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. Appalachian, folk-punk agitator, Black Guy Fawkes and The Co-Conspirators joined TGEFM 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 Black Guy Fawkes, your sound and what you stand for?
So I’ll be doing an acoustic set before me and my band, The Co-Conspirators, take the stage that night. Acoustically, you’ll be expecting something a little softer and intimate. Full band it’s a 180. Definitely be prepared for something in your face, fun, energetic and gives you something to go home and think about.
As far as what we stand for, this project was founded on the idea of social liberation. You can be who you want to be and do the things that make YOU happy in life without fear of judgement. It was founded on the other idea of picking up those who fall down, and right now in our world, we’re seeing Queer, trans, non binary, & people of color under attack. So it’s up to us to help pick them up, fight and push for change and liberation.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists such as Black Guy Fawkes?
Playing the festival’s circuit allows people to get a taste of what this band is capable of and expose us to a new audience. It also gives us a chance to meet some cool bands we never heard of and a chance to expand our music library and make new friends to play shows with. This is the first festival we’ll be playing as a band and to be apart of this lineup is extremely honoring. Some of these acts we grew up listening to.
Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in. What activities would you be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp?
I love cooking so you’d probably find me cooking up burgers and hot dogs for everyone with my own recipes.
End of the season Campfire; What song are you performing?
I’m probably playing either “The Ballad of Me & My Friends” by Frank Turner, “We’re Going to Be Friends” by The White Stripes, or “’59 Sound” by Gaslight Anthem.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
So I’ve been a Bad Cop / Bad Cop fan for awhile and when I saw they were announced, I lost my mind. So them, War on Women, Coffee With Lions, The Homeless Gospel Choir, Jon Snodgrass, The Suicide Machines (My Guitarist Corey Mackereth is freaking out about this one), Amy Gabba, Tail Light Rebellion, The Dolly Rots…. I could name them all but…
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
I just want to give a big shout out to the team at Riot Squad Media. These folx have been nothing but kind and sweet towards us and the other bands performing.
If you want a taste of what’s to come, you can stream the full band album Life, Love & The Bomb on every platform. And for a softer side, I just released a new acoustic EP entitled Intrusive Lullabies that’s available everywhere!
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/
