photo by Cam Penner
intro by Cara Wilwerding
I felt like I was back in high school on Tuesday, as Hear Nebraska multimedia intern Cam Penner and I headed to Kansas City for the Vans Warped Tour.
We saw bands whose CDs we’d stashed away in dusty boxes — lyrics still on file in our minds though we haven’t listened to their music in years. There were guilty pleasures, embarrassing bands from junior high, mixed in with new groups we’d never heard of before. They all molded together to create a perfect getaway from the hectic college life that Cam and I both have one more year to get through.
While we rushed from show to show, toting cameras, notepads and PB&J sammies, we caught 14 full sets out of the more than 100 total bands, artists and DJs on Tuesday’s lineup. Here is our take on Kansas City’s 2013 Warped Tour.
11:30 a.m. — Big D And The Kids Table
12:15 p.m. — Architects
12:30 p.m. — Matt Vincent of The American Scene
1:25 p.m. — Defeater
2 p.m. – Beebs and Her Money Makers (with interview)
3 p.m. — Forever The Sickest Kids
3:30 p.m. — Stick To Your Guns
4:10 p.m. — The Wonder Years
4:45 p.m. — Billy Talent
4:45 p.m. — Silverstein
5:55 p.m. — Reel Big Fish
6:30 p.m. — Motion City Soundtrack (with interview)
7:05 p.m. — Never Shout Never
7:30 p.m. — The Early November
8:15 p.m. — We Came As Romans (with interview)
11:30 a.m. — Big D And The Kids Table
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
review by Cara Wilwerding
This Boston ska band started the day off right with a killer show on the Domo Stage. Wearing a shirt that read “Fox News Lies,” lead singer David McWane pumped his fists in the air, jumped madly around the stage and kicked stray beach balls back to the crowd, a young and colorful group, excited for what Vans had dubbed “the best day ever.”
Billy Kottages’ trombone and Ryan O’Connor’s saxophone brought a sound to the stage that most bands at Warped Tour — primarily metal, rock and hardcore — didn’t possess. Fans got a chance to know new songs throughout the set, off their eighth and ninth albums, Stomp and Stroll, which were released in June. F bombs flew at the end of Big D’s set, as they ended with “LA.X,” a rambunctious song off their third studio album, How it Goes.
12:15 p.m. — Architects
photos by Cam Penner
review by Cara Wilwerding
Maybe it was just due to my lack of interest in anything metal, but only Architects' adorable English accents stood out as anything special from their set. Lead screamer Sam Carter led the group, dressed in all black, on an angry rampage with more curse words than I could count.
While their music didn't resonate with me, Architects did strike a chord with me and other audience members when they spoke a bit about climate change. “Word-of-mouth is more powerful than you’re ever fucking now,” Carter said. “You’re the change this world needs.”
His soapbox was ironic considering the thousands of water bottles, posters and wrappers that littered the Cricket Amphitheatre. Maybe next year’s Warped Tour attendees will recognize the long-term effects of their littering, and take Carter’s message to heart. Fingers crossed.
12:30 p.m. — Matt Vincent of The American Scene
review and photo by Cara Wilwerding
Tucked into a small orange tent reserved only for acoustic artists, Matt Vincent played the most honest set I saw all day. I’ve always had a soft spot for original singer/songwriters, but I don’t think Vincent’s soft guitar and tender vocals were the only reason his music resonated with me.
It was the lyrics that really made me appreciate his style. After going through a recent breakup, it’s been hard to find the right way to describe my emotions. I haven’t known what to say, or how to talk about it, even to my closest friends. But Matt Vincent got it. “I’ve been walking circles around the truth,” he sang to a crowd of no more than 25 or 30 listeners in their teens and early 20s. “I just don’t think of you like I used to.” Thank you, Matt, for putting my feelings into words when I couldn’t.
1:25 p.m. — Defeater
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
review by Cam Penner
Defeater was one of the bands I really wanted to see at Warped Tour this year. I probably listened to their new album Letters Home at least a dozen times.
They opened their set with “Bastards,” which is also their opening track off Letters Home. This was a great track to let the crowd know who they are right away.
Watching Defeater play after listening to them through headphones for so long made the wait well worth it. Their music is riddled with intense bursts of emotion let out through yelling and the smashing of instruments.
Defeater frontman Derek Archambault calmed the action mid-set with an all-acoustic song. I kept expecting him to start screaming mid song and hear the rest of the band come back in, but he refrained.
