As the founder of Taste of Chaos tour and Warped Tour Kevin Lyman has the awesome job of taking his favorite hardcore and punk bands and trying to make them as popular as possible. Last years Taste of Chaos tour helped turn My Chemical Romance into a monster hit. Now he hopes to do the same this year with bands like Thrice, As I Lay Dying, Thursday, Dreda and many more. Also many of the dates on the tour will include the legendary Deftones.
Buy tickets for Taste of Chaos
Daniel Robert Epstein: You must be really busy today?
Kevin Lyman: Im busy just because a lot of people are in town for the Grammys. Not that I have anything to do with the Grammys but a lot of people are in town so they all want to come by the office. Its a last minute hustle to try to get their bands on the Warped Tour this summer.
DRE: Do they send you gift baskets and stuff?
KL: I dont want anything. They heard I liked fishing so I got kids coming by my house and dropping fishing poles off. I get a lot of bottles of wine. I must have a reputation out there or something. But its not my thing.
DRE: Its too bad you didnt tell them you liked gold krugerrands.
KL: I know. Yeah like leopards or something crazy like that. Its tough especially with the Warped Tour because so many bands want to be on it, which is great. I love that because one day people might not want to do the tour. Then its going to get hard. But were limited. We had 2000 bands submit to be on that tour this summer.
DRE: At one point Lollapalooza, which set the standard for the modern rock tour, all of sudden didnt sell many tickets.
KL: I worked on the first few of those. I worked with Janes Addiction back in the day. Everyone talks about wanting to put on these festivals or events or lifestyle shows but its so hard. What happened was that Perry [Farrell] was very involved the first few years of Lollapalooza then they went in a different direction. An accountant even became in charge of Lollapalooza at one point. Hes a very good accountant but accounting and creativity dont go hand in hand unless you work for Enron.
DRE: Is he the one that booked Metallica that one year?
KL: He started making a lot of the decisions and accountants are always going to make decisions based on financial reasons. A lot of stuff I do isnt based on the finances of the tour. I make a nice living. I cant complain about that. But I do a lot of things just because I feel its right for the show. We dont really need to have the extra stages on Warped Tour to make it successful. But I believe you still have to have the local element and keep the kids involved in the show.
DRE: Do you plan on always being involved with your shows?
KL: Absolutely. With Warped Im still there every single day. Im involved in all the booking of the talent with Darryl [Eaton], my partner. Right now were going through the last couple of shows to see if we have any spaces available. I design a lot of the show. I work with the sponsors. With Warped, there are so many people involved. We want to keep those people happy but also keep the integrity of the show so a kid doesnt feel like hes constantly being pumped. Yes these people openly have a goal of selling their cell phones to kids, but we make sure they give something to the show.
DRE: Does Warped Tour make a huge amount of money?
KL: It depends. I make a nice living at it. I dont think its huge amounts. I dont have a house in Malibu or a house in the Hollywood Hills. I raise my family. Its definitely hard to make vast amounts of money when youre trying to keep the ticket price at $25 and deliver an all day festival. But its going on 12 years now and last year was our strongest. We sold 700,000 tickets. I bet we couldve charged more for the tickets but we wouldnt be talking about the Warped Tour in the present tense now.
DRE: Do people try to pressure you to make more money from it?
KL: No. Ive got great partners with CAA and Vans. They understand. My wife pressures me to make more money [laughs].
DRE: How did Taste of Chaos come about?
KL: Well Ive taken a lot of side jobs besides Warped Tour like the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour that was kind of a hip hop tour. I worked on The Cures tour a couple summers ago. Last year I was really getting frustrated because Im terminally unemployable because I wont just shut up for the money. I was having a lot of trouble with a couple projects because I believed these people werent doing them for the right reasons.
DRE: Yeah, I read about that.
KL: I was talking to John Reese who manages The Used who Ive been close with since they were on the Warped Tour. He said [The Used vocalist] Bert [McCracken] has always had an open mind and he was looking to do something different. We took the harder edge of Warped Tour and put them in Taste of Chaos. Bert from The Used, became almost like a partner on the first year of the tour. They even took less money than they normally would so we could go get a lot of great bands. We were able to put together a package with My Chemical Romance and Killswitch Engage and lots of other great bands. It was great timing because it was when the hockey strike was on last year. So the venues were very open-minded about bringing events into their facility. They gave us really cut rate rental deals. We went out and did 37 shows and sold out 31 of them which surprised a lot of people.
DRE: Is The Used in this years Taste of Chaos?
KL: No, theyre taking time off. But their management company is involved. We made them a partner and they ended up doing really well, even better than if they had gone out on their own tour.
DRE: Was it easier to get bands for Taste of Chaos this year?
KL: Yeah, it was. Anytime you have a little bit of a proven track record helps. But last year was an anomaly in some ways. A lot of the shows were selling out very far ahead of time. This year some cities arent doing quite so well. Were doing 44 shows so we mightve taken too much on. The Midwest is a little tough right now.
