#shoutout user lxonxmyxownxl you bloody legend o7

[livejournallegacy]

Transcript under the cut :)

What do you get when you put 50-plus bands, dozens of extreme athletes, thousands of amped-up kids, and a seemingly unlimited supply of veggie burgers together in a large open field? You get Punk Rock Summer Camp, better known as the Vans Warped Tour

It's been 10 years since Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman came up with the bright idea of creating a traveling summer road show that combined the best of punk rock and extreme sports. But while the festival has become more mainstream (and more deluged with youth-oriented advertising) with each passing year, Warped Tour still gives kids the biggest possible bang for their punk-rock buck, and Lyman still treats his bands in an egalitarian fashion, regardless of their record sales: The order of performance changes each day, everybody plays 30-minute sets, and all egos get left at home.

This year, Warped begins its two-month trek in Houston, Texas. The humidity may be close to unbearable, but when the sun goes down and the catering crew fires up the grill for the first of many post-show barbecues, you can bet that every last musician is completely stoked to be there. In honor of the tour's 10th anniversary, we rounded up 10 of our favorite frontmen from this year's lineup-Taking Back Sunday's Adam Lazzara, M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, Coheed and Cambria's Claudio Sanchez, Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory, Story of the Year's Dan Marsala, Geoff Rickly from Thursday, Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio, Good Charlotte's Joel Madden, and Toby Morse and Freddy Cricion from Hazen Street and picked their collective brains about all things Warped. Throw a veggie burger on the grill, pop a cold one, and listen in.

What does Warped Tour mean to you?

DAN MARSALA It means a lot of punk bands that are good. It means a hot, long day that you're going to be sunburned at the end of – but I love it. I mean, you don't get paid the most money, but bands want to do Warped Tour just because of what it is. MATT SKIBA It's like traveling with the circus the whole summer. There are always motorbikes and tons of toys that people bring with them, so we're always just fucking around with toys and watching bands. ADAM LAZZARA I grew up in the southeast region of the United States, and there weren't many shows that came through there – or, if there were, you'd have to drive hours to see them. But with Warped Tour, you could go and see all the bands at once, rather than driving two hours this week to see one band and driving three hours next week to see another. You'd just wait until you could go to Warped Tour and catch everybody. I think what Kevin Lyman did, just as far as making this music more accessible to people, is incredible. M. SHADOWS Warped Tour used to be something that me and my friends looked forward to every year when it came around the Southern California area: All our favorite bands playing the same day. We'd just all get hammered in the parking lot and go have a shitload of fun watching bands. Now it's sort of the same thing, except we get to play the tour every day. JOEL MADDEN It's so important in so many different ways. It's not a tour where you're separated from the fans – you get an opportunity to talk to your fans all day long. It's a great way to spend your summer, because you get to know your fans, and with 40 or 50 bands on the tour, you'll become friends with all kinds of different people. You know how when you're a kid, summer is all about fucking around with your friends and looking for shit to do? That's what Warped Tour is. TOBY MORSE The reality is, Warped Tour is one of the best summer tours. You actually don't want to be on any other tour in the summer, because your tour will get crushed!

What's your favorite Warped Tour memory?

GEOFF RICKLY Probably the best playing experience I had on Warped Tour was in 2002 in Seattle at the Gorge. It's incredibly beautiful, on this huge set of cliffs. We ended up playing at dusk, right as the sun went down behind us. I turned around right before we started, and I saw that all our friends from the tour were there onstage to watch us that night. And it just so happened that we played great. We could have just had an average night that was really fun because our friends were there, but there was something electric going on that was totally outside of the control of any of the individual band members. It was one of those shows that I'll never forget in my whole life. MARSALA We played one show last year where our guitar player couldn't find the stage. He went to take a dump or something, and he couldn't find his way back. We had to go on. so we played most of the first song without him. He finally made it up, and it was perfect timing-right when the song broke down to just him playing, he picked up the guitar! SHADOWS My best memory would have to be the final day of Warped for us last year. Everyone was smashed out of their minds, and we were hanging with From Autumn to Ashes and Tsunami Bomb after the show. Tons of funny shit happened, and it all ended with some girls having a wet T-shirt contest in the bus lights out in the parking lot.  JORDAN PUNDIK When we did Warped Tour two years ago, I was sleeping on Autopilot Off's bus for a couple of nights, just to get a change of pace. And we got really into watching these Pantera DVDs, and we were like, "Wouldn't it be funny if we dressed up like the guys from Pantera?" So we did – we were wearing, like, cutoff denim shorts and white high-tops, fake mustaches and aviator glasses, and Dallas Cowboys oversize jerseys. We were just harassing the bands at one of the barbecues, and no one knew who we were. MORSE Watching Rancid every night in 2000 was awesome. And getting shiatsu massage! I should give the masseuse a shout-out-her name is Tess, and she's on the Warped Tour every year. She's amazing – she takes care of everybody. CLAUDIO SANCHEZ I had a great time the two weeks I was on it last year. Unfortunately, I don't really remember much of it!

What are your survival tips for getting through two months of Warped Tour?

