Warped Tour Founder Pushes Diverse Lineup

Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman's dream for this year's edition of the outing was to bring the festival back to 1995, when kids seemed more open-minded about the acts on the bill. Midway through this summer's jaunt, he feels he has succeeded.

"We were just talking about how the kids are checking out all the bands and how kids are open-minded toward all sorts of music right now," Lyman said in an interview with LiveDaily. "There's no dominant scene in music. It's like, kids are into punk bands, ska bands, hip-hop bands. It's fun to see kids run around with Chiodos shirts watching k-os and being stoked on it. And then you walk by Big D [and the Kids Table] and it's ska. Then you see a lot of kids with Killswitch [Engage] shirts checking them out."

That type of camaraderie is what Lyman was looking for, an idea he shared in statements to the press before the tour began in June.

"I know I went public and said if you're not open-minded and going to see some diverse music, stay home. Some people said I was kind of crying the blues or whatever. But I was very serious about trying to take this back to what it was in 1995. I can't take it back to the size of 1995. But take a look at the first line-up--it had everyone from Sublime to Quicksand to L7 to No Use for a Name. That was a diverse line-up for that day and age. That's what the Warped Tour's been, and that's what it needs to stand for."

The Warped Tour has also been known as the launching pad for several top acts, including Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. Lyman sees this year's roster as no different.

"I said this from the beginning when I booked them last year: Paramore will be the breakthrough act. The crowds are growing by the day. I also think little bands like Bayside and The Dear and Departed [will do well]. You walk by and the crowds are starting to get bigger and bigger. That definitely comes from the power of the 'net and kids talking to each other, 'You have to check out this band. You have to check out that band.'"

Straylight Run toured with Paramore in the band's infancy. Straylight's drummer, Will Noon, said Paramore's star power was palpable.

"It was just amazing to see Hayley [Williams, lead singer] on stage and Zack [Farro] behind the drum kit," Noon said. "[Farro] was 16 at the time. He was playing to a click track, he was solid every night. He landed all of his fills. The vibe was right."

"Going back to Hayley: she's got more charisma than anyone I know," Noon continued. "For a 17-year-old girl, it's pretty impressive. I've been touring for years, and as far as a singer and an entertainer, in both categories, she surpasses anyone I've toured with. You might not like their band. Everyone has varied opinions. As far as technical ability, her talent is undeniable. You can't say she's not a great singer. You see her interact with her audience, [and] it's amazing."

Williams told LiveDaily she was thrilled that Lyman spoke so highly of her.

"It's a pretty awesome feeling to know that someone that influential said something like that," she said. "It's cool to know he believes in us and supports us that much. We watched him say My Chem was the breakout band, and we all know what they're doing now. I really think he had a big hand in a lot of bigger bands' success today. I'm a glad that he's a part of our lives and our career."

Lyman said the Warped Tour, which wraps up Aug. 25 in Los Angeles, has at least one more year to go.

"The future of the Warped Tour? I think I'm gong to do it next summer. We shouldn't be around this long. It's been 13 years. I've already started looking at the Warped Tour next year--the kind of bands that I'd like to see, things that are working good and try to work in that direction."

Tour dates are below:

08/09 – Mansfield, MA – Tweeter Center
08/10 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Theme Park Resort
08/11 – Barrie, Ontario – Park Place
08/12 – Montreal, Quebec – Parc Jean-Drapeau
08/14 – Maryland Heights, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre St. Louis
08/15 – Bonner Springs, KS – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
08/17 – Nampa, ID – Idaho Center Amphitheater
08/18 – Quincy, WA – Gorge Amphitheatre
08/19 – St. Helens, OR – Columbia Meadows
08/22 – Fresno, CA – Selland Arena
08/23 – Marysville, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre
08/24 – Chula Vista, CA – Coors Amphitheatre
08/25 – Carson, CA – The Home Depot Center

Thanks for the info to Livedaily.com.

Comments

[GoodCharlotte92]

PARAMORE!!!!!

