3OH!3's best Warped Tour stories, crunk-core, hit songs

Well, Warped Tour is only less than a couple of weeks away and we have been gearing up for this very exciting event here at Fox 35. We've been talking to a lot of the acts that are going to be taking the stage there at that festival. Tonight is no different. I had the chance earlier to speak with 303. You might have heard of them, a pretty popular electropop crunkcore, so they said someone has called them before, duo out of Colorado who's coming to the Warped Tour stage. They have been on Warped Tour a couple of times before. So it's a pretty important stop for them, and I had the chance to talk to them about what this means, not only for them currently getting to reconnect with fans, share their music, but also what it might mean for their careers moving forward and how they will view their next projects of music going from here. So you guys basically blew up on the 2008 Warped Tour side stages before kind of graduating to the main stages. What feels different kind of going on to a Warped Tour stage now as opposed to that long, long time ago in 2008? What's changed for you? Muscles are a little bit more achy and sore because we're older. Let's see. Usually, it is a very grown-up version of Warped Tour. I think there's water everywhere. It's not just monster water that you have to pour all over yourself to get a shower at the end of the day. You can pour actual water on yourself. No, man, Kevin and the Warped Tour crew have done a really great job of capturing the original vibe of Warped, and that's a very collective vibe between the fans and bands kind of breaking down those walls and really making it a collective thing. And also, you know, kind of modernizing it and bringing it up to speed with other festivals, and that's adding all the creature comforts for both people attending the festival and bands. You mentioned kind of modernizing this tour. It was originally known for punk and hardcore but you guys were kind of part of cracking that door wide open for electronic pop, hip-hop acts to kind of come in and change this festival a little bit. Do you guys kind of feel like proud parents looking at how diverse the lineup has become ever since? Crunkcore, that's what, that was what someone called us, Crunkcore, who knows, yeah, as far as, like, I mean, it's cool, I think if you look back, it's interesting, because Warped Tour is obviously known for the punk bands that it's had, metal, hardcore, but it's always had, like, a level, I mean, Eminem's done it, Black Eyed Peas has been on it, when we were on it, Katy Perry was breaking through, so, like, a lot of bands that you might not, Like see as being like the flyer sort of like, you know, like billboard bands of Warped Tour. There's been a lot of different sounds. They take chances on a lot of different types of bands. And we were just lucky, you know, to get the opportunity. And I think. Definitely when we were that first year, you know, we had to convince a lot of people that were out there to stay at our stage and watch us. And I think that made us that much better of a group because we had to pull all the stops to get people to watch us. And honestly, it's kind of cool because I feel like sonically we stood out. And, you know, I think at the end of the day, that kind of like made people crane their heads to see what we were doing. And there's been a lot of... Bands since that, you know, I'd like to think that might have been inspired by our sonics and our sound and dynamic, but I think people are just, you know, like Warped Tour always has a good way, especially on those early days, because I think festivals were a little bit one-dimensional in types of like, it'd be like a country fest or a rock fest, and I think Warped Tour would have a lot of different types of bands, so we're just happy to be part of, you know, the history of that. And you talk a lot about having been part of this history and going to a lot of these different tours. We've talked to a lot of musical acts that are kind of a part of this and it all seems like everyone has a really crazy story from Warped Tour's past. Do you guys have any core memories or strange moments that have happened to you that have just really stuck with you from Warped Tour? I mean so many to be honest. There's um yeah it's it's it's amazing because I was trying to do the math the other day and I think Sean and I have probably spent over a year on Warped Tour of our lives, and so that's a, you know, it's a year, like, basically adult camping in a parking lot, in a 100-degree parking lot, using, you know, porta-potties as your main, as your main facility for your bathroom, and, you know, catering and bonding with bands and everything. So, yeah, every day was and still is an adventure and fun. You know, I remember Sean split his leg half open on the drum riser one time. Thank Sean also stopped being vegetarian one time, but we'll let that lie for a second. And then I distinctly remember, honestly, Warped Tours in Orlando and across Florida, it was great because a lot of times, you know, you're in an open field or something and there's maybe a shower or two at a hotel for the whole festival you. for about 900 people trying to share a shower. The great thing about Florida was that We would know, like, okay, we can wait, like, until 4 p.m., and then it's going to rain, like, buckets for about 15 minutes. So we would just kind of wait there in our bathing suits and with our little can of shower gel and just wait. And then all of a sudden it would rain, and we'd be showering in the rain like this. And it was not only eco-friendly, but also very pleasant, that warm Florida rain. With a swimsuit on, right? With a swimsuit. Swimsuit on most of the time, for legal purposes. That is the most Florida story that I've ever heard, just knowing it's going to rain at a certain point in the day and just preparing for that. Yep. That's Florida. That'll do it. And when you kind of play these stages and you play those classic songs, Don't Trust Me, My First Kiss, those still ignite crowds of fans who love those songs from the day they came out, grew up discovering you, and now people who are rediscovering you on apps like TikTok. What does playing those anthems, how does it feel different now than from those first early days