Brendan: Well, it has to do with the fact that Warped Tour, it’s destroying the economy of DIY; and it’s doing it very methodically and very successfully in that [the] summer touring season used to involve a bunch of bands, like Alkaline Trio for example, jumping on buses and taking smaller bands, like us and the Black Maria for example, on tour. There would be all these bands that would do that, so all these support bands would have great tours to go on. Kids in every town would have a bunch of different shows to go see, like over the summer. Small clubs would have big, good shows at least once a week if not twice a week, three times a week; and kids would have stuff to do. Now, all those big bands go on the Warped Tour. When they come to town, it’s for one day. It’s in a band shell, small clubs all across the US are closing down, they can’t offered to be open. Bands like us have to tour against the Warped Tour, which sucks; or tour on the Warped Tour, which sucks even more. And you know it’s in a fucking big band shell; and the fact is, every single person who would read this interview, got into this at least in a tiny, little way thought there was something cooler than going to a band shell and buying twelve dollar bottles of water and standing there watching your favorite band play from like a million feet away. Now people talk about the Warped Tour like it’s the greatest thing to ever happen to punk rock, it’s not the greatest thing to ever happen to punk rock - it’s single handedly dismantling the whole thing we’ve been fucking building for all this time and nobody gives a fuck. And bands, big bands that play the Warped Tour say things like “Oh, it’s great, you only have to play it for half an hour” and it’s like “Fuck you! This is your job, I don’t care how hard you don’t have to work in order to get paid; like you’re fucking everybody!” And that’s why it’s the biggest tragedy. And that’s why it’s the worst thing to ever happen to punk rock, or DIY music in general.
This will provide a little more insight: http://thepunksite.com/interviews.php?page=lawrencearms
Bobby: Why such the anti-Warped stance?
Brendan: Well, it has to do with the fact that Warped Tour, it’s destroying the economy of DIY; and it’s doing it very methodically and very successfully in that [the] summer touring season used to involve a bunch of bands, like Alkaline Trio for example, jumping on buses and taking smaller bands, like us and the Black Maria for example, on tour. There would be all these bands that would do that, so all these support bands would have great tours to go on. Kids in every town would have a bunch of different shows to go see, like over the summer. Small clubs would have big, good shows at least once a week if not twice a week, three times a week; and kids would have stuff to do. Now, all those big bands go on the Warped Tour. When they come to town, it’s for one day. It’s in a band shell, small clubs all across the US are closing down, they can’t offered to be open. Bands like us have to tour against the Warped Tour, which sucks; or tour on the Warped Tour, which sucks even more. And you know it’s in a fucking big band shell; and the fact is, every single person who would read this interview, got into this at least in a tiny, little way thought there was something cooler than going to a band shell and buying twelve dollar bottles of water and standing there watching your favorite band play from like a million feet away. Now people talk about the Warped Tour like it’s the greatest thing to ever happen to punk rock, it’s not the greatest thing to ever happen to punk rock - it’s single handedly dismantling the whole thing we’ve been fucking building for all this time and nobody gives a fuck. And bands, big bands that play the Warped Tour say things like “Oh, it’s great, you only have to play it for half an hour” and it’s like “Fuck you! This is your job, I don’t care how hard you don’t have to work in order to get paid; like you’re fucking everybody!” And that’s why it’s the biggest tragedy. And that’s why it’s the worst thing to ever happen to punk rock, or DIY music in general.