'Warped' headliners lead tour's political enthusiasm

The band has always had politically, socially conscious lyrics.
By JOHN PATRICK GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENCE
For 10 years the Vans Warped Tour has presented a mix of punk rock veterans, up-and-coming artists and those who don't fit in the genre's stereotypes but appeal to its fans.
Dubbed the punk rock summer camp by the more than two dozen artists who travel across North America on its tour itinerary, Warped caters to good times, the do-it-yourself aesthetic and the skateboarding lifestyle.
Warped Tour played Friday at Tower City Amphitheater in Cleveland and will play Aug. 5 at the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Pittsburgh.
With an election coming up in three months, the 2004 version strives to get fans more involved in the democratic system.
For a band such as Bad Religion, which has always used its music as a bully pulpit for equality and social change, its placement as headliner seems like a no-brainer.
Personal involvement
Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker offers a historical perspective of the genre. Back in 1979 the Washington, D.C., teenager played in the legendary independent act Minor Threat. Fifteen years later he joined the Southern California group.
Besides playing each night with his band, he's regularly visited the Punk Voter booth (www.punkvoter.com) to discuss politics, register people and discuss the importance of taking part in a democracy.
Commenting on the attitude now, he said, "It's really nice to see this type of passion. If Punk Voter's accomplished anything, what it's done is made it cool to vote. It is punk to be interested in how your government is run. It is punk to wonder what democracy really is these days.
"When I was coming up as a kid in Minor Threat, it was nihilism, do not participate. And that was the party line. There's been a sea change in the way that younger people have been thinking about it, at least the ones who are attracted to the Warped Tour."
Early on, punk rock music maintained an approach that wanted nothing to do with the establishment. For years, the anger embodied by musicians who formed groups across the United States in the '80s was reflected in the songs, clothes and violent yet unifying movements of fans who gyrated and slammed into each other during performances.
By the latter days of the 1990s punk's commercial success produced acts without the snarl of the genre, a bubble gum, MTV-ready version that's segued into the angst-ridden, emocore of today.
Maintaining activism
Baker admits that he's unfamiliar with a number of Warped's current participants, but sees it as an opportunity to find out more about these bands. What he refuses to do is allow himself and his bandmates to feel justified that more punk acts and fans are becoming aware of the reality around them rather than the insular world nearby in a manner espoused in the content of Bad Religion's 14 albums.
"I've always thought that Bad Religion's relevance has been pretty consistent and not looking for vindication. We're so perfectly suited for this particular time because this is what we've been doing for 24 years, just being able to refine it a little more sharply this time around," Baker said.
Besides, the passion displayed on the group's recently released effort, "The Empire Strikes First," which takes aim at the current presidential administration, as well as the obsession with Hollywood culture and religion infiltrating our lives, its artistic success remains the fact that Bad Religion produces strong songs with hooks, harmonies and memorable yet fast melodies.
"Bad Religion's success is due to the songwriting," said Baker bluntly. "More specifically, it's the lyrical content. It doesn't hurt when your lead singer has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. When you have a theme of man's inhumanity to man, it's good to have an expert at the helm."