TOM MORELLO DISSES WARPED TOUR EMO KIDS

Amongst the older musicians on Warped Tour, dissing the traveling festival’s main constituency of tight-pants-wearing, hair-swooping, girly-man emo kids has kind of become like going fishing in a stocked kiddie pond; super easy but still lots of fun and irresistible. Every Time I Die’s Andy Williams and Dillinger Escape Plan’s Liam Wilson had plenty to say on the matter when I chatted with them about beards last month, and the latest rock vet — who makes those two look like kids themselves — to chime in is Tom Morello, whose band Street Sweeper Social Club played a couple of the tour’s California dates.

Elise at Reign in Blonde, who brought this video to my attention, makes a good point that most kids at Warped probably have no idea that the guy up on stage making funky sounds with his guitar has another, more popular band that’s sold tens of millions of records worldwide. But Morello seems to take it in stride, and though he fires a few shots at Warped’s primary attendees he recognizes the value of playing to a new crowd. Skip to the 1:00 mark for the Morello clip.

-VN