Warped Tour 2010: Fake Problems & Street Sweeper Social Club

So I'm sorry I was offline and didn't have any updates on Tuesday, but between the chaos of my NPMT showcase (I'll explain later) and spending all day at the Warped Tour, I wasn't able to get any webby time. The truth is that even at Warped Tour, where in the past I hopped from stage to stage to stage, this year I really only saw a few bands and spent a lot of time in the backstage areas where, according to the release I signed, I'm not really allowed to discuss or photograph. Still, it was an amazing day and I'll get to posting some photos later (still looking for a miracle photo uploader, by the way), but I got a couple videos that I wanted to share right away.

The first one is an interview I did with Fake Problems. I seriously love this band and they were the first band I got to see upon arrival. Later I caught up with them and Jon Pebsworth, who runs their label SideOneDummy...you might also know him as the frontman for Buck O Nine...and after trying to contact Tim Pyles to do an interview, I had to suck it up and do one myself. So I'm sorry, of all the things I do, interviews are not my forte, but I love Chris and I want you to love this band and demand that they get their asses back to San Diego.



Get their free download here.

Later, when I realized Street Sweeper Social Club was playing, I called my old friend Jason (who currently plays with Kenan Bell). Last time SSSC played in San Diego was with Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction, and he kindly hooked me up with backstage passes, so I wondered if he had returned with the band. Turned out he was here with Tom Morello, so we met up backstage and they let me capture their celebratory toast for the release of their self-titled record.



Like I said, I'll get around to posting all of my photos from the day, but wanted to share these videos. For now, my forehead looks like someone slapped me with a dead trout and I've had enough sun to last me awhile, so I'm gonna hit the hay and hope I can get some solid sleep tonight.

Death at Warped Tour

I feel like I'm prematurely posting this, but when I saw my traffic was waaay up and people were searching "Warped Tour Death" and landing on my site, as a public service (I guess), all I've found so far is this article on Absolute Punk that a 26 year old male died at the Kansas City Warped Tour stop.

Absolute Punk

I will do my best to find more information, but at this time, this is all I know. You can read the thread and speculation that it might have had something to do with the 110-115 degree temperatures. I'll put my feelers out with Warped Tour and LiveNation and see if I can get any additional info. I am really only posting this because of the very random spike in my traffic and search analytics and not everyone is keen to the up to the minute value of search on Twitter.

Twitter search thread

I really hate to get cautionary or motherly, but with recent deaths at The Love Parade, The Electric Daisy Carnival, Bonnaroo and other events, take a step back. I'm in no way blaming death on the victims, but there are some are things you can do to protect yourself...drink water...be aware of your surroundings....when a crowd is getting crazy, get away from the situation...stampedes just don't happen spontaneously. I mean, I'm sure that dude at Comic-con never thought he'd get stabbed in the eye with a pen, but fucking crazy shit happens all the time. Best to be overly cautious in such situations. The saddest things are these events are supposed to promote peace and love of our modern culture and each other. Embrace people. Even strangers. They just might save your life.

Warped Tour 2009

Warped Tour was back in town yesterday. The festival has been around for 15 years now and it continues to be edgy and demonstrate that Kevin Lyman is a very smart man. While concerts get cancelled for lack of ticket sales, Warped Tour defies the economic downturn and man, do the kids come out. I wasn't planning on seeing any specific bands, for me it's always interesting to just wander around checking out random bands.

The day started when Xavie picked me up around noon. We went back to his house where we met his friend Andrew for some tailgate activity. We headed to the amphitheatre and hit a little bit of traffic but nothing too crazy. After getting in, we went straight to the VIP area where my friend let us in to enjoy the $5 beers (they were $12 in the concert area). They also had free snacks, so we loaded up on hot pretzels and popcorn before we realized that we spent a lot of time before actually seeing bands, so I eventually hit the pavement.

I ran into Tim Pyles and we wandered over to see Fishbone. They are always amazing live- tons of energy and legends at what they do.

I had a great time wandering the festival and didn't really stay at any one stage for too long, but I caught NOFX, The Gallows, and a few other bands before the day turned to night. I caught a ride home from George from Uncle Joe's. It was a long day and I'm not sure where I found the energy to head to Beauty Bar after, but that was a great show, too. Anyway, click 'keep on reading' to see the photos, and huge thanks to Xavie, Andrew, George, Tim, and especially O for an amazing day.