2 p.m. – Beebs and Her Money Makers (with interview)
Interview by Cam Penner
I didn’t expect to interview bluesy ska band Beebs and Her Money Makers, let alone interview them in a bathroom. This was both the band's and my first interview in a bathroom, but it proved to be a very casual location.
We talked about their superpowers and John Stamos. I also learned they were sponsored by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, which fits their personalities perfectly. I wish I could have checked out their set, but due to the hecticness that is Warped Tour, I missed it.
Listen to the full interview here:
3 p.m. — Forever The Sickest Kids
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cara Wilwerding
review by Cara Wilwerding
The rain cleared up and the sun finally came out for Forever The Sickest Kids’ set. And it came out bright. Shirts peeled off and sunscreen went on as they played songs about girls named Nikki and Brittney, about crying yourself to sleep and one song dedicated to lead singer Jonathan Cook’s dad, Mitch, who stood proudly in the front row.
After a long morning, starting with a pesky alarm clock at 5 a.m., FTSK gave me just the revival I needed. Cook pumped the crowd up by daring them to beat a record they set during their show at Sunday’s Warped Tour in Minneapolis — 221 crowd surfers in one set. With the help of young girls in bikini tops, sweaty boys wearing baseball caps and even one gray-haired man in yellow, Tuesday’s crowd beat that record.
3:30 p.m. — Stick To Your Guns
review and photos by Cam Penner
Stick To Your Guns is metalcore at its finest. The anger from vocalist Jess Barnett was spilling out of the mic.
I didn’t listen to Stick To Your Guns much before seeing them live, but I appreciated their anger-ridden music. That’s the beauty of Warped Tour, it’s really easy to discover something new.
I couldn’t help but throw a fist in the air and bob my head to the beat. Others were a bit more rambunctious: They opened up a mosh pit and started to hardcore dance complete with swinging fists and stomps timed to the rhythm.
4:10 p.m. — The Wonder Years
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
review by Cam Penner
The Wonders Years just recently released one of the most creative pop punk albums of the year in my opinion. In a genre that can easily follow into a cookie-cutter song structure, they seemed to break the mold.
The Greatest Generation features catchy lines that you want to sing as loud as you can, headbanging guitar riffs, and well-timed yelling. The Greatest Generation's best moment is the last song “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral” that takes the best parts of each previous song and weaves them together to make something entirely new.
“Being a band whose biggest dream was to maybe play our drummer’s birthday party, this is huge to play the main stage,” singer Dan Campbell said.
I could tell that The Wonder Years were having a blast playing the main stage. In a lot of the photos I took of them, they had huge grins on their faces.
4:45 p.m. — Billy Talent
review and photos by Cara Wilwerding
Billy Talent frontman Benjamin Kowalewicz has got to be one of the most hyperactive dudes in the punk rock scene today. His face contorts in a crazy, messed-up way when he belts “Voices of Violence.” With the perfect amount of whininess and just a touch of that awkward, nasally sound, it’s almost as if his voice isn’t real — like something created on Garage Band by combining human vocals with howling wolves. Kowalewicz’s band backed up his quirky vocal tones with consistently heavy and jagged chord progressions and drumbeats.
The four-piece Canadian group said they’re not used to the Kansas City heat, but they’ve come to love the city itself. Between songs, Kowalewicz recounted a story of the last time he was in town, when he witnessed a gun shootout only five feet away. But on their day off Monday, the band roamed KC streets and Kowalewicz said he met “some of the most beautiful people.”
Many of these beautiful people crowded the concrete in front of Billy Talent’s stage as Kowalewicz spoke about the importance of keeping the punk scene alive. “Thank you very much for still believing in the power of rock ‘n roll music,” he shouted as audience members cheered him on with “fuck yeahs.” They headbanged and screamed with him until the end of the 35-minute set.
4:45 p.m. — Silverstein
review and photos by Cam Penner
Silverstein was one of the bands that got me into hardcore/screamo music. I’d never seen them play live and being that Warped Tour is a sort of musical buffet, it was the perfect opportunity to catch their set.
They played all the songs I remember listening to such as “Smile In Your Sleep” and “My Sword Versus Your Dagger.” It was just like I remembered hearing while driving in my car, but this time vocalist Shane Told was dripping sweat on me.
During “My Sword Versus Your Dagger,” guitarists Paul Marc Rousseau and Josh Bradford had an arm wrestling battle during the breakdown. It was hard to tell who won, but you can be the judge by the photo above.
