She and pop artist Katy Perry ("I Kissed a Girl") are providing an alternative to male offerings on this year's Warped tour.

"We're obviously a left-of-center kind of band for this tour," Sometimes added. "We're hopefully empowering girls and letting them know it's not just a boys' world. They go out there and rock out and they can even do it in heels. It's OK. You're allowed to be a girl and hang with the boys."

She and Perry are playing the entire tour this year, along with the likes of The Academy Is ..., Anarbor, Anberlin, Cobra Starship, Every Time I Die, Relient K and Story of the Year. The Warped Tour runs through Aug. 17, when it wraps up at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. See below for details.

Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman explained that artists like Perry and Charlotte Sometimes are making the shows "interesting."

"They're a little bit different choices," he said. "Look at the Warped Tour line-up this year and that's what I think people are liking so much about it. Maybe my hardcore punk fans aren't as excited as you hope they would be, but kids are discovering a lot of new music and a lot of new things this year. That's what's really making this tour fun.

"Bands like: 3OH!3, the Oreskaband, an all-girl Japanese ska band, which sounds strange, but they're winning fans. Last year, fans liked the traditional sounds like August Burns Red. It makes the Warped Tour an interesting show to wander around at."

In addition to 3OH!3, Perry and Oreskaband, Lyman suggests fans check out England's Beat Union.

"Beat Union is starting to do really well. Every day, you see a little bit bigger crowd than yesterday. That's something. They don't have them all over the radio but the word of mouth on the Internet is [that] the kids are starting to say, 'Check out that band.' Devil Wears Prada and Pierce the Veil, those crowds have been--wow. I knew when I booked them in October, people are going to like these bands. We the Kings are doing amazing, too."

Other bands to check out on the Warped Tour:

Family Force 5 (whole tour except Aug. 8)
The danceable Family Force 5 brings on stage a giant drum machine dubbed Family Force 5000. "It's 6 feet tall," said guitarist Derek Mount, who goes by the stage name "Chap Stique." "It's the only one in the world that exists." Family Force 5's forthcoming album, "Dance or Die," hits stores Aug. 19. "It's very futuristic, apocalyptic and it's kind of like robots and lasers and bombs and explosions all in music form."

Anberlin (whole tour)
Like Perry and Charlotte Sometimes, the straight-up rock band feels a little out of place. "I feel like we're that staple rock band," said Stephen Christian, lead singer. "But being with bands like Norma Jean, we're two totally different genres of music. We would never tour together, but the fact is the Warped Tour brings us all together. So it's totally cool."

Shwayze (whole tour)
Shwayze features the rapper of the same name along with former Whitestarr frontman/socialite Cisco Adler. Adler's roots-rock acoustic-guitar and vocal tapestry meld with Shwayze's hip-hop delivery. "The networking thing is one of the perks," Shwayze said. "We meet a lot of bands that we normally wouldn't be kicking it with." To cash in on those ties, Adler has a studio on their bus, with which he hopes to do remixes with the likes of Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes. But Adler's determined to go out of the box. "I want to get some hard-ass dudes like Norma Jean to come in and do some different s---," Adler explained. "I want to really make people go outside of their boundaries." Shwayze's self-titled debut album hits stores Aug. 19.

Chiodos (July 18)
When Chiodos heard the Warped Tour was returning to Comerica Park in Detroit, the group members knew they had to be part of it. "They kind of invited themselves, which is great," Lyman said. "It's a nice thing. I think that says a lot about relationships I've built with bands. They can call me and say, 'We've been part of your tours between Warped and Taste of Chaos, but, hey, we're in town. We want to be part of the show. Can we come down and play?' What am I going to say, no? It's going to be fun to hang out with them that day."

The Academy Is ..., Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship (whole tour)
These Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic Records' bands have an incestuous relationship. Expect band members to appear as guests on their friends' stages. "We have a couple things in the mix," said Ryland Blackinton, Cobra Starship's guitarist, coyly.