[Lgndkllr777]

The High Court was the best band at Warped Tour, yet they were given a small stage and weren't even listed as being there.

[punkMETALskater]

i went to the cincy show just to see MxPx,tiger army,bar religion,the unseen,and alkiline trio.i missed the unseen,alkiline,and tiger army,but getting to watch some lower class brats and killswitch made up for a great time.but there are still a lot of poser and teenie boppers who goto these shows,when MxPx has teenie boppers.its sad.but rock on warped tour.

[crash 2.0]

8/04 was the day!!!

[JoshD182]

punkMETALskater wrote:
but there are still a lot of poser and teenie boppers who goto these shows,when MxPx has teenie boppers.its sad.but rock on warped tour.

Why does that matter? at least they are listening to good music??? they still contribute to a bands' success??? why bitch about it?

[Td_Nights]

The Warped Tour has also been known as the launching pad for several top acts, including Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. Lyman sees this year's roster as no different.

Alright everybody,prepare your razors and eyeliner.

Can't forget your guitars,there's blind chords to be hit once more.

[billruption26]

dammit no mention of pepper, i just went to the one in englishtown and they brought down the ****in house! that show convinced me that they are the new sublime and was especially glad to see them since ive always been disappointed that i was too young to see sublime live when bradley OD'ed, i have the feeling what they did was very similar to what the experience would have been.

[The_Paranoia]

I went to see Circa Survive and Coheed. I enjoyed another band, sad I didn't catch their name. It was the first band that went on that day. The Almost wasn't actually that bad either. Though, being up front for Killswitch brought my spirits down. I almost broke my legs being up there. Coheed brought that right back up when I was in the center front for them.

[Slanderous]

My friend wanted me to go, but I wasn't gonna put my dignity on the line and sit through Hawthorne Heights and Red Jumpsuit Apaaratus, just to see a few good ska bands

[Death2pop666]

warped was so awesome! i was one of the kids who had a killswitch shirt on and i love big d! u dont have to go see any bands u dont like cause theres so much to do there and 6 or sometimes 7 stages! my fav was gallows!

[Teufel]

Ha! So laughable, but I am laughing not. It should be renamed to "Vans Emo Tour."

[MetalorDIE]

warped tour is just getting worse with more and more emo bands, and to have all 7 stages run at once is stupid if u want to see more than one band play.

[terrencemaddox]

Teufel wrote:

Ha! So laughable, but I am laughing not. It should be renamed to "Vans Emo Tour."

Almost as laughable as your failed attempt at being humorous.

I have never been to Warped, but I agree that they do fairly well with diversity of styles. I don't really like many of the bands on the lineup (other than Coheed), but good on them.

[aliceinnirvana]

Tiger Army was my favourite, hands down.
Straylight Run put on an excellent show, second time I've seen them.
One time it was with Sparta.
Coheed, Killswitch, Bad Religion, Underoath...they all brought it well.
It was bad ass.

[rocknrollreject]

the warped tour use to be good in the 90s now it sucks punk and ska bands i sure do hope their not calling mcr and fob punk or ska or any other of those gay bands

[RG_FANMAN]

Warped was sooo friggin good. I want to go again!

[The_Crowing_IV]

Coheed and Cambria is pretty much the only reason I'm going. Killswitch should be pretty awesome, too, though.

[Metalology]

Wow, Warped Tour is coming to Barrie.

[Gus Pablo]

rocknrollreject wrote:

the warped tour use to be good in the 90s now it sucks punk and ska bands i sure do hope their not calling mcr and fob punk or ska or any other of those gay bands

There are still good punk and ska bands on it, they just aren't as widely publicized as they should be. Personally, I think an article whose very title mentions the tour's 'diverse lineup' should put the focus on more than just one genre of music for its interveiws...

[Jaw Knee]

I wish they'd ****ing can Killswitch and Chiodos and really bring it back to 1995. It's a ****ing punk/ska tour, not a scream-your-guts-out fest.

