warped tour...thoughts and secrets
For many, Warped Tour is a haven of eclectic musical genres, but for others it is an opportunity to share music with a larger audience. Some bands have been on the tour for many years in succession, while others have enjoyed the festivities from an audience member’s perspective and are now playing the stages their predecessors have previously graced. There are many views within Warped Tour – on religion, politics, musical influences, and the songwriting process – but the bands still manage to get along for the few months the tour is on the road. The best way to get a feel for the tour and the bands that take the stage, is to talk to each of them about their experiences and motivations.
Cartel’s, Will Pugh, sees Warped Tour as a place where “a lot of kids see you play” and you can gain “new fans and friends” that might not have listened to the music otherwise. Warped Tour offers an exposure that has few boundaries; whether you’re walking to the fragrant port-o-potties, wandering lost in a search for a band’s merch tent, or sitting in the man-made and ever fleeting shade, one is bound to hear music that catches one’s attention or perks one’s interest. Adam, bassist of The Academy Is, is even content if the crowd is “bored and wander over” to hear them play. Any exposure is better than not being on the tour and letting your music and fan base become stagnant. NOFX’s Fat Mike enjoys the tour even though his band is a consistent and respected Warped Tour fixture. But now that they know everyone better they “don’t have to wait in the foodline” and there is a steady group of people willing to play “poker every night.”
Playing Warped Tour is proof of growth and potential. It’s also a precursor to the growth of a band’s musical career. Cartel has recently been signed to Epic, a major record label, and feel relieved that “there are more records in stores” and just more financial backing from their contract-holders. The members of The Academy Is grew up going to Warped Tour and were pleased to watch bands perform such as Eminem and Black Eye Peas. The ability to grace that same stage leaves them feeling “happy and honored.” NOFX, one of the bands that has led others to aspire to play Warped Tour, regards the current line-ups as somewhat homogenous. Fat Mike states that “so many bands sound the same now I can’t even tell the difference…But it’s not like we’re super different than anyone else. We are more fun than any other band. We don’t really care about playing well or impressing people. We just like to have fun.” Having fun is an important aspect of the music industry that many forget about and are blinded by the prospects of making a paycheck with numerous zeros.
Major labels perpetuate this thought-process. While Cartel is happy on a major label, not all choose that route happily. Fat Mike feels that although major record labels are not “inherently evil” that they are still “a corporation” and are “there to make profit and that’s all.” Many bands agree with this viewpoint and look to smaller labels, though they have less money, to receive more personalized attention: a label that will work through the songwriting process with the band rather than repeatedly sending the members to the studio without guidance or structure.
Songwriting is a tedious process, but a process that every band goes through only using a different method. The Academy Is works around a formulated riff idea and plans it out from there. William Beckett, the lead singer, will work with the melody and the rest of the band takes “a part at a time.” While within the ranks of Cartel, Will will take a demo with the hooks and the chorus and the guitar riffs and then the band will arrange those pieces from there. It’s not a true Cartel song until everyone has “had their hands in the arrangement” and the “Cartel-ing” is finished. NOFX builds their songs around a message – a message of “tolerance” and “not taking yourself to seriously.” They hope to bring to the music scene a way for bands and kids alike to honestly express themselves in a musical manner.
Music does not saturate every aspect of the band’s lives while on Warped Tour as one might think. If given a nickel for every time an audience member said “Fuck Yeah” at a show, Fat Mike would buy a round of golf. Fat Mike plays golf once a week – “especially on Warped Tour.” Golf is apparently a shared hobby between bands on Warped Tour, as Cartel enjoys a round every once in a while as well. The Academy Is spends their time together – not only friends on stage but off stage as well. While on the West Coast, they enjoy the “best fast food” such as In N Out and Del Taco, which they deem as better than the “fast food on the east coast.”
Warped Tour is a place of development and of inspiration – both for the bands on tour and those in attendance. The tour serves as a way for new talent to be showcased and as a way for attendees to acquire a sense of the music scene. The tour has been both praised and criticized, but never fails to draw an eager and appreciative crowd. Warped Tour will be around as long as there are fans willing to flock to “too hot” locations and surf through sweaty crowds to see their favorite bands. It’s a necessary fixture within the music scene.
(pic credit: Lauren Napier)
