Concert Crap: What new bands are you most excited to see or have on this year’s tour edition of Warped Tour?
Kevin Lyman: White Noise, Alestorm, Creeper and to see how I Prevail, Neck Deep and Too Close [To Touch] to continue to develop.
CC: What do you say to the pessimistic people who trash talk Warped Tour and the lineup this year, and sometimes every year?
KL: Stay home, start your own tour and enjoy your summer.
CC: Besides new bands, what new ideas are you implementing onto this year’s tour?
KL: Continuing our partnership with A Voice for the Innocent and now the Crisis Text Hotline.
CC: Can you talk about the “Free Parent Ticket” entry and why you guys decided to bring it back?
KL: It was like repealing Obamacare without a plan. I just hope parents don’t take advantage of it. Last year it got out of control. The last thing we need to be doing is arguing with someone on whether they are truly a parent.
CC: How does it feel knowing that Warped Tour has been around for the entirety of some of your attendees’ lives?
KL: Kinda funny you start talking about something and the other person will say wait can you explain more, “I wasn’t even born then.” To me it seems like yesterday and you don’t realize that 23 years has gone by.
CC: What is your favorite, and least favorite thing about being a part of the biggest yearly festival tour ever?
KL: My favorite thing is seeing how pumped fans get when they discover a new band or just lose themselves in the moment. I hate when a storm stops a show, that’s why I fight so hard to get them restarted as quickly as possible.
CC: I know you’re all hands on deck when it comes to Warped Tour every summer, but can you talk about the “It’s Not Dead Festival” and its second coming this year in San Bernardino, California?
KL: It is the festival for my soul…I come from that era of music and I book that show for myself, and am lucky that 20,000 people wanted to join me.
CC: What does music mean to you?
KL: Freedom. I have been able to thread it through my entire life and that feels pretty good…actually sitting here listening to Spotify on random play.
CC: If you can bring back any band or artist from the dead to play Warped Tour for one set for one show, who would you pick, what city would you choose, and what venue would you want them to play in?
KL: The Ramones, I’ve always tried to get them to come and play, and actually offered them an “All Ramones, All The Time Stage.’’ They could have all their side projects play and then close.
CC: Is there anything else you would like this say about this year’s Warped Tour lineup or anything else you’re working on at all?
KL: Though physically it is getting harder to do this tour, I want to thank everyone who will be working their asses off in those lots with me this summer.
Vans Warped Tour Dates and Tickets / It’s Not Dead Festival
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Post and interview by Corey Kleinsasser
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