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Warped Tour Founder Kevin Lyman Interview

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Deaconlight's 2009 Interview with Kevin Lyman

Deaconlight caught up with Warped Tour founder and promoter Kevin Lyman at the 2009 Warped Tour in Charlotte, NC.

Deaconlight: What do you want concert-goers to take away from the Warped Tour event?

Kevin Lyman: I'd like them to walk away with some experience they didn't expect. That could be the experience of seeing a band they've never seen before. That experience could be learning about a non-profit that sparks their interest that maybe they'd want to be involved in. Just kind of leave a sense that they can do something if they put their minds to it. There are a lot of young people out here. There are a lot of goals out here on the Warped Tour - individual goals - that kind of fall under the Warped umbrella each summer, and I manage all those. We have a pretty open society here but we also teach people that you have to respect what we've worked so hard to build.

Deaconlight: What do you want the bands to take away?

Kevin Lyman: Hopefully new fans. Hopefully we teach them to be better touring artists. Maybe some of those artists are going to learn about our eco-programs. We've had bands take to doing recycling on their own tours, bio-diesel on their own tours, things such as that. And also hopefully learn some respect for a genre of music that they don't necessarily know about.

Deaconlight: Looking back over the last 15 years, what do you find the same from year-to-year and what's different from year-to-year?

Kevin Lyman: I think the same for us is the sameness of the parking lots and doing this every day. But the new is the kids and how you have to realize that so many of them are having their first music experience at the Warped Tour. I was walking through the crowd and I ran into this kid - well, he's not a kid anymore - he said he's at his 15th in a row. He said he doesn't go to any other shows but he goes to the Warped Tour because he can learn a lot about music in one day.

Deaconlight: When it comes to deciding what kind of lineup you're going to have, what inspires you? What's your muse? How do you decide what bands to have on the Warped Tour?

Kevin Lyman: I always want a connection to the history, to the roots. That's why you'll see bands that continue to put out relevant music and you want to tie it in with some great ska - I've always believed in that scene. I've also got to judge now what the kids are talking about. I look online, turn to Smartpunk. That's how I get turned on to new bands and really stay current with this audience that you need to appease. It's really a kind of a blend.

Deaconlight: What inspired you to start this 15 years ago?

Kevin Lyman: It really was giving my last thing in the music business before I was going to be a school teacher after one year. That was my plan. It's funny how now I feel more like a school teacher out here than sometimes a concert producer. I'm teaching young bands how to tour and mentoring them. I'm not so much traveling with my peers anymore. If I can leave something behind I think that through some of the things we do that people don't know about - the blood drives and all those types of things that we have around this tour - then I feel maybe that's the way I became a teacher. I probably would have been fired if I had been a real teacher because I would have too many opinions.

Deaconlight: When you hear new stuff that you really like do you feel it's really cool to be in the position you are in to promote it?

Kevin Lyman: Absolutely. Music's the thread of my life. And to be able to do that for 28 years, working in one business, it's great. When kids come up and thank me for starting this tour I say "Thank you for coming to this tour. If not, I'd have to get a real job."

This page was updated July 14, 2010.
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