[omegasus]

"Diversity" is just their way of covering up how no good punk bands want to be on their emofest.
Honestly, they say that you don't have to see bands you don't want to and still be entertained the entire day, but that's bullshit. I saw Bad Religion, Pennywise, and the Unseen, that's an hour and a half there, out of a 10-11 hour tour.

[rebelrebelx]

Jaw Knee wrote:

I wish they'd ****ing can Killswitch and Chiodos and really bring it back to 1995. It's a ****ing punk/ska tour, not a scream-your-guts-out fest.

****ing thank you. finally someone agrees with me. whatever happened to all the good punk and ska shit. it used to be so fun. now its all about screaming and..cutting yourself..and guys making out. sad, but true. i was glad to see that they had agent orange at a few shows..but wasnt it only like three? =[
and whatever happened to the casualties playing. *sigh*

[rocknrollreject]

Gus Pablo wrote:

rocknrollreject wrote:

the warped tour use to be good in the 90s now it sucks punk and ska bands i sure do hope their not calling mcr and fob punk or ska or any other of those gay bands


There are still good punk and ska bands on it, they just aren't as widely publicized as they should be. Personally, I think an article whose very title mentions the tour's 'diverse lineup' should put the focus on more than just one genre of music for its interveiws...

haha theres like only 2 good bands

[punkMETALskater]

it has gone downhill since the 90s.all the poser kids are contributing to the music.but only b/c its cool,once mtv disses those bands and brings up another,that band will hit warped and be followed by a bad crowd.but warped should go back to great punk/ska and it used to have some alt. rock,so even that.

[MetalliRage]

warped tour sucks. all hail ozzfest and family valules tour!

[Brighter]

lol
paramore.
times certainly have changed...

[sebbsmith]

Great, now bring the tour to the ****ing UK.

[the1]

Paramore deserve everything they will ever get. I love them as people and as a band! It's been great to see them grow.

[boxcarblink94]

Jaw Knee wrote:

I wish they'd ****ing can Killswitch and Chiodos and really bring it back to 1995. It's a ****ing punk/ska tour, not a scream-your-guts-out fest.

amen

[fukkindoyle]

i like paramore. they're good musicians. good writters too. i wish all the so-called punks or whatever on ug would shut up though. you all act like everyone you don't like the look of is a poseur or isn't really "hardcore"... just shut up. that's so ****ing stupid and arrogant man. i probably look like some "emo" kid to you cause i wear tight pants, but the fact is, that i listen to almost every genre of music out there. including punk. and have listened to punk the longest of most genres too. so. am i a poseur or what?

[sebbsmith]

Td_Nights wrote:


The Warped Tour has also been known as the launching pad for several top acts, including Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. Lyman sees this year's roster as no different.


Alright everybody,prepare your razors and eyeliner.

Can't forget your guitars,there's blind chords to be hit once more.

You are so cool.
[/sarcasm]

[recliner33]

The only band that i like that i heard playing this year is agent orange. It's too bad that the warped tour doesn't invite more older bands to play. Sure there are a few older ones, but it's mostly newer bands. I'm just not a fan of the newer punk bands and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

[Liberation]

I don't think that there should be any doubt about Paramore. They're the real deal. At the current time, they're still not known very well, but within the next year and a half, they'll bounce to the front. They're just far too talented to not be noticed.

[C&C Magik]

Glad to see alot of Coheed fans =D

I'd see Coheed, Killswitch, Bad Religion, Paramore, alot of others as well. I'd be open minded.

[itry_itry]

i live in australia and we havent had warped tour out since 2000 but maybe its a good thing

[Dead_End]

=/ warped was supposed to be punk, im not saying its really bad that lots of different types of bands are getting in, but they have concerts for just metal and just emo music =[

[Slanderous]

lol, my brother said he went in either 98 or 99 or around there, and Eminem was there

[TheTrooper666]

I'de go there to see Bad Religion only xD

[mikiedaman]

Parkway drive, As I lay dying and Killswitch is who i'm going for. but i like illscarlett and i'm ashamed to say...RJA

[theused101]

PEPPER HAD THIS YEARS WARPED TOUR LOCKED DOWN.


