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. Ska-punk quintet The What Nows?! joined TGEFM to discuss their upcoming appearance at Camp Punx 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! What should our readers know about The What Nows?!, your sound and what you stand for?
(Berg) The What Nows?! started back in 2009 as a two person acoustic group. After years of lineup changes, like most ska punk bands, we have landed with a lineup of really cool dudes. Our sound is definitely more on the punk side of the ska spectrum, but it changes a lot song to song. As a band we definitely lean heavily left and that comes out in our lyrics and themes to our songs.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months. Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in. What activities would each member of The What Nows?! be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp?
(Berg) I’d probably either be running a video game night on the Drive In screen with Smash Bros. and Mario Kart or a board game night. Can you tell I was an indoor kid?!
(Austin) I’d run a venue-wide game of capture the flag. Everyone who checks in at registry can pick a team color and each day a staffer hides the flags somewhere to find. And whoever returns it to the designated “capture” area wins a cool prize.
(Tyler) I’d organize a high dive belly flop contest. The winner gets a crown made of paper mache and toilet paper tubes.
(Sean) I’d do a disc golf skills contest. Putting and target hitting depending on how much space. Also maybe a backhand and forehand release speed event.
(Dylan) No doubt about it, I would be the director of the camp fire. Like all the time, all day, all night. No one really knows what my actual job is, but I’m always there keeping the fire going, listening to stories, telling stories and getting my hair braided.
End of the season Campfire; What song are you performing?
(Berg) We actually recorded a campfire version of our song “Broken Down” for the upcoming Camp Comp vinyl, so probably that.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
Main Stage: Suicide Machines, Tsunami Bomb, Potato Pirates, Fat Chance, The Squalors, Working Class Stiffs, Stop The Presses, Dead Rest….. so many more.
Fire Stage: Escape from the Zoo, Mikey Erg, Condition Oakland, Sweet Anne Marie, and Black Guy Fawkes to name a few.
Sampler Stage: I’m most excited that this stage exists in general. It’s new for us this year, and I hope it goes well. Im most excited for Amy Gabba, No Complyance, and The Chemical Imbalance as well as the extra sets of previously mentioned acts.
I was really into your cover of “You’ll be Back” from Hamilton on the Rudy Reboots series. Obviously I checked out the record after hearing it and I loved Misread Allegories. What can we expect next from The What Nows?!
(Berg) Glad you liked it! I run Rudy Reboots with help from Austin. It’s been a really fun project. We have two more of those coming out this year. Rudy Reboots: Bananaz (a ska punk tribute to Gorillaz) in August and Rudy Reboots: Weird (a ska punk tribute to originals by Weird Al Yankovic) in December.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
We have been recording the past few months for our new album Neglected Objective, which will be out in August of this year!
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/
