The End of Warped Tour (And Where Do We Go From Here?)
Thoughts about a tour I love and lack of mental health in the music scene
In 2013, I remember watching Echosmith perform on the Ernie Ball stage, while my band, August Burns Red, was the headliner. The Ernie Ball stage is the smallest stage where the crowds often range from a few folks to a handful of people. Matt Greiner (our drummer), would sometimes play drums for the kids, who were fourteen to eighteen years old at the time. A few years later, Echosmith would open for Taylor Swift and land a single I’d hear on the radio (“Cool Kids”).
It never mattered what stage you were playing, once you were on Warped Tour you felt you made it, and every young band dreams of playing the festival.
For those who attended, it was a time to escape school or college, enjoy the summer, and have a fun with your friends while watching your favorite bands. For others, it was a moment to escape the monotony of work. But for numerous others, it was a day to escape their problems ranging from a rocky relationship, a toxic home life, or an addiction.
As my band grew to the point where we headlined Warped Tour, so did the stories we would hear at the merch table every day. One guy told me the reason he didn’t hang himself was because at the last moment he remembered lyrics to a song I wrote. Another girl gave me her razor blades and said our music “saved her life.”
I would ask other vocalists and artists if they were experiencing the same. Each of us had story after story of men and women sharing their heartbreak, struggle, or pain. The connection piece was how they found strength in our music even though several said they felt alone. We all knew our music hadn’t fixed their problems, but just provided a temporary patch. The temptations of addiction, the allure of an old flame, or the suicidal thoughts can and usually did come back.
How the hell were we supposed to help our fans?
Out of that question, HeartSupport was born as a resource and place where the average person and music fan could come and explore community and growth while their favorite bands took part.
This last year I asked my fans, “How did you hear about the work HeartSupport does?” The second largest response was “Warped Tour.”
But now Warped Tour’s cross country run is ending, and these fans still exist and need support and encouragement. So where do bands and fans go from here?
To be honest, I don’t have the answer. I could easily say, “Tell your friends and family about HeartSupport!” but it doesn’t have the life-on-life impact we see every year at the festival.
What I do know is that there are real issues facing our music scene. Mental health remains a joke for many until another shooting or suicide takes place. Rape and sexual assault remains rampant among the music scene. Where do the victims have to go and who can they trust? The limelight is still on the perpetrators as opposed to helping those wounded. Self-harm is something so common at Warped Tour, that Kevin Lyman (the founder) generously donated so we could get our book, ReWrite, into thousands of fans hands this last year.
These issues are real and very much at the forefront, but we often ignore them until they come home to roost.
One thing I know is that in today’s society it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and complain about the problems we see. It’s easy for me to do it and sometimes I fall prey too.
But with Warped Tour ending it’s only strengthened my resolve to fight harder and reach more people. One thing we’re considering is a HeartSupport Festival in the coming years so we have that impact we did at Warped Tour. This upcoming year we’re working on a program people can complete to combat depression (which 60% of our community deals with). We want to educate schools and universities, empower bands to use us as a resource, give out free copies of our book on self-harm, and help thousands more.
It’s a start, but the real power of any movement is the people involved. Warped Tour went from an underground punk festival to a thriving juggernaut because people were passionate about it. Volunteers gave of their time, energy, and finances which caused it to grow.
In a few days, we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving and count our blessings. Then to celebrate this milestone we’ll buy a bunch of stuff on Black Friday and Cyber Monday that we don’t need, to impress people we don’t really care about. And those struggling will continue to suffer while we continue to consume.
In my life, the only thing I’ve found to combat my greed is to give back. Whether volunteering or with my finances, it’s the only cure I’ve seen work.
On the Tuesday after Cyber Monday there’s an international day of giving back called #GivingTuesday. With Warped Tour ending, I asked my team to create a video reminding people of the men and women we meet on Warped Tour. That day we’ll be partnering with Fearless Records to showcase the video and raise money to help people just like the woman featured in the video.
I don’t want you to get the idea that if you’re reading this, it’s a play for your pocketbook. Instead, I want to ring the alarm bell and remind everyone that we keep talking and talking and talking about mental health, but there’s little to no follow through. Warped Tour was the place we helped follow through, but times are changing.
So my ask is more of a question.
How many music fans to we have to lose to suicide before it becomes too much? How many people have to keep struggling through depression, lack of purpose, drug and alcohol addiction, or toxic relationships before the stats become overwhelming and we notice? If you’re in a band, how many of our fans have to hand us their blades and tell us our music helped only to go home to the same scenarios and situations before we offer them a resource?
I hope you’ll join me in watching the video we created on #GivingTuesday, partnering your band with us at HeartSupport, or volunteering.
Warped Tour may be ending. But our mission is only getting started.
If you’d like to join us on #GivingTuesday, simply go here to participate or follow our socials to watch the video
