NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS documents the craziness that is the Vans Warped Tour
NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS (Parris Patton, 2012)
Available April 2 on iTunes, May 15 on VOD and DVD
Vans Warped Tour: Nassau Coliseum, July 21, $37.50
noroomforrockstars.com
vanswarpedtour.com
Started by Kevin Lyman in 1994, the Warped Tour is an annual showcase of up-and-coming bands, longtime punks, extreme sports, and lots of sponsorship. Over the years, the summer festival has featured such bands as Sublime, Bad Religion, Less than Jake, Pennywise, Rancid, NOFX, No Doubt, Blink-182, Flogging Molly, Sum 41, Gogol Bordello, and many others. For the 2010 edition, which numbered 600,000 fans, 200 bands, 52 days, and 43 cities, filmmaker Parris Patton brought along a skeleton crew to document the event, ultimately focusing on four men — one-man band Mike Posner, Christofer Drew of Never Shout Never, Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence, who were all officially part of the 2010 Vans Warped Tour, and Joe Candelaria of Forever Came Calling, a threesome that followed the tour in their van, selling CDs on the line to pay their way while hoping to score a spot at one of the shows. Patton (Creature, Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who) weaves his way in and out of the maelstrom, taking his cameras into the mosh pit, going backstage, and hanging out with the bands on their tour buses. He gets up close and personal with band members’ families, from kid sisters and wives to parents and babies, revealing multiple sides of life on the road. While Posner, Lucker, and Candelaria attempt to make the most of the tour, Drew starts questioning whether signing on was such a good idea. Produced by Stacy Peralta and Agi Orsi, who previously teamed up on the cult hits Dogtown and Z-Boys and Riding Giants, No Room for Rockstars is a thoroughly entertaining inside look at rock-and-roll hopes and dreams that puts the audience front and center — and perhaps best of all, it doesn’t matter whether you love or hate the music it portrays in order to fall for the film’s many charms. The ninety-seven-minute film will be available on iTunes on April 2 and on VOD and DVD on May 15; in addition, you can see the real thing itself this summer, as tickets are now on sale for the 2012 edition of the Vans Warped Tour, which pulls into Nassau Coliseum on July 21 with such bands as Bayside, Every Time I Die, New Found Glory, Polar Bear Club, Rise Against, the Darlings, the Used, and Yellowcard.