Throwback :]

The band I am most looking forward to seeing at Warped Tour 2011 is Simple Plan. Nothing makes me happier than a little throwback.

At 2010 Warped Tour Indiana I saw The All American Rejects and Sum 41. It was thrilling to see them because when I was younger I was absolutely in love with their music.

Now that I have seen bands I previously loved, it makes me even more excited to see Simple Plan this year.

In 2004 I saw Good Charlotte at Warped Tour Michigan. I was completely obsessed with them at the time. I am talking, an entire wall full of posters, a scrapbook of their magazine clippings, over 10 band t-shirts and knowing all the lyrics to their CDs obsessed.

But since it was my first Warped Tour I did not know what to expect and it was actually a horrifying experience.

My cousin, who went with me, and I decided to wait at the stage they were going to play at, not knowing that crowds left because there are long breaks in between bands. The band Rise Against was actually the next band playing the stage. A crowd formed, the music started and my cousin and I were pressed against the rail with an unbearable force.

Of course, I live for that feeling now, but when I was thirteen and unprepared for it, it was the terrifying. We were being smothered. We could not breathe and could barely stand. Thankfully we were close enough that security could see we were struggling and grabbed us out of crowd.

Hours later, when it was time for Good Charlotte to play at the same stage, my cousin and I were so traumatized we stood all the way in the back of the crowd. I had to enjoy them from afar. The experience could have been a lot better.

This is why I am so thankful that now I am older, and I can handle the crowd, I can finally appreciate the music I once loved to the fullest.

Simple Plan caught my attention in 2002 with their album No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls. Their hit tracks off the album include, “I’d Do Anything,” “I’m Just A Kid,” “Addicted,” and “Perfect.”

Their upbeat songs about love and youth immediately appealed to me. As soon as I found out they were going to be at Warped I downloaded their old songs and the memories started flooding back to me.

Simple Plan’s most recent self-titled album came out in 2008. Honestly, I do not remember hearing any of their songs on the radio but I am still excited. But, like Sum 41 and The American Rejects, I imagine Simple Plan is going to play their most popular songs at the show.

Because I am at the age where I can remember bands from earlier years, I am so appreciative of these bands playing. Simple Plan is going to be the highlight of the day and I have never been more excited.

-AngAllOver

New bands added:

Shut Up and Deal

Freshman 15

illScarlett

It Boys!

Larry and His Flask

Terrible Things

The Black Pacific

The BOTS 

Big B?

Six new bands have been added since we last spoke:

A Skylit Drive

Big B

Moving Mountains

New Years Day

Passafire

Places and Numbers

Under usual circumstances, I am excited when there are new bands added to the band list, but this time, I am a bit uneasy.

What concerns me about this list is that there is an artist named Big B on it. Underneath his information it says hip hop/ rap. I would like to know why there is any room for Big B, or hip hop in general, at Warped Tour.

Either the submissions on bands have been significantly low or the people who are choosing the bands have gone crazy.

In the spirit of giving Warped Tour the benefit of the doubt, I am going to research exactly who Big B is in hope of trying to see what the people of Warped Tour see in him.

When Googling Big B, it appears that his most popular CD is titled White Trash Renegade. Not only is this disturbing, but it’s also a disgrace to the fans of Warped Tour. If they think this kind of music appeals to the people who attend Warped they are highly underestimating and insulting us.

But let’s further investigate Big B, just for fun. Tracks on the CD include, “Whiteboys,” “Hit That,” “Outlaw,” “Shut the F*ck Up” and “Hooligan.”

…

I do not understand how from this evidence, the people of Warped Tour found it fitting for him to be an acceptable candidate for playing the tour.

The sad part is, as I previously stated in another blog, I feel Warped is straying away from the original concept of why it began.

I ask my fellow Warped Tour attendees to avoid Big B at all costs. It isn’t that I have anything personally against him, I just am against what he represents at Warped Tour, and that is, of course, rap music. I do not hope Big B does not do well in general but I hope he does not do well at Warped. Maybe then Warped will get the point and stick to a stricter criteria in deciding which bands have the honor (while Warped still has its good name) of playing the stages.

For those who are not discouraged by the lack of selectiveness from Warped Tour, there is still a chance to submit to the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands. For more information visit: http://www.battleofthebands.com/   

-AngAllOver

I Set My Friends On Fire!

