Since it's inception in 1995, the Warped Tour has become a summer tradition for an entire generation. Started as an alternative tour for punk rock bands, it now hosts a variety of alternative genres and has become one of the largest, most diverse summer tours. This is part two in my seven part series featuring interviews from this years Warped Tour. Here I spoke with Dan Campbell, vocalist for The Wonder Years.
Scene Point Blank: How’s the tour been going?
Dan Campbell: Good, really good. Better than I expected it to be on every level.
Scene Point Blank: What have the turn outs been like?
Dan Campbell: Turn out's been great. Originally we got the offer for Warped Tour and were like, "oh hell yeah, it's going to be great. We're going to kill." And then we saw the line up and we're like “oh my god, there's no bands like us on the tour.” There’re four pop punk bands on this whole tour. So we were worried that fans of the genre weren't going to come and it'd be all metalcore fans whom I have no problem with, but who hate me. We just did a huge metalcore tour in Australia by accident. Half metalcore, half pop punk. You Me At Six dropped off the tour so it was us and metalcore bands, and we got shoes thrown at us, middle fingers, spit at. On the last show I just lost it, I stopped talking between songs and just gave the crowd the finger instead. So I was worried we were gonna get here and no one was going to watch us and the kids that would, would be like, "Play a breakdown pussy."
Scene Point Blank: But it's been good?
Dan Campbell: It's been great; our fans really came out and supported us which is really touching. I know it's expensive to come to this when you only like the wonder years, set your goals and moving mountains. It is a pricey ticket and I'm really happy with it.
Scene Point Blank: Anyone in particular you’ve enjoyed seeing this year on the tour?
Dan Campbell: My favorite set of the warped tour is Hello Goodbye and their not on it right now but they might comeback. Theirs rumors they're trying to come back by the end of the tour. But they have been fantastic every time I saw them. Also Bad Rabbits, every bands favorite band on the tour.
Scene Point Blank: Did you attend Warped Tour when you were younger?
Dan Campbell: Yeah, I went for four years in a row probably until I started touring, then I was on tour every summer instead of being at Warped Tour.
Scene Point Blank: Who was your favorite band to see back then?
Dan Campbell: The most memorable one for me was watching Brand New’s acoustic set when Jessie hurt his leg and they did a bunch of songs they wouldn't have done if they had done a full band set. It was right when Deja Entendu came out so you got to hear some songs like "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" and stuff like that, that you wouldn't have normally heard.
Scene Point Blank: Favorite stop of the tour so far?
Dan Campbell: It's hard to say, there have been a lot I've been really happy with. The one that took me most by surprise was Chicago. We do okay there, I knew Boston was going to be awesome, and it was awesome. But I didn't know Chicago was going to be that great.
