Currently Reading: Attila's Chris Fronzak Says He Has A Business Plan To Help Resurrect The 'Vans Warped Tour'
Attila's Chris Fronzak Says He Has A Business Plan To Help Resurrect The 'Vans Warped Tour'
Nov 11th, 2019 - 12:14pm Posted by wookubus
Last week saw the release of a revealing episode of Kerrang!'s 'Inside Track' podcast, on which 'Vans Warped Tour' founder appeared and discussed the rise and fall of the once annual traveling festival tour he oversaw for 25 years. Lyman notably opened up on the final few years of the festival's run in its touring incarnation, addressing the elitist attitudes of both artists and fans, the missteps that he made and more.
Ultimately, he made it clear that it wasn't a monetary issue as to why he chose to wrap up the tour, but rather one for his mental well-being. He commented of that in part:
"'Warped Tour' was not feeding my soul and my heart as much as you put in. Because 'Warped Tour' was 90% about the community and 10% about the money, it really was.
And some people I'm sure will say bullshit, but it's true. I built that because I wanted to keep people coming to see live music. I wanted to build a community… And I'd lost that, that spirit was taken out of me for multiple reasons."
One band named by Lyman in particular for being divisive on the tour was Attila. Their inclusion on multiple years of the festival led to gripes from bands and fans of the tour alike. Lyman said of that in the aforementioned podcast:
"And then people would come up to me and say 'Well I don't wanna be on 'Warped Tour' cause Attila's on 'Warped Tour'. And I'd say 'have you met the guys on Attila' [and they'd say] 'No, I just don't like their music. 'suck my fuck', what the fuck is that?' I'm going 'look we're not here to judge each others music. The fans will judge each others music. Attila brings people. Do I personally run around singing 'suck my fuck?' No. Do you? No.'
But you know what… They're good musicians and they're not bad people. I've never seen them do a bad thing to someone. Some of the stuff he [Attila's Chris Fronzak] says, maybe, is just more stupidity [laughs.]
But if you sit with him, he has a reason because he says some things and it may not agree with your reason, but that was the… You could have diverse opinions and we're only a microcosm of society now, because we can't accept diverse opinions in the same room."
Much of the controversy of Attila's inclusion on the bill stemmed from their frontman Chris Fronzak's past prominent usage of homophobic slurs in the band's lyrics. His then frequent usage was enough to land him in a public feud with Senses Fail while Attila and Senses Fail were both on the road on as part of the festival tour back in 2015. Fronzak for his part has repeatedly denied being homophobic.
While Fronzak may be best known for his role in Attila, he has also heads a label and several clothing, etc. companies that have allowed him to live a somewhat lavish lifestyle. Perhaps inspired by Lyman's recent comments on the podcast, Fronzak took to social media today, November 11th, to publicly express his desire to help resurrect the 'Vans Warped Tour' with a new business plan he has formulated. He said of that:
I really want to bring @VansWarpedTour back. Let's set up a meeting soon @KevinLyman. I promise I won't let you down.
— Chris Fronzak ?? (@FRONZ1LLA) November 11, 2019
I've been in the music scene for over 15 years, I've built a legacy, I created a lifestyle, a record label, I even bought out my favorite record label growing up. I might as well take over my favorite tour & create a legacy for the future generations to come. The world needs it.
I've honestly been thinking about this for 2 years now. In this time period I've formulated a business plan and setup that would be viable for both bands and @VansWarpedTour itself. I have a chip on my shoulder and I wanna prove to the world that rock isn't dead.
Tags Attila, Chris Fronzak, Kevin Lyman, Vans Warped Tour
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