During a recent interview with "the Stranger," Warped Tour creator and founder Kevin Lyman commented on how new rules and regulations may be put into action for next year’s festival run.
Lyman states, “Next year we're going to have no kids on this tour. It’s going to be really tough if you want to be on this tour and are 21 and under. Whether it's the artist, crew… anyone.” Meaning the artists, crew members and photographers actually on the tour, not the actual attendees.
But how beneficial is this new rule going to be? Everyone who was problematic on this year's tour, was well over the age of 21. Here are just a few incidents that made headlines during the last few months Warped was in process:
Jake McElfresh, 23, who performs as Front Porch Step, was pulled from the tour line-up after he was accused of sexual misconduct and exchanging sexually explicit text messages with underage fans. However, he played an acoustic set at the Nashville date as a part of his "therapy," which caused backlash from other artists on the tour and the attendees.
Two weeks later, after only playing two dates, there were allegations against Slaves lead singer Jonny Craig, 29, claiming he was sexually harassing a woman selling merchandise for the band. There were also rumors of drugs being sold from their tent, and as a result, Slaves was suspended from playing the rest of the tour.
Vine and YouTube star, Austin Jones, 22, allegedly solicited twerk videos and suggestive photography from a large number of girls he knew to be underage. As a result, Jones was also kicked off of the tour.
Austin Kerr, 26, was the bassist in pop-rock band, Set It Off. However, when allegations of sexual harassment were made against him, the band decided to part ways with him, which I'm guessing was in efforts to stay on the tour without a change.org petition being started to remove them.
In efforts to "save the scene," setting an age restriction on who can play the tour is a bit ridiculous. It's not fair to the young and talented musicians (and photographers!) who have been striving to be on Warped Tour for years. Morgantown local pop-punk group Riviera won't get to live out their dream (at least for a few more years) if this restriction is finalized. The boys got to play on the Ernie Ball stage at the Virginia Beach, VA, date this past summer. However, three of its four members are under 21, making them ineligible to play again next summer.
So, you tell me. Is Lyman making a wise choice by setting an age restriction? Will these musicians stop being problematic if there are no more "kids" on the tour? Probably not, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