PEPPER
PEPPER
PEPPER
PEPPER
PEPPER
PEPPER
P EPPER
PEPPER










AND ESCAPE THE FATE

[icekold23]

paramore friggin rules. ive gone to warped for like 3 years or somethin and all though there are a lot of emos there (ha ha wait i might look like one but im not one) that place is so much fun and there are way hot girls there.

[Teufel]

terrencemaddox wrote:

Teufel wrote:

Ha! So laughable, but I am laughing not. It should be renamed to "Vans Emo Tour."

Almost as laughable as your failed attempt at being humorous.

I have never been to Warped, but I agree that they do fairly well with diversity of styles. I don't really like many of the bands on the lineup (other than Coheed), but good on them.

Actually, you misinterpreted, for I was not attempting to be amusing.

[Reiatsu]

rebelrebelx wrote:

Jaw Knee wrote:

I wish they'd ****ing can Killswitch and Chiodos and really bring it back to 1995. It's a ****ing punk/ska tour, not a scream-your-guts-out fest.

****ing thank you. finally someone agrees with me. whatever happened to all the good punk and ska shit. it used to be so fun. now its all about screaming and..cutting yourself..and guys making out. sad, but true. i was glad to see that they had agent orange at a few shows..but wasnt it only like three? =[
and whatever happened to the casualties playing. *sigh*

I have to agree... if for the opposite reason.

WHY Killswitch Engage (one of my favorite bands btw) is playing on Warped Tour I have NO clue... what happened to sticking with a crowd that actually wants to see you play? I can't imagine ska/punk fans actually looking forward to seeing a hardcore metal band...

I remember my first thoughts when I heard this were "There's going to be two groups... metalheads versus the punk rockers... and there's going to be a war..."

But the whole "cutting yourself" comment... that's Emo... not metal. If you read Killswitch's lyrics, they have nothing to do with suicide or whatnot. KSE actually writes some surprisingly positive music. Which is all good =)

And where did the guys making out thing come from? That just threw me off >.>

[toxic_monkey]

the bands on warped tour keep getting worse and worse..

[terrencemaddox]

Teufel wrote:
Actually, you misinterpreted, for I was not attempting to be amusing.

Well, even though I don't buy that at all, even if you are being truthful: IT WAS STILL A RETARDED THING TO SAY.

[TheGuitarDreams]

Bad Religion + Pennywise = Great Warped Year

[jamiehubbs]

TheGuitarDreams wrote:

Bad Religion + Pennywise = Great Warped Year

i second that.

vans is all about california punk so it all based on that, and since punk keeps on changing it follows that

[sum41freak8733]

its about time people are open to different things , i cant stand these kids that are fans of one style of music and then hate everything else and say it sucks , i for one am a very open person to different music i think its good that its happening , but warped will never be like it was in 1995 times change and so does music

[sum41freak8733]

teufel what is with you , you say that van halen is overrated and sucks , and then you dis this what do you like ????? i doubt you have an open mind

[stupids]

Diversity is cool but it seems like all the bands are emo or emo core or whatever, so how diverse is it. But i guess that is just what is out there today.

[yambert]

kids that call themselves punk these days are just emo kids. Retarded teenagers are ruining music >

[MFZBen]

yambert wrote:

Retarded teenagers are ruining music >

I can not begin to emphesise the stupidity of that statement

[genresrforposer]

yambert wrote:

Retarded teenagers are ruining music >

Pahahaha! (Not really for the comment itself, but my God it's like the guy should wear a t-shirt saying "I still fear Elvis")

[sebbsmith]

Most of you are so narrow minded.
I love punk but the warped tour wouldn't exist if they didn't keep the line up diverse.
And the bands who aren't "punk" definatly show influence from it. It's not like they're putting Death Metal acts on.

Quit yo' belly aching.