How Neck Deep and 14 other bands really feel about Warped Tour

June 14, 2017

Of course, every live show is special in its unique way— for the fans and especially for the bands. Find out why Warped Tour has had such a significant impact on these Warped veterans.

Cole Crutchfield, Knocked Loose
Warped means a lot to me. It's a very important tour and it's been my dream ever since I've been in bands to play it one day. It's honestly surreal that it's happening. I'm beyond grateful for the support we've been getting from everyone. I'm very excited for this summer and hope to meet a lot of people and play our songs in front of a lot of new faces.

Jayden Panesso, Sylar
Warped Tour will forever be the best memories of every single summer since 2004 for me. It's almost like they're memories filled with nostalgia. As an artist, it's always been one of my top goals to be a part of Warped Tour, so you can only imagine how great it feels to be playing it this year.

Ash Costello, New Years Day

It's a rite of passage. It's a stamp that someone gives a fuck. It means being in front of all the people who want to see your band, and to a musician, that's everything. It means having an outlet to be around other bands and fans for weeks and weeks all around the country. It means you're doing it!

Levi Benton, Miss May I
Warped Tour, to me, isn’t just a show but a underground-music-loving community. I feel Warped is the only place that people who love underground music can go to. It’s not a corporate radio festival and no fan discriminates any genre. It’s a melting pot of everything great about underground music.

Dan Clermont, Set It Off
We have a very strong relationship with Warped Tour and the community that surrounds it. If we didn't have those three summers, and the one we snuck onto in 2011, we wouldn't have the relationships and growth, let alone longevity, that we've had without meeting and making new fans. Also, the service day is very important to do. Keeps you humble and shows you there is world existing outside of this industry and what you know.

Watsky

I had no idea what to expect when I played the first time in 2014, and what I found were a group of people that had each other’s backs. This is its own little magical music carnival and nothing will be able to replace it. It’s an ecosystem. It’s a micro-economy. It’s a family. I’ve met a bunch of friends for life playing it. I feel really grateful to have been invited into this world where you can be your weird self and I can’t wait to do it again this summer.

John Floreani, Trophy Eyes
It means adventure and excitement. Lifelong friendships, hard work and dedication, but also a love for the industry and a love for music and what I do. Seeing Warped Tour and the work and love that goes into it makes me proud to be a part of it—a living and functioning piece in the behemoth that is Warped Tour. The opportunity to be involved in the biggest alternative music festival in the U.S. and to go down in history of something so great and something that so many people are so passionate about. It's unexplainable, really. Warped Tour is my childhood fantasy and as an adult I'm a part of it. It means a hell of a lot to me.

Buddy Nielsen, Senses Fail
It is my youth, my college years. Instead of going to college, I spent my early 20s on Warped Tour four years in a row. All my wild, crazy stories happened on Warped Tour. I also met my wife! So yeah, it means a lot to me.

Shawn Walker, The White Noise
For our band, it’s kind of an honor. We know how great this tour is for young bands, and we plan on playing every show like it’s our last and really try to bring some old-school, no-shits-given energy back to the crowd.

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Travis Clark, We The Kings
Warped is a big reason our band is who we are; you have to make a big impression as a band for the live show! We've carried that onto our other tours and it is the reason that we hold ourselves to that expectation when we put on a great live show

Fil Thorpe-Evans, Neck Deep

Warped Tour, to me, is just punk rock at its best. There is so much history it really is an honor to be a part of it. It's just the most special festival our scene has ever known and especially being a kid from England it's always a dream to be in it.

Nick Martin, Sleeping With Sirens
Warped Tour is just a fun time for people of all ages. It's so awesome seeing parents going with their kids and just experiencing music together. Every year, people want to talk shit about it, the lineup and whatever else it may be. And you know what? That's what I love about it. And as Kevin says every year: “If you don't like Warped Tour, then start your own festival and do something about it.”

Matty Mullins, Memphis May Fire
One of the greatest communities on the planet! A place where everyone feels welcome. For the bands, it's like a big rock ’n’ roll summer camp and there's really no better festival tour to be a part of.

Benji Madden, Good Charlotte

Warped is the place young bands go to become who they're going to be. It's not just punk-rock summer camp, but so much more. You make friends that will last a lifetime and learn things from everyone there that you take with you through the rest of your career.

Tino Arteaga, Of Mice & Men
To me, it means discovery. I found so many bands I still love, even to this day, on those stages and on those compilations you get for free walkin' around. I found so many new friends who shared similar beliefs, lifestyles and love for music much like my own. The most important discovery of all, though, was finding that part of myself that knew I wanted to become one of those musicians I saw up there, giving everything they had for their music and their fans, and no matter how long it took, I was determined to make it a reality.

Mikey Chapman, Mallory Knox
I think Warped will now forever be the place I want to be when summer comes around. I genuinely had the time of my life on that tour, and I hope sometime we can get back and do it all again. The whole tour was so impressive—crew, bands and fans alike, it was just a big summer camp for musically minded people who never want to grow up. I can definitely get behind that.

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