Trail Blazing

Every summer, you can count on several things to happen: It gets hot outside; Baseball season erupts with breaking records and embarrassing scandals; Unless mired in summer school, students are set free to follow their whims; And the Vans Warped Tour comes to town. This being the ninth year of the annual punk rock cavalcade, one could assume that it might be losing steam. After all, name another touring event that has gone on as long and as successfully. Yet, this is simply not the case, as countless youths escape the mall’s confines and make their way down to the yearly traveling festival to immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of punk rock and extreme sports. But what keeps the tour running strongly after nine wildly successful years?
Though many minds and many hands are involved in making the Warped Tour a success, one man stands at the center of the annual punk rock whirlwind; Warped’s founder, Kevin Lyman. A week before the tour’s 2003 kick-off, Lyman is busy planning last minute additions, as well as making sure his daily life is in order once he returns from the month-and-a-half long festival. Signing paperwork and getting his car smog checked, he speaks quickly and with glowing determination. “I believe for a kid, this is like their State Fair each summer. You don’t want to be on suspension when the Warped Tour comes to town.”
What started off as an excuse for Lyman to go out on the road with some of his favorite bands has, nine years later, developed into what many consider a yearly tradition involving a wide assortment of musical acts, extreme sporting events and (to a lesser degree) political activism, a combination unheard of back when Warped began in 1995.
“At that point, there really hadn’t been a [tour] with sports and music, other than on a local level thing, so we [set up] a vertical ramp. Now everyone has a skate vert ramp,” says Lyman. “It isn’t new now, but in ’95, that was a new concept to take athletes and music on the road together.”
When the Warped Tour was founded, it was ahead of its time. At this stage in its evolution, the Vans Warped Tour is indicative of the times. As punk music and extreme sports continue to grow symbiotically through events like the Warped Tour and the X Games, through skate and snowboard videos and videogame soundtracks, the two seemingly disparate activities have become standards for a large community of predominantly suburban teens. The Warped Tour is the hub of a larger youth culture movement. And not without reason.
“It’s pretty rare when you get to see people skating on huge ramps and see your favorite band in the same day,” remarks Jim Lindberg, vocalist for Warped Tour veterans Pennywise. Relaxing in the comfort of his Southern California home a few days prior to embarking on the tour, Lindberg is still entirely enthusiastic about the Warped Tour, even given that this is the seventh or eighth time (he’s not quite sure which) that Pennywise will be featured on it. “It’s just a cultural phenomenon now, kinda like having Woodstock come through your town every year. You see how each year you change and the people around you change.”
Though the festival stemmed from somewhat humble origins, like any good original idea spawned from an underground scene, it has been embraced and expanded upon by the mainstream, growing into a cultural juggernaut.
“Middle class America likes punk rock, bro. It’s not 1980,” asserts Less Than Jake’s drummer and lyricist, Vinny. “Punk rock’s for the suburbs.” Apparently, he’s right. When Seventeen Magazine references the Warped Tour as a ‘great place to meet guys,’ it’s painfully apparent that the tour has grown into an event that appeals to a massive mainstream audience. The Warped Tour can easily be seen as the mall rock generation’s Woodstock.
“Is this the mainstream now?” asks Lyman with smile that’s nearly audible. “It’s funny. You know, some people go, ‘oh, you sold out,’ but we still feature a lot of independent artists on the Warped Tour. There’s always places for indie artists and unsigned bands on the tour.”
This is one of the reasons why as other tours of this nature stagnate and meet their unceremonious ends, Warped continues to grow. While a core of established acts like Pennywise, Rancid and Dropkick Murphys still make Warped a yearly part of their touring routine, a plethora of newer, less established acts are invited to grace Warp’s many stages, reflecting and promoting the current musical trends.
“I suppose you can liken it to a sampler or something,” says James Lynch of Dropkick Murphys. “You can go check out a whole bunch of bands for a little while, then maybe see the ones you’re interested in when they’re out on the road on their own.”
Warped Tour’s greatest benefit for small bands is exposure — even on a slow night, a side stage band might catch the ears of over 1000 music lovers who have never heard them before. This just reeks of opportunity.
“The Warped Tour breaks bands,” confirms Todd Weinstock of Glassjaw. “Bands that no one heard of become household names.” This is indeed factual. Bands like New Found Glory and Good Charlotte started out as side stage acts on the Warped tour. Now, their own tours sell out large venues.
