Music

Warped Tour considers age restriction after sexual misconduct controversy

by Dan MacRae

Teen punks may no longer be welcome in the crew or on the stage at future editions of the Warped Tour.

In an interview with The Stranger, festival founder/promoter Kevin Lyman said that age restrictions may be on their way. The possibility was noted aloud as the Seattle alt-weekly asked about the disturbing problems that faced this year’s edition of the tour.

The primary issues in question are Front Porch Step playing the festival’s Nashville stop (the singer-songerwriter has been accused of sexual misconduct and exchanging sexually explicit text messages with underage fans) and Slaves frontman Jonny Craig’s alleged sexual harassment of a woman selling merch. Slaves were suspended for the remainder of their dates and Front Porch Step’s performance was met with backlash from artists and the crowd.

Lyman says there are things that need to be repaired for the future of the event.

“I’m already working on Warped Tour for next year,” he told The Stranger. “And you know what? There are things that need to be fixed. [The community] needs to fix what due process is, what judicial systems are, and [we] have to stop putting false information on the internet.”

Wait, is that really the biggest problem facing Warped Tour?

“Slow down the social media blur,” he says. “None of you are retaining. People can’t retain the name of a band and the song they play. Brains have turned into a spaghetti sieve, as I like to say, shit just flows through them all of the time. Nothing’s sticking, except for a little bit of crust off of the sides. We’re going to have to slow down technology. We have to slow it down, so it means something”

Kids these days with their technology whizbobbers have gotta slow it down and all that cyberjazz. Y’know, for all the spaghetti sieve brain talk, these kids seem to have retained that “alleged sex creep” is something they’re not particularly fond of.

The Stranger asked Lyman what steps he’s taking to make for a safer Warped Tour in 2016.

“Next year we’re going to have no kids on this tour,” he explains. “It’s going to be really tough if you want to be on this tour and are 21 and under. Whether it’s the artist, crew… anyone.”

Um, that Front Porch Step dude is over 21 and so is Slaves’ Johnny Craig. That solution doesn’t make any sense.

For clarification, Lyman says he was misquoted by The Stranger and stressed on Twitter that only bands and crew might be under an age restriction.