STILL SKATING BY VANS WARPED TOUR KEEPS ITS FINGER ON THE PULSE OF COOL.

Byline: Rick Mortensen Staff Writer

To some, the Warped Tour might be called organized chaos or a punked-out carnival. Kevin Lyman, its founder, calls it a ``California lifestyle tour.''

But whatever you call it, you can bet that the Warped Tour, which pulls into Pomona today for the first of three Southern California dates, will be a sensory blitz. Attractions at the site include a ton of bands - some of them playing on at the same time on the numerous different stages, a 70-by-14-foot skate ramp on which 12 skaters will do tricks, tattoo artists, a tent featuring ``the latest fashion, music, makeup, etc.'' for women, a portable rock-climbing wall and motorcycle stunt riders.

Lyman founded the Warped Tour in 1995 on a hunch that the combination of skateboarding and punk rock was more than a passing fad. Using contacts and experience he'd earned over a decade of tour promotion and stage management, the promoter put together a bill of 13 bands and a ramp assembled and ridden by Upland skater Steve Alba.

It turned out to be a financial disaster, but Lyman still had faith. When Vans CEO Gary Schoenfeld approached him to help put together one of the shoe company's skating events, Lyman convinced Schoenfeld to sponsor the Warped Tour, and it has remained the Vans Warped Tour since 1996.

In 1997, the tour started to turn the corner financially, which eventually allowed Lyman to start his own tour production company, For-Fini Inc. With record producer T-Bone Burnett, Lyman's company handled the Down From the Mountain Tour, featuring music from the film ``O Brother Where Art Thou,'' and later this summer For-Fini will do the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour.

Despite his busy schedule, Lyman involves himself in every aspect of the Warped Tour, from the selection of the bands to the logistics of setting up in each new location. Each year he tweaks the formula a bit. On this year's tour he will introduce Balls of Steel, a stunt show featuring teenage motorcycle riders in a steel ball. He's also added a giant Slip and Slide to help patrons cool down and a portable rock-climbing wall.

One interesting feature making a comeback is the Reverse Daycare tent, where parents can sit in air-conditioned comfort, put on soundproof headphones and watch a movie while their kids enjoy the shows.

``The scene started attracting younger kids, and they were e-mailing the Web site saying, 'Gosh, I want to go to the show, but my parents won't let me,' '' Lyman says. ``So I thought, 'Let's start something. We'll watch your parents while you go have a good time.' The parents like that, because they can tell little Johnny, 'Come back every hour and check in with me.' ''

Paying attention to e-mails and Internet chatter is one way Lyman keeps his edge. By reading chat rooms and bulletin boards on punk-rock sites - including the Warped Tour's interactive site, warpedtour.com - Lyman can book bands in October that will be hot the following July. This year, he caught Simple Plan and All American Rejects on their way up.

``You have to listen to the kids. You have to realize you're not cool anymore,'' he notes. ``Back when I worked on Lollapalooza, I think I was actually pretty cool. Now I'm just this guy out here doing my thing, and I'm not that cool, but I think I do a good job of what I do.''

In addition to brand-new bands, Lyman likes to book old mainstays, many of whom have become his close friends over the years. He says NOFX and the Vandals will always have a place on the tour because he likes to hang out with Fat Mike and Vandals bassist Joe Escalante.

Lyman breaks down his formula this way:

``You're a young band talked about on the Internet, you're another band that's going to have a new record coming out, or you're a band I like to sit around and play cards and barbecue with,'' he says. ``We always have two or three of those bands on the tour. That's Pennywise, NOFX, the Vandals or the Bosstones - those are the guys I like to hang out with, and we're getting old together.''

Less Than Jake

Less than Jake - now on its sixth Warped Tour - fits into the second and third categories. The band was managed by Lyman in its early years, and it released its seventh album - a coming-of-age concept album titled ``Anthem'' on- Warner Bros. Records in May.

``Anthem's'' well-crafted pop songs retain the horn section and strong off-beat that characterized mid-'90s ``third wave'' ska, a movement of which Less Than Jake was at the forefront. While most of the band's third- wave colleagues have folded or lost their horn sections, Less Than Jake remains viable and brassy.

Songs with horns don't get the radio play or media attention they once did, but Less Than Jake's drummer/lyricist Vinnie (the band members eschew last names) said the group feels no need to change with the times.

``We were never the poster child for third-wave ska,'' Vinnie says. ``We've always done our own thing, and we will continue to do our own thing. Are horns popular in the current radio climate? No. Would I have to blow my face off with a shotgun to get in (alternative music magazine) Alternative Press? Yes. When a reviewer or critic tells us horns or no longer welcome in rock 'n' roll, I have to tell them that hundreds of Motown songs would dare to disagree with them.''

Vinnie may have a chip on his shoulder about the fickle tastes of the punk-rock press, but he has nothing but good things to say about the Warped Tour.

``Warped Tour definitely supports punk rock and the whole independent music scene,'' he says. ``Bands have found their popularity on the Warped Tour. Bands have gone from a hundred people knowing them in their home town to being on the touring scene and having 500-plus people come to their shows.''

One band hoping to expand its base is S.T.U.N., a California-based quartet whose name is an acronym for Scream Toward the Uprising of Nonconformity. With a sound that borrows equally from Rage Against the Machine and the Pixies, S.T.U.N.'s debut album, ``Evolution of Energy,'' came out the first day of this year's tour, and the band started selling it out of a booth.

Lyman makes it easy for such bands to get exposure by changing the bands' order of appearance each day. This approach avoids the appearance of a headliner and prevents fans from showing up for their favorite bands and then leaving.

S.T.U.N. guitarist Neil Spies says Lyman's egalitarian philosophy jibes with the message his band strives to deliver.

``I love the vibe on the Warped Tour,'' Spies says. ``I love the fact that there's a community feeling.''

As the acronym indicates, S.T.U.N. is an activist band, and this year's Warped Tour has an activist bent as well.

Taking action

Inspired by Hopeless Records' annual Take Action Tour, which benefits National Hopeline Network's suicide prevention hot line, Lyman invited Hopeless Records to set up a booth on the Warped Tour promoting the cause, the Take Action Tour and worthy local charities in each town.

The label sent Arielle Bielak to run the booth and track down local charities to share the space, which is called the Kevin Says Take Action space.

Lyman feels a particular responsibility to prevent teen suicides because of some news articles he read recently.

``I've been reading about all these crazy Web sites that tell kids how to commit suicide, I mean actually tell them exactly how to do it,'' he says.

``I was reading this story in the San Francisco Chronicle about this young girl who'd committed suicide, and she had all these posters on her back wall of all the bands that had played the Warped Tour. I thought she must have been at one of my shows once, so it hit me very hard.''

That type of concern is indicative of Lyman's commitment to the tour.

``I produce other tours, but those are more like business,'' he says. ``The Warped Tour is still my passion, it's my lifestyle. When these young bands see that I'm out here working very hard, I think it inspires them to work very hard.''

VANS WARPED TOUR

Where and when: Noon today at Fairplex, 1101 McKinley Ave, Pomona; noon Wednesday at Seaside Park, 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura; noon Friday at California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd.

Tickets: $27. [phone]. For a complete list of bands, see www.warpedtour.com.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) WARPED and WILD

Rockers like Andrew WK won't be contained on musical tour

Trent Nelson/Salt Lake City Tribune

(2) LESS THAN JAKE

(3) S.T.U.N.