Warped Tour San Diego, 8.14.08

After a rough work week, it was nice to have taken a Thursday off. Wednesday night I had a blast, starting with a couple drinks at the Ken with a coworker, then hanging with Todd. We went to the Alibi for a while, then to the Sports Club met up with Abraham and Neil, then back to the Ken where Jake met up with us, then we all hung out at my place after. Staying up late meant I slept in a bit longer than intended when Thursday rolled around.

Jake and I headed to Warped Tour after stopping for tacos at Maria Bonita, a taco shop near my parents house on Orange and Melrose. If you're in Chula Vista, it's just one offramp before Cricket Wireless and it's delicious. We parked at the venue and got our VIP and photo passes.

The first thing to do at any Warped Tour is to check the board, because the lineup isn't decided until the day of the show.


For the rest of this post, click 'keep on reading'



The first band we checked out was MIA. They were kinda boring, to be honest. Not enough rage for me or something. Maybe it was just too early in the day.
MIA


We wandered over and saw Pierce the Veil and they had a huge hometown crowd and the kids ate em up.

Pierce The Veil




We decided to see what access our wristbands got us, so we went to the main backstage area where the catering was. We had a couple complimentary Hansen's sodas then wandered back to the main festival area.

VIP/band catering menu board


There were band signings all day and I was surprised how many kids would wait in line when there were so many bands playing.

Autograph Line


We went to the backstage area behind the two main stages, then I went up for photos during Rise Against. I really enjoyed their set. I have a feeling they played Jason's basement back in the day, but I can't be sure. So many bands passed through there. I went to the shows but didn't really follow the straight edge scene. They gave a shout to Che Cafe which was pretty rad.

Rise Against




I ran into Sandra and she told me not to miss GBH, so we watched from onstage, then I went around the front to take pictures, then met back up onstage with Jake for the rest of the set. I liked them a lot. "Who in the crowd is over 40? Come on, be proud to be old. If you don't get old, you die."

GBH


We hung out with Jake's friend Sam, who was playing in FEAR, and then I took some pics of Against Me! who were good, but again, I could've used more angst there based on their recordings.

Against Me! (Setlist)




I didn't think I'd really care about Reel Big Fish, because I'd seen them so many times back when I was hanging with the Goldfinger guys, but they still put on a great show, and they did a really cool cover of Enter Sandman. "We just wrote that." They were really entertaining and the trumpet player loved posing for pictures.

Reel Big Fish




We wandered over to see Sam play in FEAR and there was a nice little circle pit going on for them. Lots of songs about Beer. Then More Beer. The Rise Against guys were in the crowd, as was Mike Watt. While I was taking pictures, Schwayze walked by and had a little group of about 25 tweens chasing them. I left midway through the set to get back to the mainstages in hopes of catching the Vandals, passing Katy Perry's bus.

FEAR


Mike Watt & Katy Perry's Bus


I was torn between waiting in line to be onstage or to jockey up front before their set to take pics, and opted on the latter. They were hands down my favorite set of the day, and though I didn't get to talk to Joe Escalante, I was happy to see him onstage again.

The Vandals






We were pretty much done and ready to leave after The Vandals, but I thought I should take advantage of the photo pass and snap some shots of Angels and Airwaves. The sun was quickly setting so all the photogs were using flash, which I tried to use to my advantage, but I had to keep switching my settings. I don't have anything to say about the band except that Tom is clearly his own brand and there will always be kids who love him, no matter what he does. The photo pit was full, I almost got Tom's shoe in my face about three times, and there was a line of about 20 security behind us to catch all the girls who were getting passed over the crowd.

Angels & Airwaves






After the three song photo limit, we were done and took the back way home, stopping for dinner at a Hawaiian BBQ place in National City. I would've loved to catch the CityBeat party at Basic and the Swim Party/Calico Horse show at the Casbah, but I had to work on Friday and I knew it was going to be pretty hectic. Instead, I was in bed by 10 pm. Huge thanks to O for hooking me up. Last year I went to Warped and while it was fun, the bands weren't really my speed with all the Emo and Screamo, but this year it seemed back to it's punkier roots and I really was impressed with the bands that I saw. Not a bad way to spend a day off of work.