Weekly Warped: The Sparring

For the second story of today’s on-going coverage of the 2010 Vans Warped Tour, we turn to new columnist Dan Maddox who checked out the tour as it played in Montreal last week. As he walked around the grounds he ran into the guitarist for this year’s barbecue band The Sparring who eventually convinced him to check them out and see them live. The following is what ensued.

Check back over the next two hours to see more stories about the tour.

---

The Sparring: Getting Caught In This Pit May Cost You Your Pride
By Dan Maddox

I won’t lie; Warped Tour was a disappointment this year. Sure, there were some good bands, Every Time I Die, Face to Face, The Bouncing Souls, The Flatliners, Riverboat Gamblers, Four Year Strong, Andrew W.K. Yet, however dear to my heart these bands may be, they don’t match up to the bands that Warped has let grace its tour in the past. I was upset and saddened by Kevin Lyman’s line up choice, no matter how much Warped is a “popular music tour.”

That was until I met a nice, moustached man named Jay. You see, Jay played in a punk rock band called The Sparring.

I had never heard of the The Sparring. I had no idea why the hell I’d want to hear them, nonetheless waste precious warped minutes watching them instead of Andrew W.K. That was until I talked to Jay.

He insisted that his band had the most stage presence out of all the bands on the bill. This was a BIG statement. Fucking Andrew W.K., how do you beat Andrew W.K on stage presence? How do you beat Every Time I Die, one of the hardest (note: not heaviest) bands out there? Even The All American Rejects, with a musical talent level of 2-3, have humorous banter in between songs. Jay’s statement shocked me in the same way a child learns about electricity.

So after Andrew W.K’s first three songs (which were the only songs I wanted to hear anyway), I traveled over to the Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands stage. There Jay was, on stage, guitar in hand. There his bassist was, bass in hand; and there was his drummer, sticks in hand. But wait, didn’t he say there was a singer?

Oh. There he is.

The Sparring know that they’re on Warped Tour with 25 bands that are completely opposite from them. The Sparring know that most kids in attendance don’t give a shit about punk rock. The Sparring know that they’re going to get looked over 95% of the time. That’s not OK with The Sparring though. They wanted to be heard, and they know that to be heard, they need to get in peoples faces and scream “Listen to us!”

The Sparring’s live set consists of their singer in the middle of the crowd, screaming out his lyrics, while finding a few seconds between words to criticize the straighten iron haired kids who walk past his set to get close to Alesena. The singer stands right in the middle of the small crowd and makes sure people move, or else he’ll make a statement that’ll ignite everyone to move out of fury (like how Toronto beat Montreal in crowd participation).

Let’s not just look at the humorous antics The Sparring throw into their set. They also have an energetic and real live set. They don’t rely on overused guitar tricks or head bangs, they throw themselves into their music, and let the friction from their fingers against their strings light them on fire. They take that same fire, and set the whole stage ablaze with a passion unfound in most modern bands.  They play real music, with a real screamer, and when you stand in front of them, you feel the same fire they feel on stage.

That’s not all though. There is the ever charming girl pit, where they get all the girls in the crowd (or grab some passer-by) and have them circle around the singer. There’s the “Where you going poser? Gotta run to see We The King’s set?” There’s the overall feel that you’ve been sent back in time, to the true days of punk rock.

The Sparring’s live set may seem a bit rude, but when has punk rock ever worried about being rude? When has true punk rock ever feared judgment? The Sparring try to be upright punk citizens; they try to follow the foot-steps of their elders. If that means grabbing a Sprite out of a passer-by’s hand (which was intended to be returned, except the person had already left), or throw my lost flip-flop about 50 feet away, then so be it.  Because punk rock isn’t about looking cool, punk is about having something to say, and having someone listen to it. This year, Warped is filled with people who need a lesson in punk, and The Sparring is happy to be a teacher.