exploremusic

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be asked to cover the kick off date of this year’s Vans Warped Tour in Pomona, California. The reason being that the tour is currently celebrating its 15th year anniversary! Obviously I jumped at the opportunity, having gone to many Warped Tours while growing up a punk/metal kid. Actually some of my all time favourite bands have played this tour since Kevin Lyman created the festival in 1994. Deftones, glassJAw, No Use For A Name, NOFX, Helmet, Dropkick Murphys, Thursday, Eminem, Ice T, Gallows, and Anti-Flag to name a few.

The tour kicked off with Ill Scarlett presenting a cheque to Kevin Lyman for his charity Unite The United, so I hit record.

In celebration, I decided to ask bands about their favourite memories of Warped Tour over the last 15 years. So, in no particular order, here is the first chunk of those interviews for your listening pleasure.

First, let’s start with NOFX. They’ve played Warped about a bazillion times (a rough estimate). Here’s my interview with the always outspoken & hilarious front man, Fat Mike. He sings and plays bass in NOFX, plus he owns and operates Fat Wreck Chords. If you like punk and don’t know who Fat Mike is…you don’t like punk. NOFX interviews are few and far between, so thanks to Mel for making this one happen. I must admit, I was kind of nervous about this one for sure. I mean, its Fat friggin Mike!

Speaking of NOFX, I also got the chance to interview their long time tour manager, Kent, whom was recently made popular by the bands recent DVD/reality show NOFX: Backstage Passport. If you haven’t seen this DVD, go buy it; worth every penny. Here’s a taste of both the DVD and Kent.

Hah. Again, go buy this DVD, it’s a great look into the world that it is NOFX (when on tour in a bunch of different countries, including Russia, Singapore, and Japan). Anyways, here’s my chat with the mighty Kent.

Good dude, the man makes sh*t happen, trust. Here’s some photo’s from NOFX’s set @ Warped Tour in Pomona. The best was when they busted in “The Brews” and I was almost hit in the head with a can of SPAM. No joke. Come to think of it, it was kind of like I was trapped in an episode of Backstage Passport. Awesome.

Next, let’s do The Flatliners. Makes sense, being signed to Fat Wreck and all. Now they technically didn’t play Warped in Cali, however they are playing the Toronto & Montreal dates of the tour and have played/attended Warped Tours in the past. I happened to catch up with Chris & Scott of the band after their set @ this year’s SCENE Fest in Saint Catherine’s, Ontario. Here’s some of their favourite Warped Tour moments.

I love that band; one of the best punk rock acts around these days hands down. Can’t wait until they put out a new record. Oh, and they are great guys, Paul & Darbey included.

K, back to California, its warmer there. Here’s an interview I did with Underoath. They are a Christian band that Fat Mike made fun of a couple years back. They actually dropped off that Warped Tour; some say it was due to Fat Mike’s comments, others say it was simply band conflict. Who knows. I asked them about being on Warped with NOFX again, and about some of their fondest Warped Tour memories.

Finally, here’s an interview I did with Steve Van Doren; the dude who runs VANS. I didn’t even know that the skate label was named after a dude. Anyways, he gave me some free shoes, and spoke about the history of Warped tour, the VANS partnership, and the crazy-ass VANS ride that picked us up @ LAX.

That’s it for now. My next blogs will feature, Anti-Flag, Gallows, The AKA’s, Superman Is Dead (really cool band Alan got me into from Bali), The Devil Wears Prada, & more. For more info on the festival check this out. 

See you tomorrow @ the Toronto date of the tour.

Up the punx

-Skullz