Kevin Lyman

Founder/Operator 4Fini, Inc.

For the past 23 years, 56-year-old Kevin Lyman has spent his summer on the road with Vans Warped Tour, a punk-rock carnival he launched in 1995, and which has served as the springboard for the careers of such future superstars as Eminem, Kid Rock, Paramore, No Doubt and even Katy Perry. A longtime fixture on the L.A. concert scene, the Claremont, CA, native started his career promoting shows at Cal Poly Pomona, going on to work production at the legendary Long Beach, CA, venue Fender's Ballroom before working for Goldenvoice, cutting his teeth as a stage manager at Coachella. Lyman then established his own concert promotion company, 4Fini (a nickname of one of his two daughters) which has also produced both the Taste of Chaos and Mayhem tours, and, most recently, It's Not Dead Fest, a one-day show set for August 26th at Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA, headlined by Rancid and Dropkick Murphys.

This year's iteration of Warped -- featuring GWAR, Adolescents, Hatebreed, Save Ferris and Sick Of It All, among others -- has come under fire, both for an onstage sexist rant by the Dickies, which went viral, and the inclusion of Rock for Life, an anti-abortion organization. For his past philanthropic efforts, Lyman was awarded Billboard's Touring Awards Humanitarian of the Year in 2009, and his entrepreneurial initiatives include SideOneDummy Records, the Saint Archery Brewery and a venture involving recyclable toothbrushes. Lyman took time out from the Warped tour's stopover at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, Long Island, to ponder the future of his passion project.

Being on the Warped Tour must be what it was like to go off and join the circus.

I think it is. And then you just get on the treadmill of days and weeks, and just deal with things as they come up. I'm on every stop of the tour. Overall, I've enjoyed it through the years. There are times you wish you could be enjoying that backyard pool you worked so hard for. But it's what we do.

This has always been a labor of love for you. When you first started this, more than two decades ago, did you envision Warped lasting this long?

No, it was supposed to go for a summer or so. And then I'd go out and get a real job. At that point, I'd already worked in the clubs of L.A. for almost 13 years at Goldenvoice, doing 320 shows a year. I thought it might be fun to do something with my friends for one summer. I figured we'd put together a bunch of like-minded bands, set up a skateboard ramp and have a good time.

You first started putting on shows while at Cal Poly Pomona.

I started falling in love with live music. I began to promote concerts to raise money for the ski club.

Music has always been a sort of a means to an end for you. You've always approached your promotions with an eye towards supporting socially conscious causes near and dear to your heart. Most wouldn't consider punk and progressive politics as bedfellows.

See, I never really thought that. For some reason, I always thought the punks were trying to do good. They wanted to change the world. Of course, there were different factions of punk, but for me, it was a place of equality, where you weren't judged for your socioeconomic backgrounds or the color of your skin. You just went out and did your thing.

I grew up in Claremont, CA, which was always a hippie town. And I realized hippies were just punks who wore patchouli rather than safety pins.

What were your earliest experiences in the local punk scene?

The early '80s, with T.S.O.L. Black Flag, Dead Kennedys ... those hard-core bands. When I got out of school, I got my first job working at Fender's Ballroom. It's funny, because I went to school with [Goldenvoice's] Paul Tollett and his brother Perry. We all kind of got into music at the same time. Perry was in a band. Then I got into the ska scene, with bands like the Untouchables.

What were some of the lessons you learned working at Coachella with those guys in the early days?

The thing with [original Goldenvoice owner} Gary Tovar was to give people value for their money. Put on good packages and try to give them surprises. With Coachella - and then the Warped Tour - we almost went bankrupt to start what we believed in. And now both of them have established presences. We try to make the experience for fans at these festivals the best we can.

The Warped Tour must attract parents who originally attended and now bring their kids.

There are those who come up to me, shake my hand and say they first came 22 years ago, and now they have their teenagers with them. Being a festival where there are people working who are anywhere from 20 to 60 years old. Trying to navigate cultural norms is a challenge. What was once tolerated or accepted may not, to a generation later, be the same. It's about blending all these personalities; we're a big cross-section of what America is all about out here.

Your inclusion of Rock for Life, a pro-life, anti-abortion organization, on Warped, has come under fire.

We only did that to attract the other, pro-choice side into the conversation, and I think we've done that. My feeling is, you have to have different opinions and views in the same room. If we don't communicate as a civilization, we won't survive. Everything is so polarizing right now. It tears me up because we used to be able to sit around and discuss issues. We did the Rock for Choice shows back in 1991, which Goldenvoice produced.

One of the organization's goals is to present adoption as an alternative, which has a very personal meaning to you, being adopted yourself.

Yes, I was. I had three brothers and sisters who were also adopted. I'm glad someone had that option. I don't necessarily agree with their stance on abortion. If we can't accept someone with a differing opinion being there, it doesn't become worth doing this anymore.

You've had issues in the past with sexual harassment of minors and even this latest episode with the Dickies' sexist rant.

I still believe much of this stuff comes before or around the tour, not exactly on it. As for this latest incident, I still believe in due process. We have to figure it out. We've removed a few artists through the years. This issue could have been handled better. If they had come backstage and just calmly talked through it, we could have avoided this kind of backlash. A Voice for the Innocent is an organization that battles sexual violence that sets up a hotline and hands out cards at the shows offering local resources for victims. I run into high school guidance counselors and teachers who don't even have access to these cards for their students who pick them up.

Sometimes it seems punk is trapped in the '70s or '80s and hasn't really progressed beyond that.

We've booked old-school acts like The Adolescents and Strung Out this year, bands from that era, and they're making new fans. For them, it's an opportunity to play for new people.

You've always been a big proponent of branding, starting with Vans coming aboard the Warped Tour in 1996. Isn't that kind of corporate sponsorship anathema to punk tenets?

When I realized we were all supporting corporations that we should get them to support some of the artists and music that I believe in. If they're supporting the Rolling Stones, why can't I get some of that money, too, to help subsidize this tour? The Warped tour takes millions to put on, especially so that we can keep the ticket price in the $50 range.

How is Warped doing, attendance-wise and financially at this point?

We're off a bit this year. There's a giant societal shift right now, with almost 40% of Americans saying they're worried about going out in public places. We're not seeing the real younger, under-20 end of the demo this year for that reason.

Tell me about It's Not Dead, which is returning for a second round after a hiatus.

That's going to be a lot of fun, something we do every few years. Rancid and Dropkick are great headliners. It's just a punk Saturday for that audience to have a great afternoon. That era was a very exciting time in music.

Will there still be a Warped Tour 20 years from now?

No, not a chance.

Are you still getting as much enjoyment out of doing it?

In some ways, yes; in many ways no. It's a toss-up. The scales are tipping back and forth at the moment. The Warped Tour takes a lot of flak, so you go one way, but then I'll walk out into the audience and people tell me how important it is in their lives, how much this music's meant to them, how they've been inspired to start their own business ... and the scales tip the opposite direction. My mind can change every 10 minutes. I've always been a person who wears his heart on his sleeve, and probably takes it all too personally, but I would think there's at least one more Warped Tour next year.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chad Sengstock