Warped Tour 09 to Witness the Return of the Mohawk

If you take a look at the Vans Warped Tour roster from a decade ago and compare it to the lineup this year, you can clearly see the extent of the  evolution of this awesome music festival. In fact, I’ll probably compare it to that chart my Biology teacher had in 10th grade in a future post. But where all the bands used to be good old fashioned punk rock, now there is a wide spread of punk rock offshoots and even a couple wussy pop radio acts to woo the American Idol crowd (Alana Grace, for example, wtf?). This year’s lineup includes a lot of hardcore, metal, electronica, screamo, and various poly-blends of each of these.

But it also includes Death Punch, which totally redeems Warped Tour 09 of all its poserness.

Death Punch, a band I just discovered, brings back two things from Warped Tour 99 that should never have been neglected: punk rock, and a sweet freaking mohawk. Oh yeah, and an awesome band name! When I saw them on the roster, I immediately said “Crap, another sucky metal band.” But no. Think gang vocals, spike collars, and giant circle mosh pits of friendship and bliss.

Ok, so they have a little hardcore in them, and their Myspace says “Crunk” too (wtf?), but so far Death Punch is making me dream fondly of Warped Tours past, and I’m looking even more forward to the tour this year.

Maybe I’ll shave myself a mohawk, too.

Share on Facebook