5:55 p.m. — Reel Big Fish
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
review by Cara Wilwerding
Taking a much-needed break from the heavy metal bellowing from surrounding stages, we stepped into a second ska act with Reel Big Fish. I’d seen the California natives twice before, but I don’t remember them ever being so funny. After a couple songs, lead singer Aaron Barett introduced newbies to the band by saying, “You didn’t think we’d be this handsome in person, did you? Hashtag cute band!”
Dressed in Hawaiian print button-ups, track jackets and sports coats, and donning checkered guitars, the RBF crew made it a priority to have a boatload of fun on stage. They played “Suburban Rhythm” twice, giving audience members the chance to form a circle pit. The crowd combined moshing and skanking to form a style of dance that’s probably only possible when ska bands play Warped Tour. Then Reel Big Fish played “Suburban Rhythm” once more, singing in the highest voices possible and asking everyone to shake their booties. And then again so everyone could square dance. And yes, you guessed it, they even played a screamo version of “Suburban Rhythm.”
It was entertaining, but everyone seemed a little relieved when they finally switched to “Fuck Everything,” then sang a duet with Beebs from Beebs and Her Money Makers a cover of “Call Me Maybe” and my personal favorite Big Fish song, “Beer.” They ended with a cover of “Take On Me,” a crowd pleaser that resulted in a booming sing-a-long session.
6:30 p.m. — Motion City Soundtrack (with interview)
review, photo and interview by Cara Wilwerding
With only two hours of show time left, I finally got to see the band I’d been waiting for all day. It was my fourth time seeing Motion City Soundtrack live, and they were just as incredible as every other time.
Lead singer Justin Pierre’s stage presence is simple — he doesn’t have to say much to keep a crowd happy. Pierre and bandmates Joshua Cain, Jesse Johnson, Matthew Taylor and Claudio Rivera debuted “Inside Out,” a new song they plan to release on their sixth upcoming album.
Rather than taking detailed notes during this set, I was busy singing my lungs out. But earlier in the day, I got the chance to fulfill a livelong dream, chatting with Pierre about new band members, our shared love for books and a dream vacation to Japan. Read the Q&A with Pierre here:
Hear Nebraska: You released Go in June 2012. What have you guys been up to since then?
Justin Pierre: The first year was just kind of touring. Then we’ve just been writing. What’s crazy with that album was that we recorded that in 2011, so it’s been over two years since we’ve written that album.
Less people are buying albums now, and I feel like people are going to start releasing them sooner. Maybe it’s even better to just put out singles or EPs. We just recorded a song recently called “Inside Out.” Its mixed and mastered too, so I think we’re going to release it after Warped Tour just for fun.
HN: Claudio Rivera (of Saves The Day) just officially joined you guys on drums. How’s that working out? What does he add to the music that you didn’t have before?
JP: We’ve known him since the '90s and he’s actually worked for us for many years. We asked when Tony [Thaxton] left if he would help fill in, which was awesome. Josh and I live in Minneapolis so we would get together and write, and sometimes Claudio would just play drums to facilitate the songwriting process. Him and Josh hang out all the time and play these ridiculous board games. It just made sense, and it was such an easy transition. If you meet the guy, he’s always stoked and full of positivity, he just wants to do stuff.
Definitely one thing is that he listens to a lot of pop music. I just kind of stopped listening to music in 1996. I’m definitely that person. I hold music dear to me from my high school years and it’s hard for me to get into newer things; it has to really stick out. Where Claudio is very different, every year era and decade, he’s very knowledgeable on music in general. He definitely brings that to the table. He’s an incredible drummer, he’s just super talented.
HN: What’s it like to be a veteran at Warped Tour, with so many new, young bands joining the lineup? How have you helped foster such bands?
JP: Eight years total. I don’t know that we’re fostering anything. I feel like a lot of these younger bands know what they’re doing.
I definitely feel little. I feel like there are only a handful of bands that aren’t really hard and screamy. There’s a metal element to a lot of these bands that we don’t have, so I feel like we're definitely on the outside. In 2010, the last year we were on, I noticed a lot of music where I didn’t know how to classify it.
Being on this tour now, being a nervous, anxious, scared human being, it’s a lot less so now that I’m older. Ten years ago, coming on and seeing all these punk rock guys with scary tattoos, it was scary. Now I’m just a little more comfortable in my skin. I’m just here to try to perform to the best of my abilities, whatever they are that day, and to have a good time.
HN: Justin, I read that you recently started a podcast about books with your wife [Book Narcs]. Can you tell me about that?
