Ep. 46 Warped Tour, Mayhem Festival & Aftershock Festival With Aaron

In this episode of Festies, we are joined by our friend Aaron Apple, a longtime rock and metal fan and festival regular, to talk about the evolution of festivals from Warped Tour and Mayhem Festival to Aftershock Festival.

We dive into how Warped Tour shaped a generation of punk and alternative fans, how Mayhem Festival brought major metal lineups to cities across the country, and how events like Aftershock Festival in Sacramento became a modern home for rock and metal lovers. Clark and Aaron also reminisce about their day at Aftershock, the bands, the chaos, the nostalgia, and what makes festivals like these stick with you years later.

If you grew up on Warped Tour or found your scene at Aftershock Festival, this episode is for you.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Aaron And The Festies Crew
• 2:10 Origins: Parties, Bands, And Laser Tag
• 5:10 First Festivals And Outside Lands Beginnings
• 8:00 Rock And Metal Roots: Warped Tour 101
• 12:10 Mayhem vs Warped Tour: Scenes And Lineups
• 16:40 Aftershock’s Rise And Format
• 20:00 Highlights: Tool, The HU, Babymetal, Megadeth
• 24:00 Festival Magic: Surprise Sets And Vibes
• 26:00 Pro Tips: Navigating Mosh Pits Safely
• 29:00 Why Headliners Repeat In Rock
• 31:30 What Makes Outside Lands Special
• 34:00 Parking Secrets And Local Logistics
• 37:00 History Of “Outside Lands” Name

Transcript

Meet Aaron And The Festies Crew

Vanessa 0:00

Hey, Sunny.

Sunny 0:01

Yeah, Vanessa?

Vanessa 0:02

What do you call two best friends that love music festivals?

Sunny 0:05

Hmm. I guess you'd call them festies.

Clark 0:26

Music Festival. Friendship. Festies

Vanessa 0:45

Welcome back to Festies, everyone. I'm Vanessa.

Sunny 0:48

And I'm Sunny.

Vanessa 0:49

And we're your co-hosts. In case you didn't know.

Sunny 0:53

Today's episode is very exciting because we have our friend Aaron here with us today. Woo!

Aaron 0:59

That's me.

Sunny 1:01

We also have Clark here.

Clark 1:03

Hey.

Sunny 1:04

Woohoo. Yay. Woohoo! If you've been listening to us for a while, you've definitely heard Aaron's name come up. Aaron is a close friend, a longtime Festie, an incredible drummer. And as of this school year, you may now address him as Mr. Apple. Yep. Mr. Apple.

Clark 1:25

Mr. Apple.

Sunny 1:26

He teaches third grade in San Francisco. And also he has been listening to Festies from day one. So thank you for all your support.

Aaron 1:34

Yeah.

Sunny 1:34

Very excited to have you here. Thank you.

Aaron 1:36

Yeah, of course. I really like listening to it. We've all been friends for a long, long time. And it's so interesting. It feels like a conversation we wouldn't normally have, but just through a different medium than I'm used to. Yeah. Where I'm just like, I'm in my car and they're not here. You're talking to yourself. Yeah, exactly. Why can't they hear me? They're not responding to my points.

Sunny 2:01

Surround sound.

Clark 2:02

Just like a dad trying to talk to a sports team on the TV perfect.

Origins: Parties, Bands, And Laser Tag

Sunny 2:08

Before we get into anything else, can we start by saying how we all know each other?

Aaron 2:13

That's the age-old question that we've been trying to figure out forever, right? Yeah. Like Sunny and I have had how many conversations where it was like, when did we meet?

Sunny 2:23

Definitely one of your parties, I think. Aaron used to throw the best parties.

Vanessa 2:27

I don't think I ever went to one of Aaron's parties. You didn't?

Sunny 2:30

Are you sure? I feel like you know. No, I think you went to one. Whatever.

Aaron 2:34

In the city? Really? 2012, 2013. Loser.

Vanessa 2:38

Maybe I did go to one, actually. I'm having visions of walking through. Did you have an arch entryway?

Clark 2:44

To go to the back, there is go to one. Yeah.

Vanessa 2:49

All I remember is walking in though. Yeah.

Sunny 2:52

That means it was a fun night.

Aaron 2:54

You also threw amazing parties, too.

Sunny 2:56

Thank you. Thank you. And so that's where it's like.

Vanessa 2:58

Around for high school?

