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. Steve Rawles of Canadian legends Belvedere joined TGEFM to discuss his band’s 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 Belvedere?
Hey no problem. Festivals are always a great way to spend the Summer. We’ve been lucky over the years to have participated in several editions of the Warped Tour back in the day and tonnes of festivals in Europe. This is always a great way for a band like ourselves to play for people we might not have had a chance to play for. People that come to the fests already know they’re going to be there all day and are usually open to checking out some new tunes.
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 Belvedere be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp?
I’ve been playing a lot of ladder ball during some recent camping trips so I’ll be in charge of that.
If you were to create a punk sleepaway camp, who are you assigning as counselors?
All the good people from Cigar, Bad Cop / Bad Cop and Mad Caddies so we can all hang.
End of the season Campfire; What song are you performing?
Who’ll stop the rain by CCR. Always a good one around the campfire.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
You’re right, there’s a bunch of great acts. We’re only there for one day but I’m hoping we’ll see some of our tour pals like A Wilhelm Scream, Bad Cop / Bad Cop, The Suicide Machines, and some new friends Jon Snodgrass, The Dollyrots, and Froggy.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
We’ve been at it for 27 years, have 6 albums and have been touring the world. Be sure to check us out at Belvedere Punk Rock
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/