JP: It’s just something for fun. We wanted to work on a creative project together, she plays bass and sings, but she’s never been in a band. We figured since I’m always gone and doing stuff and I’m already in bands, we should do something else.
We both read a lot — we have an entire wall in our room of books we’ve read. Our plan is to eventually turn our entire house into a book library.
We’ve been thinking about it for a very long time, but executing it was kind of difficult because I’m a perfectionist. We decided to just pull the trigger even though we don’t really know what we’re doing. Really it is for us, but I get one kid every couple days who says they like it which makes me feel good. It’s hard to do on Warped Tour, so I think we’re going to get back on track when I get home and record things ahead of time so when I leave she can post them. We just like talking about books with our friends.
HN: What’s next for Motion City Soundtrack?
JP: Making a record, album number six, touring and then some time off. I’m hoping to go to Japan. I feel like my wife and I are going to try to go to Japan for our one-year anniversary. We wanted to have our honeymoon there, but it was too expensive, it’s still too expensive. Basically, we want to have one vacation to end all vacations, in the event that we never have one again. It’s been so fun touring in Japan, but there’s just very little time to do things other than playing music, getting to and from the shows and sleeping. I really just want to go there as a human being, not having to work I guess.
HN: Why do you make music?
JP: When I picked up a guitar and learned how to play a few songs, I learned that I was good at it. I liked mimicking other people’s guitar parts or voices. Eventually, I started writing my own songs. Ever since then I cant imagine not doing that. Fortunately enough for me, what began as a hobby is now what I do as a living. If that were ever to reverse, I would still make music in my room for me.
Some songs take years to write, other songs kind of write themselves. I think the point is that you have to do it all the time to get anywhere, let alone better. I think it’s just in me; it’s something I have to do. It’s a way I can express thoughts, ideas, feelings. It’s the quickest way I know how to do that. Because writing a novel, I don’t think I could do that. I can’t draw cartoons or comics or pictures. But for me, I can write a song.
7:05 p.m. — Never Shout Never
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
photo by Cam Penner
photo by Cara Wilwerding
review by Cara Wilwerding
As usual, the girls went crazy for Never Shout Never’s Christofer Drew Ingle. They threw stuffed animals and pink bras on stage, while declaring their undying love for the 20-year-old Joplin, Mo., native. One guy even shouted, “my girlfriend would leave me for you!”
But Ingle barely noticed the flirtations that he’s become ever so used to since his work caught fire after releasing The Yippee EP in 2008. Barefoot like he often is in day-to-day life, he played instruments uncommon at Warped Tour — the ukulele and harmonica being his favorites. Ingle sang about coffee and ladies mostly. The tunes were catchy, but the lyrics seemed a bit superficial. But Audience members didn’t mind. They danced in circles, while snapping hundreds of photos of Ingle, tatted from head to toe.
7:30 p.m. — The Early November
review and photo by Cara Wilwerding
With the evening winding down, exhausted concertgoers took advantage of the amphitheater seating to enjoy The Early November. Cigarette smoke was abundant, and was starting to give me a headache, but frontman Arthur “Ace” Enders did his best to alleviate it with songs such as “In Currents,” off their newest album, with the same name, released July 10.
In addition to this set, Enders also played an acoustic show earlier in the evening, under the alias, I Can Make a Mess. I’m not extremely familiar with Enders or The Early November, but there were at least a couple songs I could sing along to. “I Want To Hear You Sad” was hidden away on my iPod for years. It’s one of those songs that you forget the name of, but can still recite every word. And I could tell these words had come from somewhere deep. They were real. Not misleading, just straightforward.
8:15 p.m. — We Came As Romans (with interview)
review, photos and interview by Cam Penner
Came As Romans was the band I was most excited for. I’ve seen them play a few times before at Sokol Underground and the Beaumont Club in Kansas City so I knew to expect a heartfelt performance.
Earlier in the day, I had the chance to interview guitarist Josh Moore and nerd out a bit. Listen below to my interview with him.
While taking photos during We Came As Romans, I couldn’t help but smile and sing along, which isn’t the easiest to do when looking through a camera.
Also, there was a slight pause during We Came As Romans set for unclean vocalist Dave Stephens’ friend to propose to his girlfriend. She said yes.
Cara Wilwerding and Cam Penner are Hear Nebraska interns. They nerded out hard Tuesday. Reach them at caraw@hearnebraska.org and camp@hearnebraska.org.