Aaron 2:59

No.

Vanessa 3:00

Oh, so like New Year's parties then he's talking about. Yeah. Not for high school parties. No, high school bangers.

Clark 3:06

Which I heard about all the time. But I wasn't there. Okay. I wasn't there. Yeah, because Alex, our other very good friend, started playing with Aaron and the rest of the guys in Sketch Republic. Our old reggae band. Yeah. They all came to my 19th birthday. Yeah. I met Clark at Laser Tag. The Laser Tag one.

Vanessa 3:27

Oh, when we did overnight laser tag. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Aaron 3:30

And I had no idea who Clark was.

Vanessa 3:31

So that's where we met? The first time we met at Laser Tag? Yeah.

Aaron 3:36

Yeah, probably. Yeah.

Sunny 3:38

In 2012?

Aaron 3:39

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Sunny 3:40

Just for context, for Clark's 19th birthday, we threw him a surprise party and it was all night laser tag. Yeah. It was probably the best party. Yeah. Like started at midnight. Pretty up there. Yeah. 11-ish.

Clark 3:51

It was awesome.

Sunny 3:52

They let us drink alcohol in there for some reason.

Clark 3:53

That was crazy.

Sunny 3:54

I have technically known you the longest because Alex and I have been really good friends for a long time. And you guys played music together first. I would pick him up from your parties.

Speaker 4:06

Or from band practice.

Sunny 4:07

That's when I met you. And if you didn't meet Clark until later, there you go. There we go. Then it must be later.

Clark 4:13

I spent more time with him. He does. That is true.

Sunny 4:16

No one is debating that. And then since then, Clark and Aaron have played uh, let's see, their first band was Sketch Republic.

First Festivals And Outside Lands Beginnings

Aaron 4:24

Yeah. Sketch Republic. And then that morphed into another reggae band called Grooview. And then I was in a jazz band for a long time. And we played in that together sometimes. Clark sometimes hopped in and out of that. And so yeah, like consistently in musical projects from at least from 2012 to 2019. Yeah. And I know everyone in this social circle through music because I'm from San Francisco and went to high school in San Francisco. And kind of right at college, that's when life just kind of brought me more down and down into the peninsula. And also that's the down and down. Yeah. Into the peninsula. I can say that as a city person. No, but I love the peninsula. And that's around the same time of 2012 was, I think, also my first outside lands too. It was right around that time. Between like the parties that I was throwing, the parties that you were throwing, Sunny, and then also the festivals. It was like, oh, everyone is like super into music, playing music, listening to music, being around music. And I was just like, I love this social circle. And now here we are over 10 years later. Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, over 10 years later.

Vanessa 5:43

Was that your first Outside Lands too, Sunny? It was.

Sunny 5:46

Aaron and I did not know each other yet at that time. That is so sweet of you to say. That's definitely a huge bond we have is through Outside Lands. Yeah.

Aaron 5:54

Yes.

Sunny 5:54

How many have you been to, Aaron?

Aaron 5:56

I did 2012, 2013, missed 2014, then 2015, 2016, and then I took a break for a while, and then I've been to the last two.

Sunny 6:10

So many seven. Yeah. So about seven. Cool.

Clark 6:14

Cool. Yeah, I and that's I no, don't you he was doing the hand gesture of six, seven. This man. No, it's dead. The eight-year-olds have confirmed it's officially.

Aaron 6:24

Is it really? The eight-year-olds have confirmed it's a good idea. I said it so much that I was like, if I embrace it, they're gonna hate it so much. And so I did. And then it's dead now.

Vanessa 6:34

And so you can't beat them, join them, and then beat them.

Aaron 6:38

Yeah. Nice. Dope.

Sunny 6:41

What was your first festival, Aaron?

Aaron 6:44

That's actually a really fun story because I live really, really close to Stern Grove. And so my first festival was when I was six months old. Cute. And that was back when it was a lot of ballet and the SF Symphony and a lot of classical music and stuff. And my parents were so recently new to the Bay Area. I'm a 94 baby, and they moved to SF in 1990, and they loved going to Stern Grove. And so as soon as they could, they brought me to that. But Stern Grove is different from other festivals, you know. And so, but like festival festivals, 2012 with uh with outside lands for sure.

Sunny 7:25

That's a good first festival. And it was Foo Fighters, it was Food Foundation. I was gonna ask you to remember who that was. It was Stevie Wonder as well.

