By Max Gelber
As the crowd inside afterHOURS was preoccupied with side conversations, a man in thick rimmed glasses, faded jeans and a wrinkled button-down shirt with the sleeves sloppily rolled up, sauntered on the stage. He sat down on the lone chair and greeted the crowd.
Kevin Lyman, founder of the traveling punk tour-de-force, the Vans Warped Tour as well as the post-hardcore centered Taste Of Chaos Tour, spoke about his achievements Friday night.
The lecture was co-sponsored by the Council for University Programs and the Northeastern Chapter of the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association. The evening’s lecture had an aura of nonchalance, beginning with Kevin’s unassuming entrance.
“I’d like to focus this on questions,” Kevin said after welcoming the crowd and admiring the size of the evening’s turnout.
Kevin expressed initial interest in doing the Vans Warped Tour for only one summer before focusing on a career in teaching. He recalled his days as a student at California Polytechnic State University, organizing early punk shows inside fraternity houses that would soon lay the foundation for the tour.
Lyman also discussed the Warped Tour’s name, saying “The Bomb” – an early ’90s slang word – was the first chosen name. Days before the tour began, the Oklahoma City bombing massacre took place, causing Kevin and other organizers to rename the tour “Warped,” after a sports magazine of the same title.
Lyman said he was contacted by sports footwear corporation Vans, who wanted to be connected to the tour to bring the attention of the masses to amateur skateboarding.
The Q’A followed, where Lyman fielded questions from audience members and even asked them some of his own.
Lyman addressed the current state of the record industry and its preconceived notions of how to package music. He commented on the rise of digital music online and the need for the music industry to either accept it, or risk becoming what he called “irrelevant” in the future.
Discussion of the ever-changing nature of the music industry was one of Lyman’s main topics. He told the afterHOURS crowd it was important to accept these changes.
Lyman responded to a question regarding criticism that the Warped Tour has lost its punk roots.
“Why not do it yourself then? Why not get a bunch of bands you enjoy together and go on tour?” he said. “I don’t want to be doing this forever, but until someone out there can do it better than me, I keep going out every day.”