and work tour and just in your shows in general? I mean, more cell phones in the crowd than our early days. There weren't a lot of flip phones out there, but still. Fewer sidekicks. There used to be sidekicks. There were some sidekicks, which are. I mean, I still would love a sidekick, but, you know, honestly, the energy we, because I, sometimes I kind of, like, am unaware of who has seen us before, and we asked that question, we were asking it, we were on tour with Simple Plan and Bowling for Soup, and we asked the crowd, not only for us, for Simple Plan, for Bowling for Soup, we're like, who's first time seeing any of these bands, is it? And it was like 70% of people out there raised their hands, which is so inspiring for us because, you know, we like to get. We like to obviously have new people checking us out, hearing it. We see, like, multi-generational. We see, like, parents, grandparents, their kids. Like, it's really fun, you know, to see everyone coming out and sharing music and, you know, stuff that might be deemed sort of like a nostalgia for certain people. For some people, they're hearing it for the first time, so it's not necessarily like nostalgia. It's like a new thing for them. So we got to remember that when we go on stage that, you know, we want to bring as much energy as we can in our... 28-year-old bodies that were up there. Maybe not 28, but add 10 or 12 years. But, yeah, we're up there just trying to give our all and hopefully not splitting my leg open again on the drum riser. But if it has to happen, that's the place to do it is Warped Tour, all right? Well, let's hope that doesn't happen because that does sound a little painful. But, hey, anything for Warped Tour, right? They got a good medical training staff, they got all the facilities, they can help me out and I did it once and they helped me out. If it happens to happen again, it's a spot to do it. I know for your sake and for your leg's sake that it doesn't, but hey, it all remains to be seen, right? My last question for you before we kind of move on a little bit here. Pop music and alternative music, they have completely converged, I feel like, heavily in the past couple of years with hyper-pop, neon-pop nostalgia, all these different genres kind of popping up everywhere. How is this current music climate inspiring you guys in terms of your next steps musically? I think it's great. It really is inspiring. Sean was saying, you know, when we started playing on Warped Tour, we grew up ourselves listening to so many different kinds of music and inheriting a lot of our parents' tastes in music. So when it came to making our own music, we were interested in making this weird amalgam of all the stuff that we grew up on, that stuff that we came to on our own, hip-hop and techno and electronic music. And, uh... And so to see that, you know, over the last 20 years, again, like on pop radio back in the day, things were very genre specific. And over the last 20 years, really, it's things of those lines have blurred in a way that's really inspiring for us, because that's what we like to do with our own music. And I guess, you know, now listening to a lot of new stuff coming out, it's great. It's a lot of stuff is genre, like without genre. You know, still pulling references from, you know, whether it's an Olivia Rodrigo song that pulls kind of a direct or indirect reference from a Paramore song or a Talking Heads song or something like that. It's, I don't know, for us, that's also the highest form of flattery, you know, so I think that music's always been about, and art in general, about pulling from those references that you have in your own kind of psyche about what you want to create. So for us, yeah, it's an interesting balance of... Every time we come back to write music, it's like, all right, well, what do we do? What do we do best? For me, it's like, do I sing the best? No. But am I maybe okay at imparting some fun energy and a sense of play in our music? Yeah, sure. And so focusing that and how does that represent itself across our music, across our live shows? And I think for us, it's that sense of fun. It's that sense of... Collectivity and rocking a party and making sure that everyone, whether they're listening to our music, coming to our shows, like, you know, at this Warped Tour that we're really excited for in Orlando, watching our music videos, you know, interacting with our social media in any way, like, hopefully it's putting a smile on their face and it's allowing them to have some fun. Yeah. And my last question for you, you mentioned asking people, how many of you, is this your first show of ours? And you said 70% raised those hands. Say for anyone who might be coming to their first show of yours at Warped Tour, how would you bill it to them? What kind of message do you have for them to get them to come to your stage and have a good time? Self-taught choreography. Geography. Geography. Yeah, basement-made beats and, you know, middle-aged vocals, and that's what we're trying to sell, but it's, if you can imagine those things thrown into a crock pot and aged over 20 years. That's what we are bringing to the table. And as we all know, you know, wine is better in the ages, and so is our music. It's going to be fun. And, you know, those low bass notes will move you. They will move you. They will make you shake and make you dance. And hopefully we just provide a good time for everyone else that wants to come out and party with us. So we're bringing the party. This is our hand sign, 303. Good, looking good. Honestly, I think that was the best way you could have sold it. I already feel like all of that stuff, I want to go see that in person. Thanks, Hayden. We better see you out there. We better see you dancing. And And if you, you know, if you got friends who want to party, bring them. We're all going to party together, man. And maybe, you know, maybe I'll take another outdoor shower. Who knows? We'll see. Maybe. Not the Florida weather. You probably will. And I encourage that, actually. That sounds like a lot of fun. The rain in Spain falls mainly in Florida, is what they say, I think. That is what they're saying. Well, guys, we're really excited to see you rock that stage at Warped Tour, and thanks so much for coming on with us to talk about it. Thanks for having us. Get away.