Aaron 7:32

Yeah, and Metallica, which I missed.

Vanessa 7:34

You missed Metallica. What were you doing? Yeah, what being dumb.

Aaron 7:41

Not doing my research. Not doing my research. My family is super musical. They've always loved going out to live theater and shows and stuff. And so my mom was actually like, oh, I want to go to outside lands. Aaron's mom is still do you want to come as well?

Rock And Metal Roots: Warped Tour 101

Sunny 7:59

It's do you want to come along after you? Yeah, exactly.

Aaron 8:02

I wasn't even the one pushing for it. My mom was dope.

Sunny 8:06

One of the reasons why I was very excited to have you here is because and I know you have a very strong rock metal background, which Vanessa and I do not have. I don't think we've been to any. Oh no, well, Vanessa's been to Warped Tour. Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Aaron 8:18

Ooh, what year?

Sunny 8:19

Uh 2010, I believe.

Aaron 8:22

Uh, the high times. Yeah, yeah. Very much the high times of Warped Tour, yeah.

Sunny 8:27

For Festies listeners, can you guys give an overview of what Warped Tour was or is? I guess it came back. Did it come back? I thought it came back for one.

Clark 8:35

For a one-off, yes. Yeah.

Vanessa 8:37

From 95 to 2019, is that right? Yeah. Wow.

Clark 8:41

95, 96. Yes, it was a touring festival. It's a pop punk festival, you know, like Blink 182 to all-time low.

Vanessa 8:50

It's on Never Shout Never. Oh. Never Shout Never. We the Kings. Yeah, We the Kings.

Clark 8:55

I remember seeing Streetlight Manifesto.

Aaron 8:57

Vans Warped Tour like started everything. It was very much like, you know, mid-90s, tail end of the 90s. And so all the like alternative bands that were really geared toward the youth and kind of any sort of like, you know, X games-ish kind of things of like wild youth culture, edgy, like they put all these bands in Vans Warped Tour. And they also had a couple spots on the festival called the Barbecue that they would give to local bands and be like, You're in charge of the barbecue for all the other bands at the end of every night. And if you do that, we'll put you on the festival. And we'll have you travel around with us. And so Dropkick Murphy's, I believe, was one of the barbecue bands.

Vanessa 9:49

Ed loves Dropkick Murphys.

Aaron 9:51

Yeah, Dropkick Murphy's. There's a couple different waves of Vans Warped Tour. But the person who made that, I forget his name off the top of my head.

Sunny 9:59

Mr. Vans. Yeah, Mr. Vans.

Aaron 10:02

Sorry. But he helped really start basically every other rock festival that has come through California, he's had a hand in really producing it.

Speaker 10:14

Oh wow.

Aaron 10:15

But so much of the 2010s of like oh god, I could sit here for forever, of like Miss May I uh issues, A Day to Remember, Escape the Fate, Bring Me the Horizon, Suicide Silence, uh Pierce the Veil, you know, who have been having their resurgence, you know, and everything. Memphis Mayfire, Death Cab for Cutie, uh endless, endless, endless projects. And it's people who became real legacy people of those genres really started right there. I never went because while I know some of that music, that that music isn't fully my jam. during the 2000s, there was such a great wave of heavy metal artists that came out during that time. And sometimes it would be on Vans, but they would mainly be on the Mayhem Festival. And the Mayhem Festival was also a touring festival like Vans Warped Tour and it was a single day, and that was for more traditional, just straight up screaming heavy metal acts. Yeah. It was really different between those kind of two festivals. Did you ever go to a mayhem? I was supposed to in It didn't happen in 2011, and I was at a summer camp at the time at Berkelee College of Music, and they were like, You cannot leave the campus. We will expel you if you leave. And it was on a weekend, and I was thinking about going down there and coming back, but then I got too scared that I would get lost on the train. So I didn't end up going. Do you remember who was on the mayhem lineup for that?

Mayhem vs Warped Tour: Scenes And Lineups

Clark 11:59

I know for sure it was Lamb of God and Machine Head. We probably talked about this at some point. Was so was that the year I went? Because I went to a mayhem. The year I was I was at was Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Rob Zombie, and Korn were the main headliners. And it was at Shoreline Amphitheater, and they would have a local Battle of the Bands in the city where they were going, and whoever won that whole competition would get a spot in the festival. So you can look at past lineups and go, oh, here's the Battle of the Bands winner, you know, in that slot. But yeah, I definitely remember going to Mayhem because that actually was my first music festival, even though I don't think anyone would ever peg me for a like heavy metal.

