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. Lenny Lashley's Gang of One 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! You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists such as yourself?
Well thanks you guys, ” festival circuit “really as of late , has not been a very active one for me .. but obviously thrilled at the opportunity for this one and all the ones i've been blessed to be involved with it the past great way to meet new folks, bands , and vendors always i find it fun
Between Lenny Lashley's Gang of One, Street Dogs and Darkbuster you've played a part in some highly influential acts. Does the high bar you've set for yourselves in the past help, hinder or affect your creativity today and to what extent? What separates the Lenny Lashley's Gang of One project from those other 2 regarding songwriting?
I try my best not to let much influence creativity , i write what i feel , and feel what i write … that being said sometime after it's obvious the say a Darkbuster song is what came out over say a gang of one song .. typically the latter is a bit more about more self reflective thought , and emotion evoked subject matter , and the Darkbuster stuff more about hilarity and fun stuff …
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 you and your music?
The ” live scene ” to me is what we make it … as consumers and producers … if we let all the choices and venues and decisions be made by the big corporations then we have ourselves to thank for handing that stuff over i'm a proponent of doing as much on an indie level as possible that way the suits dont dictate what's cool or worthy we do.
Well honestly i try not to delve to deep into politics and have a live and let live mentality unless of course i just cant hold it in for example immigration and certain basic human rights .. ( addressed on all are welcome ) i feel leading by and living with good morals and behaivor is the best way to attract folks to social issues ” how you act , not what you say ” soapboxing or forcing my beliefs on someone has never worked or swayed anyone to change their views to align with mine
Every artist has a few, what is your biggest regret? A gig you turned down, advice you didn't take, what one thing do you wish you handled differently as a musician? What advice do you have for the younger bands on this festival?
My biggest regret these days is not getting sober earlier and dealing with misteps that i made on many levels while i was under the influence . wreckage of the past they call it in recovery. i'll spend the rest of my days doing my best to make amends for a long path of tornado like destruction that Hurricane Lenny left.
As for younger bands follow your heart and instincts and make music that you love , hope that people like it, not the other way around … making music you think people will like .
Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in. What activities are you in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp? What song are you performing at the End of the season Campfire/talent show?
Archery . I'm not sure about any of the the songs i'll play i like to figure it out closer to game time. Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
I'm excited to see everybody I can I'm old I wanna experience as much as I can in the time I have left lol
Was there anything I missed that you'd like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
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/