The Vagrant Who Would Be King

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word vagrant as “one who roams from place to place without a permanent home or a job.” Thus it seems fitting that Vagrant Records, the independent record label home to acts such as Dashboard Confessional, Alkaline Trio, The Get Up Kids and a panoply of others, has its own, semi-yearly, touring showcase, where bands signed to the label roam from place to place plying their respective musical wares to an increasingly adoring public. And though the label may have begun somewhat humbly, this year’s Vagrant Tour is nothing if not proof positive that Vagrant Records is now one of the more definitive forces in mainstream rock music.
The impetus behind the tour, according to label owner and operator Rich Egan, was simple convenience. “It wasn't really an idea, per se,” explains Egan. “All of our bands were touring with each other anyway, so we basically said, ‘how ‘bout we make an official tour out of it,’ and the bands were into it, so that's how it started.” The original tour featured Saves the Day (who are now signed to DreamWorks) and Dashboard Confessional, with a revolving cast of opening acts across the country, and was officially deemed The Vagrant Across America Tour. That initial tour, coupled with the simultaneous explosion in popularity of the label’s roster of bands, catapulted Vagrant out of the independent label rat race and into the proverbial “big time.”
Fast forward two years and the 2003 Vagrant Tour (sans the “Across America” this time around) features a set, but somewhat perplexingly varied lineup, an aspect that reflects both the increasing diversity of Vagrant bands, and the growing eclecticism of the generalized “emo/punk” scene. Headlined by Vagrant mainstays and current MTV-rotation darlings, Alkaline Trio, the tour also features Get Up Kid James Dewees as his alter ego, Reggie and The Full Effect, metal-core act and recent Vagrant signees From Autumn to Ashes and last but certainly not least, the first band ever signed to the label, old school new schoolers No Motiv. “I think it reflects the state of punk rock pretty well,” says Egan of the tour’s four-band lineup. “Bands are drawing on so many different influences these days and kids have really broadened their definition of punk rock. So now it’s okay to have two melodic punk bands on a bill with a metal band and…uh…Reggie, which is a genre unto itself.”
The bands themselves are equally thrilled about the chance to not only reunite with some old friends, but make some new ones as well. “We’ve known the Trio for a long time, we’ve toured with them in the past, so it’s always nice to tour with your friends,” says No Motiv guitarist Max McDonald. “We didn’t know the other two bands, Reggie and the Full Effect and From Autumn to Ashes until this tour, but it’s been really cool. I’m actually happy when we all have to share the same dressing room. Because then you have to hang out with each other and we end up having a really good time.”
Despite being the relative rookies on the tour, From Autumn to Ashes guitarist Brian Deneeve echoes McDonald’s cheery sentiments. “We’ve only met a couple of these bands a few times before. But I’m actually a huge Alkaline Trio fan myself, so that’s been a good time. It’s my first couple of times seeing No Motiv but they’re really good,” says Deneeve. “Everyone’s cool, everyone seems to get along. We’re about a week into it right now and everyone seems really cool, everyone’s playing awesome.”
Although performing is, of course, the foremost concern of all four bands on the Vagrant Tour, there are 23 more hours in every day that have to be filled with something. According to Vagrant Tour veteran James Dewees, better known as Reggie of Reggie and The Full Effect, the bands have no problem keeping themselves busy, hanging out and doing the sordid things that bands on the road tend to do. “We all hang out every night,” says Reggie. “It’s silly, but it’s a blast. I mean, we’re all friends so it’s like we’re just traveling around acting like jackasses.” He fully expects the hedonistic deathstar that is the Vagrant Tour after-hours to be fully operational very soon. “Nothing really crazy has happened yet; the tour just started,” explains Reggie. “But give it like another week or so and crazy shit will start happening like everyday. Crazy shit.” He unexpectedly fingers From Autumn to Ashes as the tour’s biggest wildmen. “From Autumn to Ashes are the craziest band on this tour,” asserts Reggie. “They seem really calm but they’re crazy. They like to party.”
Despite their off-stage camaraderie, one would expect that the bands’ disparate musical styles — Alkaline Trio’s neo-Jawbreaker emo punk, Reggie’s synth-pop crunch, From Autumn to Ashes’ abrasive hardcore and No Motiv’s traditional melodic punk rock — would make for a somewhat segmented crowd. No Motiv’s McDonald concedes that this is somewhat true. “I definitely notice that there are people there to see certain bands,” says McDonald. “Like I notice that people are there to see strictly Alkaline Trio or strictly From Autumn to Ashes; there’s definitely a separation in the crowd. But that’s kind of what makes the tour interesting. It’s good for us as a band. We’re kind of a schizophrenic band in the first place, so we never really felt like we gelled with a lot of the tours we’d been on. But this tour is so schizophrenic on its own, it makes things a lot easier. At least the crowd is confused the entire time, instead of just being confused while we’re playing.”
Always the optimist, Reggie sees a more pecuniary advantage to the situation. “It’s working out awesome. I’m making fans I never had before; I’m selling lots of merch!”
For his part, Vagrant honcho Egan thinks that the Vagrant Tour, and the success of his label in general, has done much to legitimize the independent label as a viable alternative for bands looking to get their name out to the greater world at large. “I’d like to think we have helped bands see the big picture, and by that I mean that there are alternative ways to build a career without sacrificing your integrity.” However, Vagrant has also been tagged by some as exploiters of the underground, capitalists in a world of musical socialists. Egan certainly accepts some of these criticisms, saying “I see changes in the indie rock world that kind of depress me, and I would be delusional to think that we didn't play some role in that, too.”
But love them or hate them, Egan and the bands on his label seem, for the foreseeable future, here to stay. And if the success of this year’s Vagrant Tour is any indication, the Warped Tour better watch its back.

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