DRE: Why is that?
KL: Last year we had My Chemical Romance right before they captured everyones imagination. We have a lot of bands whose records are going to come out later. They were supposed to come out at the beginning of the tour. Now theyre coming out at the end of the tour. So we have to facilitate a lot of the marketing. The bands have been very cooperative with promotions and interviews. Were at about 100,000 tickets sold, which is a nice number. I think well end up doing about 210,000 kids on this tour, which isnt bad.
DRE: Its not all screaming bands either, right?
KL: Its a mix. The second stage has The Receiving End of Sirens, Pelican, Adair. Its a mix. I also think kids arent getting their tickets in advance since all the shows are general admission.
DRE: I read that you arent having the military there anymore.
KL: Yea, I used to think the military was a good option because kids could go get an education. But now that theyre trying to use videogames to persuade kids to be in the military, which is a bit of a deception.
DRE: How are they doing that?
KL: They kids go in and play a videogame then they tell them Well this is what the Armys almost like.
DRE: Thats horrible.
KL: I used to believe the military was cool just like I thought the Hare Krishnas werent a bad organization because at least they took street kids in and gave them a home.
DRE: What do you think about the Hare Krishnas now?
KL: Hare Krishnas are fine. I have no problem with them as long as theyre honest with what theyre doing.
DRE: What is the criteria for a band getting on Taste of Chaos?
KL: They need to be a bit harder than the Warped Tour, have a great live show and a history of touring.
DRE: Do you have time to go see the shows or do you have people that you work with?
KL: I deal with everyone, all the agents and the managers. MySpace did a contest to find a local band from each city to play on the second stage. It keeps the local element because so many local bands dont have a chance to play at big shows.
DRE: Yeah. Or if they do, they get booed off the stage because no one knows them at all.
KL: We try to keep that local element.
DRE: I read that you did a big DJ tour a few years ago. Would you want to do anything like that again?
KL: I would. Weve had some talks with Sirius Radio about getting back into it. I just think it would be hard.
DRE: I was told your kids come out on the tours with you.
KL: Yeah, just this morning I was trying to book my kids to come visit me at Disney World while Im out on Warped Tour.
DRE: How old are they?
KL: Theyre six and ten.
DRE: What music do they like?
KL: My ten year old daughter loves Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy and her favorite band is Bowling for Soup. My six year old daughter likes the oldies stations. She loves Temptations and Aretha Franklin.
DRE: They like decent music for being so young. You did a good job.
KL: Its fun when my ten year old comes out on Warped Tour because she brings all her cousins and they get to spend the day hanging out. The bands all have to be nice or theyre going to be playing at 11 oclock the next morning.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy tickets for Taste of Chaos
Daniel Robert Epstein: You must be really busy today?
Kevin Lyman: Im busy just because a lot of people are in town for the Grammys. Not that I have anything to do with the Grammys but a lot of people are in town so they all want to come by the office. Its a last minute hustle to try to get their bands on the Warped Tour this summer.
DRE: Do they send you gift baskets and stuff?
KL: I dont want anything. They heard I liked fishing so I got kids coming by my house and dropping fishing poles off. I get a lot of bottles of wine. I must have a reputation out there or something. But its not my thing.
DRE: Its too bad you didnt tell them you liked gold krugerrands.
KL: I know. Yeah like leopards or something crazy like that. Its tough especially with the Warped Tour because so many bands want to be on it, which is great. I love that because one day people might not want to do the tour. Then its going to get hard. But were limited. We had 2000 bands submit to be on that tour this summer.
DRE: At one point Lollapalooza, which set the standard for the modern rock tour, all of sudden didnt sell many tickets.
KL: I worked on the first few of those. I worked with Janes Addiction back in the day. Everyone talks about wanting to put on these festivals or events or lifestyle shows but its so hard. What happened was that Perry [Farrell] was very involved the first few years of Lollapalooza then they went in a different direction. An accountant even became in charge of Lollapalooza at one point. Hes a very good accountant but accounting and creativity dont go hand in hand unless you work for Enron.
DRE: Is he the one that booked Metallica that one year?
KL: He started making a lot of the decisions and accountants are always going to make decisions based on financial reasons. A lot of stuff I do isnt based on the finances of the tour. I make a nice living. I cant complain about that. But I do a lot of things just because I feel its right for the show. We dont really need to have the extra stages on Warped Tour to make it successful. But I believe you still have to have the local element and keep the kids involved in the show.
DRE: Do you plan on always being involved with your shows?
KL: Absolutely. With Warped Im still there every single day. Im involved in all the booking of the talent with Darryl [Eaton], my partner. Right now were going through the last couple of shows to see if we have any spaces available. I design a lot of the show. I work with the sponsors. With Warped, there are so many people involved. We want to keep those people happy but also keep the integrity of the show so a kid doesnt feel like hes constantly being pumped. Yes these people openly have a goal of selling their cell phones to kids, but we make sure they give something to the show.
