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. John of the high energy, East-Coast punks Coffee With Lions 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!
What can you tell us about Coffee With Lions, your sound and what you stand for?
Hey thanks, yeah I guess we’re a mix of punk and hardcore. We try to write songs with energy and hopefully that energy translates to the stage. As far as stance, we have big hearts for all humans, excluding of course, those pieces of shit who actively harm others physically or verbally. Pretty simple, be a caring and loving human and we’ll love ya back.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists like yourself?
Exposure, were not in this for the money, but getting in front of larger crowds allows us to travel, play shows out of town, and make enough to cover expenses. Thanks to Terry and Laura, we’ve been able to expand our market outside of York, PA.
What’s the state of the live scene from your point of view? We are living in a “just deal with COVID” world and everything about this timeline is some level of completely fucked. What impact, if any, do the current cultural and political landscapes have on your music?
Can’t speak for the global scene, but the local live scene in York, PA is better than ever. Venues like The Kennel at West York Inn, Skid Row Garage, and JB Lovedraft’s have been carrying the scene on its shoulders and excelling. We personally were eager to get back into live shows after Covid, thankfully The Kennel was one of the first to provide the stage, post C19. While SRG was on a temporary hiatus, The Kennel provided a great place for bands to perform, whether they were punk, hardcore, or metal. Now that Skid Row Garage is revived, the scene is better than ever.
Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in. What activity would the members of Coffee With Lions be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp?
Um, we like beer and food? So, maybe something that involves one of those??
What song are you performing at the end of the season Campfire?
Not too sure honestly, I guess it depends on who’s able to stick around. I know I will be hanging all weekend, but probably don’t want me playing any music. I guess it depends on when.
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
John – there’s definitely a few. The Mostly Dead, Dissidente, and Suburban Downgrade are some of our favorite local bands. So we’re excited to see them, but we’re always pumped to find the band we haven’t heard yet. In our opinion, it’s all about the local and regional bands. We dig, and grew up listening to The Suicide Machines and A Wilhelm Scream, but those bands already have a following. We’re all about supporting the up and coming bands. Which is what Camp Punksylvania is all about.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Yeah definitely. There are so many talented bands out there. Support them and support the venues that give them a platform. DIY festivals like Camp Punksylvania give accessibility to these bands that you’ll never get at a major corporate fest. The bands at Camp are always willing to take a few minutes for a conversation, a photo, or whatever. I listen to a ton of the bands and I promise you, more than a few are going to be the Nofx, Bad Religion, and Bouncing Souls of tomorrow. So take the opportunity to hear them before the masses. Get to know them personally. Maybe buy some merch if possible. Trust me, it will create memories that will last forever and maybe give you a bad ass story to tell down the road. At Camp last year, we got the chance to hang with one of our favorite bands, Get Dead. But that’s a story for another day!!😂
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/
