Tuna on Toast w Warped Tour Creator Kevin Lyman

In this episode, Ted Stryker welcomes to the Tuna on Toast studio.... the man who founded Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman!! Kevin tells Stryker about his life pre Warped Tour which included working Lollapalooza. Kevin worked as the artists liaison and stage manager among many of the hats he wore while working Lolla. Kevin tells Stryker about starting Warped Tour in 1995 and being totally broke after the tour. The price of tickets for the festival was $15.00! Kevin talks about talking to Fat Mike from NOFX and Fletcher from Pennywise to lock in their two bands for year two of Warped Tour. Kevin tells Stryker how Calvin Klein was almost the title sponsor before Vans became the main sponsor. Kevin tells Stryker how during the Warped Tour, Sugar Ray started selling 70,000 copies a week of their album Floored. Kevin and Mark McGrath had a chat about not only staying on the tour but continuing to play on the small stage even though the band was exploding with popularity. Kevin and Stryker chat about why Warped Tour took place outside and a daytime festival. He always wanted to pay homage to the past while moving forward. The bands that Kevin Lyman thought were great from day one were My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and AFI. Kevin talks about how Simple Plan played Warped 17 times while Less Than Jake played the festival the most! Kevin tells Stryker that 2017 was the year things on the Warped Tour went wrong, from the weather being terrible to the "youtube culture" to getting death threats on twitter based on some bands that were booked to play or bands that were not thrown off the tour. Kevin talks about losing sleep over the threats made to him and his family. In 2018, USC asked Kevin to teach, he's a full time professor teaching 5 classes! Kevin says "You can do good, and do good business!" When it comes to bands.....he says we need bands to stand for something! Kevin tells Stryker that he is on the board of the unopened Punk Rock Museum. Kevin tell Stryker exclusively that the museum in Vegas will open October 21st, the night before the "When We Were Young" festival kicks off. Kevin talks about Katy Perry being on Warped Tour and how New Radicals were a band that he liked that never got huge. He also was confused why G eazy does not mention his Warped Tour days. Kevin loves Yungblud! Kevin talks about Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit as well. Kevin Lyman is full of so much knowledge and is such a nice and generous dude. Thanks for watching and listening to another episode of Tuna on Toast with Stryker.