This blog, I would like to do a band profile. The reason for this is because I love this bands’ music but have never seen them before, nor do I have any concrete knowledge about them.

I Set My Friends On Fire is a band that I have been patiently waiting to see. They first caught my attention when I heard their song “Things That Rhyme With Orange.”  This song is on their first and only album, released in 2008, You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter.

“Things That Rhyme With Orange” is what I would consider a perfect song. Like Taking Back Sunday’s “Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team),” everything about this song is perfect: the vocals, the lyrics and the melody.

The video is quite comical also.

The reason this band stands out for me is because of their lyrics. Although it can be unrecognizable to the untrained ear, ISMFOF has interesting lyrics, to say the least. Here is an example from the song:

“I'm so iconoclastic; I'm clastic!

I only want you to think I'm fantastic.

I'll participate in what you believe,

If you give me the attention!

Yeah, yeah that's the only compensation

I want to be included in your conversation.”

These lyrics appeal to me because they are articulate but touch on issues that relate to the age of their fan base. This, along with adding the occasional profanity and their overall sound, makes them unique and enjoyable to listen.

Lyrics like these are not found on the radio and it is a shame. Most lyrics heard mainstream are either about cheating, drinking or sex/lust/love. Rock/alternative/punk are the only genres and venture out and decide to talk about what it feels like to not be involved in the conformity of society.

ISMFOF joined the scene when they remade their on version of the song “Crank That” by Souljda Boy and renamed it, “Crank Dat Calvary Boy,” as a parody on their Myspace.

The band consists of Matt Mehana and Chris Lent and is signed by Epitaph. Their specific genre is experimental, but genres nowadays never really give any insight as to what the band actually sounds like. Instead of trying to describe what they sound like, I would highly encourage taking a listen. 

They originate from Miami, FL and will be touring on Warped from June 24^th to August 14^th. 

This will not be the band’s first Warped Tour, they appeared in 2009, and I doubt it will be their last. I Set My Friends On Fire is the band I am most looking forward to see in 2011, without a doubt. 

-AngAllOver

Warped Tour 101

Warped Tour has changed drastically since its start in 1995. In the beginning it was geared towards mostly punk rock music.

Warped Tour used to have less mainstream performers. The two most well known bands at the first Warped Tour were No Doubt and Sublime, but these bands were mostly popular within their genre rather than mainstream.

In 2008 Katy Perry was at Warped after the release of her hit song “I Kissed A Girl.” Of course her fame has sky rocked since then and she headlines her own tours, but nevertheless, she was still a pop singer.

In 2010 my brother, friend and I were sitting near the main stage waiting for the next show we wanted to see and suddenly started to hear a familiar song. It was “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner. At first I thought it was a band covering the song since there have been multiple Punk Goes Pop CDs. I looked at my band list sheet and realized it was indeed Mike Posner.

The fact that these two performers are constantly being played on mainstream radio just goes to show how Warped Tour has drastically changed.

In addition to pop singers joining the Warped Tour lineup, there have been an increasing number of Christian rock bands. The Devil Wears Prada, Relient K and Attack! Attack! are examples of bands with a heavy sound and lyrics that express their Christian values.  

Because of how heavy the music is and that it is hard to decipher the majority of the lyrics because they are screamed rather than sung, fans might not realize that their songs have strong Christian undertones. But they are Christian bands.

The punk rock music that used to be played consisted of lyrics that went against the norm and society, not about their love for Jesus.

Also, its full title is Vans Warped Tour. The Vans company sponsors professional skaters and has a successful clothing and shoe line.  

When I went to my first Warped Tour in 2004 Michigan, I can remember that there were still skating ramps and skateboards being sold by vendors.

Vans still has a tent along with the rest of the vendors, but within the past couple years, the skating aspect has seemed to disappeared.

Warped Tour may have changed from its punk rock skater look, but the tour still has a huge fan base. Young bands still strive to play at Warped Tour and that is a success in itself.


-AngAllOver


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New bands added since the last blog:

Middle Class Rut

Peelanderz

Relient K

River City Extension

Stephan Jerzak

There For Tomorrow

The Acacia Strain

Blacklist Royals

Unwritten Law

Yelawolf