LAZZARA Our sound guy Mike told me that there are two things I can't forget to bring: baby wipes and Gold Bond Powder. SKIBA We're all relatively clean people, so we always bring solar showers – they're like camp- ing showers. You fill up these big plastic bags with water and throw 'em over your trailer, and the sun heats 'em up all day, so then, when you get done playing, you have a hot shower. It's kind of hard to finagle the thing and get all your cracks and stuff, but at least you feel a little bit refreshed. I'm sure there are a lot of bands who don't give a shit about taking showers, but I'm just not that punk, I guess. MORSE Lots of water and Gatorade, because you're outside all the time. And definitely bring a tent, so you have a place to hang out other than your bus. And don't bring any white sneakers, because they'll get destroyed. MADDEN Load up with socks and underwear, but don't bring any T-shirts-you can get a million of them on tour from all your friends" bands. There's merch all over the place, so don't waste luggage space.

What things will you be bringing along to pass the time when you're not onstage?

PUNDIK An iPod; a cellphone, so I can call my chick; and my Tempur-Pedic pillow. I love that thing! My fiancée always tries to not let me take it – she steals it every time I forget it. SKIBA Our BMX bikes and skateboards. SANCHEZ Some video games, my laptop, and CDs. I'll either be outside watching bands or hanging around, or in the bus playing Transformers on the PlayStation. SHADOWS Me and [our guitarist] Synyster [Gates] are bringing our new mini Harleys and, of course, we're bringing the weight sets. LAZZARA We play kickball all the time. This year, we're going to try to get as many bands in on it as we can. There are so many bands on the tour, we thought it'd be a cool way to bring 'em in, instead of just going "Hey!" and never really talking to them. MADDEN We're bringing our friend who's a tattoo guy with us, and we're having him tattoo us while we're out there. Maybe tattoo some of the other bands as well.

Which bands are you most psyched about seeing?

MADDEN Thursday, Avenged Sevenfold, Hazen Street. SHADOWS I'm not sure exactly who's playing this year, but the obvious ones are Bad Religion, NOFX, and the Vandals. As for bands I haven't seen yet, I'd like to see Good Charlotte. And Billy Talent – I just got their CD the other day, and I'm enjoying the vocals a lot. SANCHEZ I'm psyched to see Non Phixio and Atmosphere. But I'm more psyched to hang out. If there are any acts that I'm going to catch a lot, it'll probably be those two. Otherwise, I've got two months to everybody else. RICKLY I'm really psyched to see My Chemical Romance. They were kind of babies when my label, Eyeball, did their first record. I just heard their new one, and they do some sick shit on there, some really incredible stuff. There are songs on there I think are way better than any Thursday songs. MARSALA I'm a huge NOFX and Bad Religion fan. Letter Kills and Sugarcult are friends of ours, so I'm looking forward to seeing them. Hazen Street – those guys are awesome, I'm looking forward to hanging out with them again. PUNDIK For me, Warped Tour is definitely more about hanging out, by far. Everybody hangs out, and there are barbecues every night. I've heard that at Ozzfest, no one hangs out. So I think it's really cool that with Warped, no matter how big you are, everybody's on the same level.

Will you be playing any pranks on other bands? Do you have any old scores to settle with certain tour mates?

FREDDY CRICIEN Nothin' planned, but I'm sure we'll come up with something. And no old scores to settle, at least that we know of. But you never know! SHADOWS No old scores to settle, but you who we might fuck with, then it might not be such a big surprise, so we'll just wait and see. SKIBA No, it's too hot for that shit! I've never been much of a prankster, anyway. I learnt at an early age that when I try to play jokes on people, it always turns out really bad – someone either gets hurt physically, or their feelings get hurt, or I ruin a friendship. LAZZARA Man, a magician can't give away his secrets! But I think Yellowcard's gonna get it – they're gonna have to watch out. Warped seems to offer a wider variety of bands every year. Does the tour still deserve its reputation as a punk festival, even though a lot of the acts aren't strictly punk rock? SKIBA Yeah Bad Religion are on it every other year or so, and in my opinion, Bad Religion are one of the best punk bands ever. It still brings out the best names in quote-unquote "punk rock," and it's great. RICKLY I think the ethic of the thing is still pretty damn punk rock – it's probably more punk than most punk bands still are. Before we were ever on it, I kind of had negative feelings about it, just like, oh, this sort of cheesy, all punk bands whatever. And then, once I saw how it operated and how cool everybody was that ran everything I really changed my mind. We actually had the Bronx opening for us for a while on tour and they were talking about how Warped was kind of not their scene And I was like, "Seriously, guys – you wouldn't believe how fucking punk it is." CRICIEN Like every genre, the music has become a little more diverse – when you say "punk,” there are a lot of different styles you can choose under that name. I mean, Hazen Street are not exactly a punk band, but we've got punk and hardcore roots, and I think a lot of the bands that are playing Warped have some of that element in their music. MORSE It's hard to say what punk rock is anymore, because that term has gotten stretched in every different direction. To me, Johnny Cash is punk, but a kid today might be like, Aw, that's redneck stuff. It's a lifestyle, not just the way you look – you can go to Hot Topic, spend a hundred bucks, and come out and be a punk But the attitude of Warped is definitely punk. Everybody's equal, there are no rock-star egos involved, Nobody's flying in on a helicopter and complaining about the catering!

