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. Brooklyn’s Fat Heaven 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 can you tell us about Fat Heaven, your sound and what you stand for?
Jack: I think Fat Heaven stands for having a good time even when the times are bad. I think the Fat Heaven sound is just a culmination of all of our musical tastes and our genuine passion to play fast catchy music with friends. I love the Ramones a ton, as well as Social Distortion, early Green Day, and Rancid. I feel like that comes out in its own way in my bass playing.
Gayla: Fat Heaven sounds like friendship and stands for friendship. Our genre is called friendship-punk.
Travis: Fat Heaven is all about making people stoked. Whether its us having fun, or the crowd having fun, or simply people just feeling better than they previously felt. We’re a tight knit trio of friends with the same influences so its nice for us to play music that we all get pumped for that brings us back to what we listened to growing up.
You are gearing up for Camp Punksylvania in the coming months, what does the festival circuit mean to individual artists like yourself?
J: The festival thing is great. It’s an awesome opportunity for people to travel from far and wide to support a lot of bands at once. I know a lot of people work jobs and aren’t able to make it out to all the shows sometimes, but festivals allow them to book a window of time and get it all in at once. And a great thing about all of the big punk festivals, they do a great job of curating up and coming acts as well as big names. So that gives us an opportunity to play alongside people we’ve really looked up to for a while and have a chance to play our music for their audience. It’s a win all around.
G: It’s an honor to be invited to play and we promise to deliver the best set ever for your enjoyment.
T: Its always awesome to be asked to do a festival and play for more people. This festival in particular I’m really stoked about since the bands and organizers have been so rad.
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 the three of you and your music?
G: I love that live music is back. Although we’ve been told COVID is “over”, it’s still rough for lots of people. The pandemic shines a light on concerns that chronically disabled and immunocompromised people have had since pre-pandemic. I hope that DIY can move towards a direction of more consideration for the safety and accessibility of shows for immunocompromised and disabled people.
T: I mean, the world is not looking too good right now and like every band COVID weighed heavy on us. However, in many ways, shows been better post lockdown since people don’t take these things for granted the same way. I’m grateful to be back at it but also want people to be reminded that they need to look out for each other’s health as a scene and community.
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?
J: On our last tour, I made such a huge mistake that I will regret forever. I entered the wrong address into the GPS and drove us 4 hours out of our way and we were essentially just in time for the show, but it was a close call. Nobody wants to drive more than they already have to. I think we all learned a valuable lesson from what has been dubbed, “Jack’s big mistake.” I’d love a time machine, haha.
G: Biggest regret as a musician is 100% not learning about ergonomics of playing for the first 10 years of playing drums. My body is low key wrecked (I have a hypermobility disorder) and now I’m sort of relearning how to play so I can keep on keeping on.
T: So there’s this one time we let Jack drive…
Any summer camp worth its salt knows there needs to be a lot of different activities to participate in. What activity would you be in charge of if Camp Punksylvania was an actual sleepaway camp?
J: My best memories from being at summer camp was snack time and some form of water activity. I loved the orange gatorade and the little flower shaped cookies they would give us. So I’ll be in charge of SNACKS and WATER BALLOON FIGHTS. 😎
G: I would be in charge of the Jenga tournament. I’ll smoke all y’all. I’m the queen of Jenga.
T: Fun fact, I was a counselor at a sleep away camp for a long time so if there’s one thing I know its camp activities. If Punksylvania was an actual sleep away camp I’d make sure we have roller hockey and be in charge of that.
End of the season Campfire; What song are you performing?
J: “Wonderwall” – OASIS
G: End of season campfire definitely calls for “How’s it Going to Be” by Third Eye Blind.
T: Obviously, “Good Riddance” by Green Day
Camp Punksylvania is a smorgasbord of fantastic acts. Which bands are you most excited to see on each stage?
J: I’m really excited for everyone, but especially The Suicide Machines. I’ve never gotten to see them live and Destruction by Definition was huge for me when I was first getting into punk and ska music.
G: Most excited to see The Suicide Machines!
T: Definitely pumped for Tsunami Bomb, Suicide Machines, and War on Women.
Was there anything I missed that you’d like to share or dive deeper into with our readers?
Thanks for interviewing us 🙏 Can’t wait to see everyone at Camp Punksylvania!!!!
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/
