Joe Escalante is a man of many hats. Besides being the owner of Kung Fu records, he also helped Warped founder Kevin Lyman organize the Japan edition of the tour, and directed and produced the 2003 tour DVD. He used to be an attorney for CBS, is a bullfighter in his spare time, and somehow still manages to play bass for The Vandals [ tickets ], who are on board for their ninth Warped Tour this summer.

liveDaily: The Warped Tour came together 10 years ago. What's your involvement with founder Kevin Lyman getting this together?

Joe Escalante: I worked with Kevin Lyman on the Japanese Warped Tour. We did the first one last year. I put the deal together with a promoter in Japan called Udo, and Kevin and I came up with whatever bands we thought would go over well, and just got the foundation going to grow the Warped Tour over there.

That's my extent of any actual involvement in the tour, other than playing in The Vandals, which we've done nine years in a row. We didn't do it the first year, because we all had day jobs back then. Kevin called us and asked us to do it, and we couldn't. Then we quit all our jobs, and have been doing the tour every year since.

I also produced and directed the official DVD for the 2003 tour; that's coming out [on June 22]. I do a lot of film and video production. Our guitar player [Warren Fitzgerald] produces [The Vandals'] albums, and I make most of the videos.

On the DVD, Kevin Lyman made a comment about the band lineups during the tour--that as a performer, you have no idea when your band is going on stage.

From a band's perspective, you wake up and the first thing you want to know is what time you're playing. Sometimes you wake up at 12:00 and you're playing at 12:45. It usually only happens once a summer, but when that day comes, you're like "What the hell?," and everyone wakes up and starts running out of the bus. But most of the time you're on at, like, 3- to 5-o'clock, or something like that.

Your tour manager comes in with the lineup, and every day it's different. Some people are mad and some people are happy. Some people get a shot at a big crowd and some people have to play mop up.

Does that get dicey?

There's always a new band that got big real fast that's coming in and complaining, but the seasoned bands are used to it. No one has to worry about who plays before or who is bigger than whom. If someone is going to ask you who is headlining the Warped Tour, there really isn't an answer. We all know that some bands are bigger than others, but there's no band that's built as the headliner.

After a while, you're seeing the same people every day, and everybody's just sweating ... there's dust ... no one's got a good place to go to the bathroom. It's a leveler. Everybody is pretty much equal.

Explain the "Reverse Day Care" tent for parents, in case there's anybody reading this that is afraid to go with their kids. Is that soundproof?

No, it's not. It should be. They try to keep it far away from the noise and give the parents some place to hang out. This kind of music is mainly supported by teenagers. A lot of them are 12-13 years old, and they've got to get there somehow. The tent is a Kevin Lyman idea, for sure.

Do you have any special memories of the last nine years on the tour?

After every show, we go to the booth and sign stuff and meet the fans. That's a daily thing. Every time we play, a half hour later we'll be at our booth, so everyone can come and talk to us. So you get to pretty much meet every single fan in the country that really wants to meet you, and you can do it all in one summer. It's pretty cool.

TOUR DATES

Vans Warped Tour (w/ The Vandals June 25-Aug. 3)

June 2004
25 - Houston, TX - Reliant Center
26 - Dallas, TX - Smirnoff Music Center Lot
27 - Selma, TX - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Lot
29 - Las Cruces, NM - N.M.S.U. Practice Field
30 - Peoria, AZ - Peoria Sports Complex

July 2004
1, 2 - Fullerton, CA - Cal State Fullerton
3 - San Francisco, CA - Pier 30/32
4 - Las Vegas, NV - Desert Breeze Skate Park
6 - Chula Vista, CA - Coors Amphitheatre
7 - Ventura, CA - Seaside Park
8 - Marysville, CA - Sleep Train Amphitheatre Lot
9 - Nampa, ID - Idaho Center Amphitheatre Lot
10 - George, WA - Gorge Amphitheatre Lot
11 - St. Helens, OR - Columbia Meadows
13 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Thunderbird Stadium
15 - Calgary, Alberta - Race City Speedway
16 - Bozeman, MT - Gallatin County Fairgrounds
17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Utah State Fairgrounds
18 - Denver, CO - Invesco Field
20 - Milwaukee, WI - Marcus Amphitheatre
21 - Maryland Heights, MO - UMB Bank Pavilion
22 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Lot
23 - Cleveland, OH - Tower City Amphitheatre Lot
24 - Tinley Park, IL - Tweeter Center
25 - Minneapolis, MN - Metrodome Lot
26 - Bonner Springs, KS - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Lot
28 - Atlanta, GA - Hi Fi Buys Amphitheatre Lot
29 - Orlando, FL - Central Florida Fairgrounds
30 - Tampa, FL - Vinoy Park
31 - Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheatre Lot

August 2004
1 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Fairgrounds
2 - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Lot
3 - Virginia Beach, VA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Lot
4 - Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion Lot
5 - Burgettstown, PA - Post Gazette Pavilion
6 - Camden, NJ - Tweeter Center at the Waterfront
7 - New York, NY - Randall's Island
8 - Asbury Park, NJ - Asbury Park Lot
10 - Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Pavilion
12 - Quebec City, Quebec - Colisee Pepsi Lot
13 - Montreal, Quebec - Parc Jean Drapeau
14 - Toronto, Ontario - Molson Park
15 - Pontiac, MI - Pontiac Silverdome
16 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center Lot
17 - Columbus, OH - Germain Amphitheatre
18 - Darien Center, NY - Darien Lakes PAC
19, 20 - Foxboro, MA - Foxboro Stadium