your more likely to have cross over with, or they’ll be mixed genres so someone like us might get exposed to some folks that may not have heard us.
I’m excited to see a bunch of the bands this year at Camp Punksylvania. I’m so stoked for Tsunami Bomb, They’re on the top of my list! I got see Black Guy Fawkes recently and I’m hyped to get to catch him again, also Cardboard Homestead has been our friends forever, so it’ll be really nice to share the stage with them.

Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in.  What activity would you be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp? What song are you performing at the end of the season talent show/campfire?

I think I would be good at Arts and Crafts, That would be fun, or maybe I could be a guidance consulter.  I usually have my inhaler and allergy medicine in my car so I could be in the running for a camp nurse.
My mom always tells me to cover that Don Henley song “Boys of Summer”. So I think that she would like that.

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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.