Following The Wonder Years’ set at Warped Tour in Toronto, I had a few minutes to talk to Dan “Soupy” Campbell (vocals) about the band’s 2011 and 2013 Warped Tour experiences, future touring plans and bands that The Wonder Years would like to tour with or see get more recognition in the future.
You’re about three weeks into Warped Tour and it’s not even half done.
About a third of the way.
It must be a little tiring, right?
Yeah, to a degree. I realized how old I am. I think that turning 27 is more like turning 47 for me.
How has Warped been so far? Has this year been better than 2011?
It has been better.
Has anything interesting happened while you were playing a set in the first few weeks of the tour?
I fell off the stage. I fell between the stage and the subs, which is why I can’t sit. My tailbone is bruised, so I have to sit on one of those donuts…that’s not pretty. That was probably the shittiest thing that happened so far. We’ve been playing on the radios a lot this year, though. We’ve been off and on The Story So Far’s channel. They’ll say something like “I need 12 more tie-dye shirts” and one of our guys will be like “Actually, cancel those tye-dyes. Seriously, nix the tye-dyes.”
How does it feel to be on the main stage this year compared to being on one of the other (smaller) stages in 2011? There’s probably a lot more people watching you now.
It feels really good. There are a lot more people watching us, but not always. Some days there’s a smaller amount, which is kind of disenchanting because what was huge on the smaller stage seems like less on a big stage. A lot of times some people don’t even want to see us and they’re just waiting for Black Veil Brides and they’re just thinking “please get the fuck off the stage.”
How have the fans reacted to the new songs that you’re playing at Warped?
Better than the old songs. They’re reacting particularly well to “Passing Through a Screen Door” and “Dismantling Summer.”
Do you think you’ll ever play “I Just Want to Sell Out My Funeral” live?
Oh, for sure. We can’t do it on a tour like this, though. We’d have to be headlining and it would have to be a special occasion, because if we play that, there’s three other songs that we can’t play.
Do you have any big touring plans following Warped?
We do, but I can’t tell you about them. Well, I can tell you about our Japan tour and some UK and Europe dates with Real Friends and Neck Deep. Real Friends actually just came off this tour as of yesterday, and they actually did that on purpose. It’s funny, I was talking to them yesterday and asked them why they weren’t playing the rest of the tour. They said “we fucking hate Canada.” *laughing* That could not be any less true. Those guys are great and they’d probably love to be here.
Is there any particular band that you’d like to tour with in the future that you haven’t toured with in the past?
Yeah! You know what? It’s kind of a conundrum. I talk about letlive. in every interview. God damn are they good…but they’re so good that they would make us look bad, so that’s kind of difficult. We’ve been trying to get on a tour with Motion City Soundtrack, but it never winds up right. We’re always like “This is going to be the year that we tour together,” but then something goes wrong.
Are there any local bands that you’d like to see get more recognition?
There’s a band called The Sixties from our area that we’ve been friends with since high school. It’s hard for them to fit in anywhere in particular because it’s kind of like what you’d get if you listened to The Strokes mixed with The Get Up Kids. It’s hard for them to find a scene. People in one community might not like it because they don’t like garage rock, but if they play a bar show, some people may think that it’s too punk rock. Some people might think it’s a weird mix, but they’re a great band.
Awesome. Well, thanks for your time!
No problem! Nice to meet you.