DRE: Does Warped Tour make a huge amount of money?
KL: It depends. I make a nice living at it. I dont think its huge amounts. I dont have a house in Malibu or a house in the Hollywood Hills. I raise my family. Its definitely hard to make vast amounts of money when youre trying to keep the ticket price at $25 and deliver an all day festival. But its going on 12 years now and last year was our strongest. We sold 700,000 tickets. I bet we couldve charged more for the tickets but we wouldnt be talking about the Warped Tour in the present tense now.
DRE: Do people try to pressure you to make more money from it?
KL: No. Ive got great partners with CAA and Vans. They understand. My wife pressures me to make more money [laughs].
DRE: How did Taste of Chaos come about?
KL: Well Ive taken a lot of side jobs besides Warped Tour like the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour that was kind of a hip hop tour. I worked on The Cures tour a couple summers ago. Last year I was really getting frustrated because Im terminally unemployable because I wont just shut up for the money. I was having a lot of trouble with a couple projects because I believed these people werent doing them for the right reasons.
DRE: Yeah, I read about that.
KL: I was talking to John Reese who manages The Used who Ive been close with since they were on the Warped Tour. He said [The Used vocalist] Bert [McCracken] has always had an open mind and he was looking to do something different. We took the harder edge of Warped Tour and put them in Taste of Chaos. Bert from The Used, became almost like a partner on the first year of the tour. They even took less money than they normally would so we could go get a lot of great bands. We were able to put together a package with My Chemical Romance and Killswitch Engage and lots of other great bands. It was great timing because it was when the hockey strike was on last year. So the venues were very open-minded about bringing events into their facility. They gave us really cut rate rental deals. We went out and did 37 shows and sold out 31 of them which surprised a lot of people.
DRE: Is The Used in this years Taste of Chaos?
KL: No, theyre taking time off. But their management company is involved. We made them a partner and they ended up doing really well, even better than if they had gone out on their own tour.
DRE: Was it easier to get bands for Taste of Chaos this year?
KL: Yeah, it was. Anytime you have a little bit of a proven track record helps. But last year was an anomaly in some ways. A lot of the shows were selling out very far ahead of time. This year some cities arent doing quite so well. Were doing 44 shows so we mightve taken too much on. The Midwest is a little tough right now.
DRE: Why is that?
KL: Last year we had My Chemical Romance right before they captured everyones imagination. We have a lot of bands whose records are going to come out later. They were supposed to come out at the beginning of the tour. Now theyre coming out at the end of the tour. So we have to facilitate a lot of the marketing. The bands have been very cooperative with promotions and interviews. Were at about 100,000 tickets sold, which is a nice number. I think well end up doing about 210,000 kids on this tour, which isnt bad.
DRE: Its not all screaming bands either, right?
KL: Its a mix. The second stage has The Receiving End of Sirens, Pelican, Adair. Its a mix. I also think kids arent getting their tickets in advance since all the shows are general admission.
DRE: I read that you arent having the military there anymore.
KL: Yea, I used to think the military was a good option because kids could go get an education. But now that theyre trying to use videogames to persuade kids to be in the military, which is a bit of a deception.
DRE: How are they doing that?
KL: They kids go in and play a videogame then they tell them Well this is what the Armys almost like.
DRE: Thats horrible.
KL: I used to believe the military was cool just like I thought the Hare Krishnas werent a bad organization because at least they took street kids in and gave them a home.
DRE: What do you think about the Hare Krishnas now?
KL: Hare Krishnas are fine. I have no problem with them as long as theyre honest with what theyre doing.
DRE: What is the criteria for a band getting on Taste of Chaos?
KL: They need to be a bit harder than the Warped Tour, have a great live show and a history of touring.
DRE: Do you have time to go see the shows or do you have people that you work with?
KL: I deal with everyone, all the agents and the managers. MySpace did a contest to find a local band from each city to play on the second stage. It keeps the local element because so many local bands dont have a chance to play at big shows.
DRE: Yeah. Or if they do, they get booed off the stage because no one knows them at all.
KL: We try to keep that local element.
DRE: I read that you did a big DJ tour a few years ago. Would you want to do anything like that again?
KL: I would. Weve had some talks with Sirius Radio about getting back into it. I just think it would be hard.
DRE: I was told your kids come out on the tours with you.
KL: Yeah, just this morning I was trying to book my kids to come visit me at Disney World while Im out on Warped Tour.
DRE: How old are they?
KL: Theyre six and ten.
DRE: What music do they like?
KL: My ten year old daughter loves Yellowcard, Fall Out Boy and her favorite band is Bowling for Soup. My six year old daughter likes the oldies stations. She loves Temptations and Aretha Franklin.
DRE: They like decent music for being so young. You did a good job.
KL: Its fun when my ten year old comes out on Warped Tour because she brings all her cousins and they get to spend the day hanging out. The bands all have to be nice or theyre going to be playing at 11 oclock the next morning.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
[Edited on Feb 21, 2006 by blackroseMD1]