Every year Warped Tour manages to book a solid bill of legacy acts and up-and-comers, both types of bands sharing the same stage. It makes for a diverse audience and a unique show experience; it's no wonder the fest feels like summertime Christmas for pop-punk and metal fans.
One band on the verge of super stardom is PVRIS, the Lowell, Massachusetts-bred trio. They marry electronic and emo punk in a way that's inventive and anthemic. They're ushering in a new underground sound, one we're sure to hear more of in the future. While at the Holmdel, NJ Warped date, we sat down with frontwoman Lyndsey Gunnulfsen (referred to as Lynn Gunn for you novices) to get her band's story.
When was the first time you went to Warped?
I think it was in 2008, maybe 2009. It was the year Attack Attack, A Day to Remember, the Devil Wears Prada and the Maine were all on it. I was in eighth grade or a freshman in high school. I have no clue what to expect. All my friends from school were seniors and they were going, "Ahh it’s so good, you can’t miss it!" They packed me in a van with all of them and I loved it. Immediately.
When did you start playing the festival?
We did two weeks last year. The year before that we won a contest to do two days of it. Baby steps! It’s going great right now. Everyone expects us to be super tired but I’m alright. We started off on the Journey stage and we kept getting bumped up to the main stage, Everyone was like "You guys are on it officially," and we were like, "No one told us yet. What do you mean?" We’re officially on the main stage now. About a week ago the stage manager was like, "Welcome to the big stage!"
Welcome to the big leagues!
"Why are here?"
Has anything particularly strange or exciting happened this summer?
All the time! We played in Toronto a few days ago. We played in the pouring rain and it was pouring onto the stage. All of our pedals were out, all of our boards were out. [Bassist] Brian [MacDonald] had this big blue tarp over his gear. When he went to go play it he disappeared behind this giant blue blob. It was kind of crazy.
As far as good tour stories…someone took me to Disneyland before we played. They just had passes or something. When we got to the venue we had an hour until we played and last minute this girl was like, "I just came from Disney." I was like, "Really? I’ve never been." She said, "It’s like an exit away. I’ll take you right now." I was like, "I shouldn’t accept this from a stranger," but I was like, "Let’s do it!" She promised, "I’ll take you there, get you on a ride and back before your set" and I was like, "I trust you." We got there, got on Space Mountain and then drove back. We had 20 minutes before we went on.
Insane! You’re headed to the Alternative Press Music Awards this week. Do you know what to expect?
Chaos! We hopped off a couple days before the APMAs last year so we didn’t get to go. We didn’t even think we’d get nominated or anything so we’re pretty taken a back.
It seems like the wildest award show America has to offer. Like the Kerrang! Awards but a bit more tame. Everyone seemed drunk there.
We were there and it was wild. I think Kerrang! is pretty notorious for that [craziness] though. You go there to get drunk. I don’t know how the APMAs will be since it’s only its second year. I’m stoked to see and find out! It’ll be a stressful evening but it will be awesome.
You're a big Hayley Williams fan, and one of my favorite stories of her's happened when Paramore were just starting out. They played a small club in Philly and this guy starts yelling, "Take off your shirt!" She ignored it before realizing, "I'm the one with the microphone! I'm the one with the power to say something." She had him kicked out and the show went on. Has anything like that ever happened to you?
Yes! We were playing the Electric Factory in Philly. I’m onstage and it’s quiet, like, right between songs—this is pretty much the same shit, but a little bit more foul. This guy basically said he wanted to ejaculate all over my face. I was like, "Excuse me sir, please fuck off. There’s much better ways you can get a woman and that’s certainly not the way. Not that I’d be interested in it anyway." And everyone was like "Boooo!" to that dude and cheered for me. I didn’t get him kicked out, but I was like "You’re disgusting. Have some manners. That’s not how you talk to anyone." It’s on YouTube somewhere [laughs].