Last year, Glassjaw met up with the tour in progress and appeared on a side stage for a little over two weeks. This year, they will be featured on the main stage for the entire run. “It was a shock when we got into it, how brutal it was, how summer camp-like it was,” Weinstock remembers of last year’s jaunt. “This year we know what we’re getting into.” Glassjaw represents more of the rock side of Warped Tour, reflecting the upsurge in popularity of bands with heavy guitars, discordant breakdowns and passionate, melodic vocals. For lack of better terms, emo.
Less Than Jake, who are appearing on the tour for their sixth time, have seen its development firsthand, and understand how the Warped Tour reflects the musical trends.
“I’ve seen it go from more of a punk rock base to more of a modern music base,” says Vinny, taking a breather during the second day of the tour. “Before, there was lots of Pennywise and NOFX, now you have Thrice and Poison the Well, Atmosphere…which is fine by me, but that’s the difference.”
Over the past few years, hip-hop has been creeping into the Warped Tour, slowly increasing its presence in the skater, mall rocker community. This year, Minneapolis-based underground hip-hop crew Atmosphere will be making their debut in the predominantly punk and rock festival. Slug, the group’s MC, is aware that many Warped Tour audience members may not be into hip-hop, but is confident that it’s going to be a good experience for his group, regardless.
“I’m pretty sure that we will be met with a fair amount of hate, but at the same time, it'll be balanced with a good amount of support as well,” he corresponds through an e-mail interview. “I'll be somewhere in between catching hugs and ducking shoes.”
Apart from looking forward to meeting “dirty white women,” Slug seems eager for the challenge that Atmosphere will face on the stage.
“At best, I hope to rock the fuck out of those that are already down, and maybe turn some who previously hated rap into new curious advocates. I'm sure I'll deal with some people on this tour who would rather I not be there, that doesn't phase me. My name is Slug. I rap. I rap real good sometimes.”
The first day of the tour always finds bands and crews scrambling, attempting to work the kinks out of Warped Tour’s intricately scheduled, complex system. As can and should be expected, problems are bound to arise. Reaching the Ataris’ Johnny Collura on his cell phone, he’s actually relieved to speak with a music journalist…and not merely for the witty, brilliant conversation that journalists are known for; Johnny actually gets to sit down and take a breather.
“First day of Warped Tour and the merch was late, the trailer was just dropped off this morning, one tech isn’t here, he’s stuck on a flight…aarrrggghhh,” he explodes. “It’s a fucking mess…but I’m good.”
Collura’s day began at daybreak. It’s well past noon and he’s still “waiting to be in the band.” After assembling the Ataris’ crew, their merchandise and equipment, Johnny looks forward to walking around the festival and checking out bands before it’s time for his band to play. The long days and longer drives await him as the tour presses on.
“I just hope tomorrow just starts to be normal. I just want to be in the band. That’s all, dude, I just want to be in the band.” But even with the stress he’s undergoing, his spirits are high and he’s very excited to be there for the third year in a row.
After the initial chaos, the day to day activities for the bands will set in, and routine will become their existence for the next seven weeks.
Having done this for seven or eight years straight, Pennywise’s Jim Lindberg knows exactly what to expect. “You wake up and try and find a port-a-potty…a clean one. Then you go around and try and find some breakfast and watch some bands, and watch people skate and rap with all your friends that you’ve seen everyday for the last month, then you go play your show and go to the barbeque and go to bed and do it all over again. Total Groundhog’s Day. It’s amazing.”
This sentiment, or a similar one, is echoed by all of the bands. Many reference the event as a “rock ‘n’ roll summer camp” or “rock bootcamp,” but a “seven-week barbeque” seems to lead the consensus. Yet, for all the energy expended participating in the tour, not one band thinks of the tour as a hardship.
“There’s really no pressure; you’re playing music, it’s not rocket science,” says Less Than Jake’s Vinny. “I do a half-hour set, go to the merch booth, talk to kids, talk some shit, tell some jokes, shake some hands and fuck, you’re done. The heat’s the worst thing about it.”
“That’s the only thing that can beat the Warped Tour, the weather,” affirms Warped Tour’s founder, Kevin.
The Warped Tour may be in its ninth year, however, with the passion put into the event from the bands, crew, promoters and especially the audience, this year should continue to prove the event’s potency as a cultural phenomenon, a breeding ground for change, the last place where the underground and the mainstream can converge and react in unity…or perhaps, as Jim Lindburg notes, “maybe it’s just a good place for people to skateboard, drink beer and watch bands.”

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