exploremusic

Wow, I can’t believe it’s August already…on to the final and third blog in my Warped Tour coverage which kicked off in June in Pomona, California.  For those of you that missed my first 2 blogs on 15 years of Warped, click here and here.

First we’ll start with Gallows…the hardcore punk/metal band from England.  Although Gallows’ are one of the newer acts on the bill, they are definitely also amongst the best bands on the tour this year as well.  Their first album, Orchestra Of Wolves was equated as one of the best punk album’s to be released since Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come by Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz (whom are also playing this year’s Warped).  Gallows just put out their 2nd record, “Grey Britain”, and I had a quick chat with guitarist Stephen Carter while their tour manager frantically kept looking at his watch….everyone in the media area wanted to interview someone from this band.

Steph turned out to be cool…one of my favorite interviews to date….didn’t feel like I had hit record.  It should be mentioned that Gallows live performance is insane.  I haven’t seen a band kick that much ass since like Rage Against The Machine at Maple Leaf Gardens…k, maybe not that much ass…but the boys in RATM are also big fans of Gallows.  Here’s a couple pictures of the “running pit” they got going around the sound board at the Toronto date of Warped. .. my roommate and I almost got annihilated.

While I’m at it…this has been on repeat for me all summer:

Next up: Alexisonfire.  I ran into the dudes after my buddy/genius Sam Sutherland of ExclaimTV had finished interviewing the guys.  Actually, you can check out Sam’s amazingly hilarious coverage of Warped here.

Back to Alexis…I got a chance to speak with George and Wade of the band about 15 years of Warped Tour,  punk rock karaoke, Niagara Falls, and their first record.  In the middle of the interview however, ones of the dudes from Flipper joined in….if you don’t know who Flipper is check them out here. Cobain used to wear their shirts a lot…actually he did so during the band’s performance on SNL in 1992.

Here’s the interview:

On to Superman Is Dead…cool band from Bali that Alan brought into a music meeting a while back after returning from vacation in Asia.  This interview wasn’t set up at all… I just happened to turn a corner and there the dudes were.  Alan told me to interview them if they were around, so I introduced myself and hit record…here’s how it went.  Cool guys… both Bobby Cool (bass/vocals) & JRX (drums)…

Here’s where you can check out more stuff about the band…hopefully they make it back to North America soon!

Another band I had the chance to speak with was The AKA’s. Before mowing down on some serious tacos backstage I caught up with Mike & Josie of the band, and we spoke of 15 years of Warped Tour.  Interesting AKA’s fact: Mike is responsible for the artwork on Anti-Flag’s new record The People Or The Gun…whom are also playing Warped (see blog 2).  Actually, come to think of it…The AKA’s were the first band I spoke to after Michael Jackson died earlier that day…just saying.

Whew, well that’s it….Warped Tour for 2009! Gotta thank a couple peeps for making this coverage and  trip happen…Melanie, BT, Alan, Strombo, Nathalia, Robbie J, JD, Ira, David, the random guy in the Chicago airport, and of course all the bands that took time to chat.  I also want to thank 3OH!3 & Brokencyde for making me laugh.  Shout outs to the Reg and Yanic @ Musique Plus, Sam and Ashley @ Excalim, and Ben punknews.org for making this trip an effing blast.

For more details on Warped, check out here.

…final Canadian date is this Friday in Van City.

Up the punx
-Sully