Vaux is the most un-Warped band I saw at Warped Tour. That's a good thing, though. They have a unique sound; hardcore roots with with a healthy dose of indie rock. But the best part is, for those of you following Fat Mike's plight on "Inside Warped," Quentin makes fun of Underoath. When we watched them play, Quentin blamed the less than stellar crowd on "Jesus playing across the lot." Sure enough, as I checked my schedule, Underoath was still on the main stage. Groupie Nicky had a chance to sith down and talk Warped good and bad:
Nicky Agnew: So this is your 3rd Warped Tour, right?
Quentin from Vaux: If you put all the pieces together this’ll be our 2nd
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N: And you guys are going all the way through this time out?
Q: No, actually tomorrow, we have a 2-week break after tomorrow.
N: So you guys aren’t coming to L.A. then?
Q: Nope.
N: So, I noticed you’re married… Do you have any crazy Warped Tour stories to share or that you can share?
Q: Um so far this year, we’re doing it in a van this year, we did it in a bus before, but when you’re in a van it’s basically we play, pack up, leave and drive.
N: You have no time to yourself, do you?
Q: Nah, so there’s nothing crazy… There’s like a choice between going to the after party and sleeping. Sleeping all the way!
N: I think age is catching up with us fast. Cool, so does your wife come on the road with you?
Q: We’ll have it where like our girlfriends or wives will come out for a certain amount of time, but since there are six of us it would be crazy, you know, if everyone was out all the time.
N: And packed in a van at that?
Q: It would be a madhouse.
N: do you guys find that you have more fun when it’s just the boys?
Q: I think it’s always nice for the person whose extra company is around. It’s kind of a break, but when it’s just the 6 of us in the van it’s kind of how we started and what we’re the most comfortable with.
N: What Warped bands have you been excited to see?
Q: Oh man, I haven’t watched a whole lot of bands. Valient Thorr is pretty badass.
N: Yeah, I’ve heard a lot of good things about them. Personally, I love them.
Q: And this band called ASG whose not on today but they’re pretty rockin’ and actually I like this band Voltaire who’s playing right now. They’re from Australia.
N: So, any crazy Warped Tour stories from your past?
Q: Oh man, we had one night where the drummer and I, we were sharing a bus with the now defunct Vendetta Red, and a couple of us went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean and the rest of the guys stayed behind and finished a whole bottle of Absinthe, right? So we come back to the bus and there’s like 3 or 4 naked men just running around outside throwing fruit at each other.
N: Do you enjoy touring?
Q: It depends. This tour is rough just because it’s so much driving and the route is crazy if you’re in a band.
N: You’re kind of just going all over the place.
Q: Yeah, and it’s the middle of the summer… Like we went to Europe with Thrice and that was fantastic. Especially since we weren’t headlining so we didn’t have to be there for sound check.
N: So you got to show up, play and have fun.
Q: Yeah! So it can be good and it can be bad. I mean it’s a lot of time away from home. And the older we get, the more that kind of changes.
N: Do you feel like there’s a sense of community on the tour?
Q: I think everyone is outwardly nice. We’re probably the least outwardly nice people though.
N: At least you’re honest.
Q: It just feels like there’s a lot of, you know, ass kissing going on.
N: So you kind of feel like, “been there, done that”?
Q: I’m not sure if it’s that so much as that we just don’t get to hang out. We don’t really know anyone and so we’re kind of like isolated. It’s cool because we get to come here, pass out and we have like tons of free music to a huge audience but like it’s not necessarily where we want to be playing.
N: What do you think about the girls on Warped Tour? Like the Shira Girl stage?
Q: A lot of them are scabby! A lot of scabby ladies on the tour. I’m not sure what that’s all about.
N: What about Joan Jett?
Q: She’s got those weird muscles that dudes have that work on their abs a lot. Those angled ones that go towards the penis.
N: Do you think Warped Tour is marketed to girls more in a way of a showcase of cute guys?
Q: I think it’s geared toward marketing for companies, which sucks. It has absolutely nothing to do with music.
N: Would you do Warped Tour again, then?
Q: I’m not sure now… Who knows? To do it exactly how we are right now? No way…
N: Do you think cute merch guys are the new cute merch girls?
Q: Interesting. We have a merch guy, but he’s back in Denver right now.
N: It’ seems like the days of merch girls are numbered.
Q: Are they? Were there days of merch girls?
N: I think there were… But right now it’s mostly cute guys and I’m just trying to figure out if that was a conscientious decision.
Q: I think that’s where music is at right now. They gave boy bands guitars.
N: Do you think a lot of those “boy bands” are on Warped right now?
Q: It’s just pop songs with guitars in them.
N: Musically, who are your influences?
Q: Well, I mean when we started the band we all listened to like old hardcore bands and all that. That’s kind of the scene we came out of but at this point.. I’ve been listening to a lot of Blonde Redhead recently… the new Placebo record is good and I feel like we’re kind of heading more in that direction.
N: Well you can’t always be that angry can you?
Q: I think you can. Trent Reznor seems to be!
N: Anything else you want to share?
Q: Do you have any gum?
