Music

3 Days with the Vans Warped Tour

by Barry Taylor

Last month the Vans Warped Tour kicked off in Carson, California. The tour will come to Toronto this Friday, Montreal on Saturday and Edmonton on August 5^th. Founder Kevin Lyman invited a group of Canadian music journalists to cover the rehearsal day and first two stops on the tour.

Sam Sutherland and Barry Taylor went down and represented AUX TV. Check out a full recap on the July 17 edition of AUX Weekly.  For now, enjoy the transcript of Barry Taylor’s confiscated personal journal.

Day 1: Rehearsal Day

When we left Toronto it was over thirty degrees with the humidity. As I was packing I only assumed that meant that California would be balls hot.

I prepared for the worst. Lots of t-shirts, three pairs of shorts, one pair of pants (just in case I have to go to a restaurant), one hoody (just in case it rains) and lots of underwear and socks.

We walked out of LAX and it was eighteen fucking degrees. At 2:30 in the afternoon. That’s even shitty summer temperatures for Canada. We had a ride waiting for us and we went straight to our hotel.

The hotel was really nice and when we checked in they gave us all a warm chocolate-chip cookie. That instantly made up for the cool temperatures. Delicious.

While we were checking in, a woman came down and started freaking on the people at the front desk.  She was screaming that the view from her room was a brick wall.

The hotel was in the middle of a lot. We tried to find brick walls outside the place but couldn’t. Maybe she was staying in the basement? I’d probably complain too.

After we dropped our bags in our rooms we headed to the Warped Tour site. The actual tour starts tomorrow but we got to go check everything out and interview some bands.

While we were there we had the catering that they have for artists and tour staff. It was awesome. There were fish and chicken tacos.  Sooo good :). Plus it made dinner conversation so easy. Do you know how many fish-taco jokes there are out there? Two hundred and thirty five.

We went back to our hotel after dinner and hung out. It was late June in Los Angeles, and we were chillin’ by the pool with some beers. And we were god damn freezing.

The Warped Tour begins tomorrow. They’ll hit forty-three cities  by August 15^th. That is nutty.

Goodnight sweet prince.

Day 2: Carson, California

Carson California was the first stop for the 2010 Warped Tour. We got to interview a ton of bands. Andrew WK was intense and super nice. The Flatliners are down here too. It’s fun to see, and hang out with, other Canadians.

There was a huge crowd at the show. Lots of people were rocking ear gauges. Carsians – is that what you call someone from Carson? – of all ages love having their ear lobes stretched. Not too sure  how I feel about that.

The catering was amazing again today. For lunch there was bacon cheese burgers, veggie burgers, giant onion rings, salads and curly fries. For dinner they busted out pasta pima-vera and pork chops. Big salads too. There was veggie and meat lasagna and fresh bread. It was difficult to hide our tummy boners.

The amount of rigs that showed up at the end of the night was unbelievable.  They’re all needed to transport the tour. Seeing them roll in was almost scary. Like Joyride times a million.

Tonight we’re traveling by bus to the next town. Another Canadian and I are rolling with the Skullcandy guys. They’re really nice. When we inquired if they had any weed they looked at us like we asked them for crystal meth. Kinda awkward.

Fortunately they enjoyed drinking, so we eased the tension with beer and J.D.

Tomorrow’s stop is Mountain View, California. I just found out we’re interviewing Kevin Lyman first thing in the morning. Probably should have drank less. Faaak.

Sweet dreams bello.

Day 3: Mountain View, California

Actually felt pretty good waking up this morning. Sleeping in a bus bunk isn’t bad at all. Very comfy. The interview with Kevin Lyman was alright, I don’t think I wreaked of booze and was actually coherent. Big win.

Having done all of our interviews yesterday, we were able to check out a bunch of the band performances today. Alkaline Trio started out rough but finished strong. Bouncing Souls were great.

While we were hanging out at the Flatliners merch tent Scott tried to teach me how to juggle. I failed. Then, one merch tent over, one of the guys from Fake Problems started juggling bowling pins.

Scott and the Fake Problems dude began juggling together and I had to stand there like an idiot. Whatever, juggling is for losers.

The Flatliners had the dubious task of performing at 8:00 tonight. That can be tough for bands at the Warped Tour since most concert goers are burnt out by then. They still managed to draw a crowd and their set was the best we saw all day. Seeing a crowd of Californians sing along to a band from New Market was cool as fuck.

Lots of people in Mountain View were also sporting ear gauges. I guess it’s not just Carson. Whatever, those things are fucking weird.

The catering was yet again, bonerific. Fresh sandwiches you could toast on a grill for lunch and salads, garlic bread and fancy chicken for dinner.

The night ended with a Warped Tour barbecue. A band called  the Sparring are the BBQ band for this year. They get to play on the tour in exchange for preparing, running and cleaning up after a giant barbecue for all the bands and tour staff.

Everything was free, you were just asked to tip the band. We dropped $5 on him and he treated us like we were Diddy in a club. The rest of the night becomes rather fuzzy after that.

We leave the tour tomorrow morning. It’s been an amazing three days. I can’t wait ‘til the tour comes to Toronto and we can meet up with all these people again. I’m looking forward to introducing the Skullcandy guys to Canadian meth.

Hugs and kisses.