Concert promoter Kevin Lyman launched the Warped Tour in 1995 as a celebration of loud music and the culture surrounding extreme sports. Since then, the traveling festival has turned into an annual pilgrimage and party not only for the fans but also for dozens of bands, most of whom have come to see it as a kind of punk-rock summer camp. Lyman explains why such acts as NOFX, Deftones, Pennywise, New Found Glory, and others have made multiple visits to Warped and look forward to more.

When you started the festival, did you think it would become so high-profile? KEVIN LYMAN No way. In the beginning, someone tried to put an eight-year contract deal together for me, and I was like, Why waste our time? We'll never be around then.  What's the secret of your success? We've never strayed from what we set out to do, which is to provide good value, new bands, and some of the old bands people love. And we have a great time doing it.  Warped has a reputation for being the most unsanitary tour around. It's not like that anymore, but we used to play a lot of places that didn't have showers, so we'd have to go swimming in lakes and irrigation canals. I was having stomach trouble recently, and a doctor told me "You're carrying small traces of every water-borne illness known to man."  What's the best practical joke you've witnessed? Fletcher [Dragge of Pennywise] was shooting Fat Mike from NOFX with a BB gun while he was onstage. So when Pennywise was playing, NOFX put habanero pepper sauce on the lips of all of Fletcher's Zimas. The first time he picked one up to get a drink, his face just about exploded, so he reached for another one and burned his mouth off again. What's the strangest onstage accident that's occurred? In 1998, the guitarist from Save Ferris [Brian Mashburn] had an accident. He pooped his pants, because he didn't have time go to the bathroom before the band went on. Do you see yourself as a guru or shaman of punk rock? I'm more like a teacher. I like showing young bands how to tour professionally and give their best presentation. If the first Warped Tour hadn't worked, I probably would have gone into teaching. 

JON WIEDERHORN

For Geoff Rickly and his Thursday bandmates, this summer's Vans Warped Tour will mark the end of their long and arduous slog supporting 2003's acclaimed War All the Time. In this exclusive Revolver interview, Rickly – who's been dealing with some serious health problems, including stomach ulcers – reveals his concerns about the band's future.

So, what are your concerns regarding the band's future? GEOFF RICKLY This year has been so stressful for each of us, and we've sort of contemplated the end of the band. We want to do this – we love this band – but if we hung onto it past the time it was over, it would be a disappointment for everybody. If people were seeing us playing badly, or if we put out a record that was kind of half-assed and weird, people wouldn't understand that there was a time when there was something really special about Thursday. When we spoke at the end of 2003, you guys seemed to feel you were no longer connecting with one another onstage. Is that still a problem? No. Right now, we've been totally killing it. We just did a European tour, playing to 500 people a night in small places, sometimes even without stages, and it was just amazing. But I'm not a great singer to anyone's standards, and when we're doing things like the Late Night With Conan O'Brien show and I'm not singing in key... Having a bad night on national television is a lot harder for some people to take, especially now that we're in a world where bigger music publications and bigger record companies are noticing us and talking about us. To me, that stuff is kind of a moot point, but I guess it's something we should look at, and decide whether or not it's important. This year I think we're finally able to talk about stuff – about the life of the band and what we see the band doing. Will you start working on a new record after Warped is over? After Warped Tour, we're taking a lot of time off. I'm not saying this is the end of the band, or this is our last tour, or anything like that. But we're going to go home and take some time away from each other. We're all going to write on our own and then get together. To me, War All the Time was a really small step forward. I think, lyrically I was able to get more subtle, and the guys tightened up as players, but the album wasn't a huge step forward. And if this next record is not a huge step forward, then we'll probably stop being a band. How does your health factor into all of this? I've been incredibly sick The Coachella [Valley Music and Arts] Festival was the worst of it – I collapsed onstage, and I was spitting blood while I was trying to sing. I had a ton of stomach ulcers, but the doctors were thinking it was stomach cancer, which was scary as shit. I spent the week after Coachella in the hospital before we went off to Europe. Luckily, the treatments they had me undergo have my stomach completely cured as of right now. But it was terrifying and weird. I was thinking about mortality, both mine and the band’s. Are the other guys in the band on the same page as you? To be honest, I think this is the first time that anybody is vocalizing it. But we've all gotten to the point where we know that something is great about this band but that there are things that we have to deal with. They may not be verbalizing it, but I think everybody's much where I am. But that being said, I think that this is one of the first times where we feel that, wow, this next one's gonna be special! If it ever comes, it's gonna be really special, and if it doesn't, I’m okay with that too.

DAN EPSTEIN

Revolver Magazine, Issue #28 (September 2004)

Due to popular demand...

The article from that Warped Tour 2004 issue of Revolver Magazine.