Just got back from a few weeks in the High Sierras. Here's the Bad Religion/Warped Tour preview I put together for the Union-Tribune:
So happy together
Bad Religion, Vans Warped Tour make a fine pairing
By Chris Nixon
July 1, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune
Bad Religion's Brian Baker and the Vans Warped Tour have been living parallel existences for the past decade.
Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman gave birth to the annual punk rock summer camp 10 years ago. The former Minor Threat and Dag Nasty guitarist Baker joined Bad Religion 10 years ago. Both epitomize punk's explosion since 1994, allowing the music to reach new ears without giving up its political conscience and the central tenants of the genre's aesthetic.
"(The Warped Tour) is a main reason punk rock has become an accredited musical genre," says Baker from his home in Washington, D.C. "You can walk into a mall (record shop) and there's a punk section, like there's an R&B section and a gospel section. You're dealing with a tour that can draw 20,000 to 30,000 people in any city."
The Warped Tour continues to book a cutting-edge blend of young-blood punks and old schoolers, with a splash of indie hip-hop.
And Warped has been a significant help to the career of Bad Religion.
The 13th album by the Los Angeles-based sextet – titled "The Empire Strikes First," commenting on the U.S. actions in Iraq – features songs penned by singer Greg Graffin and guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The duo wrote together during Bad Religion's early days. In 1994, Gurewitz left the band to concentrate on his successful label, Epitaph Records.
Bad Religion brought in Baker to beef up the band's sound in the 1990s. In 2001, Gurewitz rejoined the group for "The Process of Belief." The effort reunited Gurewitz and Graffin, a potent writing combo.
"When those two are on and together, working with and against each other, I think the music that comes out of them is absolutely spectacular," says Baker, who has a 24-year punk-rock resume. "The great albums come from Brett and Greg's dynamic. You remain relevant if you do something people think has value."
The Warped Tour continues to reinvent itself, adding little-known and local acts while bringing in punk's top echelons to draw the crowd. Lyman and the tour have also included up-and-coming hip-hop artists over the years, despite criticism from hardcore punk rockers.
"A lot of very relevant acts, from Black Eyed Peas to Jurassic 5 to Eminem to Ice-T to Kool Keith, they've all been on the Warped Tour," says Lyman, who once worked for San Diego's Bill Silva, along with Los Angeles promoters Goldenvoice and Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza Tour in its infancy. "There's a lot of that cool, underground hip-hop going on at the Warped Tour, but we're not out to force it down people's throats. I think if I stay with the roots (of punk) and put this stuff in as an addition, the kids will accept it more.
"Way back when, blink-182, nobody knew who they were. And they started on the Warped Tour."
So how does a tour, advertising itself as a bastion of punk rock, remain true to the roots of the punk-rock lifestyle? Like much of modern life, it involves compromise. Lyman promotes a controlled form of sponsorship, weaning a tour's needs from advertising dollars.
The Warped Tour continues to draw thousands, while Bad Religion continues to crank out pertinent political punk rock. So when does one get too old to be a punk? Lyman and Baker prove it's the mentality and not the mileage that punk music is all about.
"I think it's a good thing for kids, and I think it's a good thing for our scene," says Lyman. "Everyone will let me know when it's time to end."
Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.