Vanessa 12:44

I guess Vans Warped Tour was my first one too. But I don't I wish I could remember going. I remember being there. I remember seeing Never Shout Never, and I remember meeting Mike Posner.

Aaron 12:55

Whoa.

Vanessa 12:55

I have a picture with him. Yeah. What were we 16, 17 then? Yeah. Yeah, I don't remember. I don't remember. But but I have pictures because I used to have a digital camera. I should go back and see if I can find those pictures. And I was really into We the Kings, so I'm sure I saw We the Kings 303, I think. Yeah. 303. Yeah. Hey Monday. I think I saw Hey Monday.

Clark 13:18

I think we might have gone to the same year then too, because We the Kings was for sure there, and and I think we saw 30H!3 as well.

Sunny 13:23

Yeah.

Clark 13:23

Yeah.

Sunny 13:24

And then you two actually went to a music festival together. Yeah. Aftershock music festival, which is in Sacramento. Yes. When did you guys go?

Aaron 13:33

In 2023. Yeah. I believe. Yep, yep.

Vanessa 13:38

So are you sure? Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Aaron 13:41

Uh Aftershock is essentially the natural progression of Vans and Mayhem because Vans Warped Tour eventually died in popularity, uh, also due to the various scandals of a lot of different bands. But you know, it was a thing. Also, the Mayhem Festival kind of fell off a lot because the 2010s was a weird time for heavy metal. It was like, how fast can you play? What's the most intricate, complex rhythm you can play, and how low can you tune your guitar? And we found it. We found how how low it was gen. It's another subgenre of it. It was just so complex and weird. Some people loved it, but I found it really difficult to listen to. And so the kind of the whole movement changed a little bit, and I kind of fell off heavy metal for a little bit. I loved the bands that I loved, but then we started going to outside lands and I just started discovering a whole bunch of new music. You expanded your horizons.

Sunny 14:47

Sorry, no.

Aaron 14:49

But I think the same person who helped start Vans Warped tour started Mayhem Festival as well. And I think a lot of the same people started the Aftershock Festival. So Aftershock is now a four-day festival that happens in Discovery Park in Sacramento. It's huge. Every Indigenous People's Day weekend. It's expanded too.

Clark 15:12

It was just a two-day. And then 2012 was its first year. And then it went to four.

Aaron 15:17

So it's grown a ton. I think 2019 was the first year that I went to it, and it was one of the best musical experience I uh experiences I've ever had. Especially since it was one of the last ones right before the pandemic, too. Oh yeah. Like it was beautiful. But each day is kind of a different theme. Usually on Thursdays, it's like pop punk, but it's a little bit uh not so traditional, kind of heavy metal. And the rest of the days are pretty kind of straightforward.

Vanessa 15:48

Did you guys go all four days?

Clark 15:51

No. Aaron invited me. Thank you for inviting me to come because Tool was the main headliner, and that's one of Aaron's top bands. And I'm like, I've seen it. Yes, I will take an opportunity to go see Tool Vanessa. We were gonna go all the way to Bonaroo to see Tool. Yeah, yeah. No, just go to Aftershock.

Vanessa 16:11

We saw them at Bonaroo and like I didn't know Tool before Ed kind of knew some some songs, and it was awesome. But the crowd around us was just ready to get into a fight at any point. Everyone around us just seemed like they were in that vibe. So we were like, what's going on? But the music was sick.

Clark 16:29

So yeah, yeah. Just focus on the music. Yeah, they're definitely one of the best bands I've ever seen.

Sunny 16:37

Any other highlights from the the day?

Aftershock’s Rise And Format

Clark 16:39

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I really loved the Who, this Mongolian metal band. They have traditional Mongolian instruments as well. Played outside. Really? Yeah.

Sunny 16:49

Spelled H-U, right? H-U. H U. Not to get confused with the Who. Yeah, I know. I know.

Clark 16:54

You have to be so different than the British, the Who have that same name. And they are. You could not be more different than that band.

Aaron 17:03

It was interesting because I was also taking my girlfriend at the time there too. And so I kind of structured each day the same. You start with breakfast, you get into the festival. It's a really nice walk inside the festival, too. And at the same stage, at the same time, there were two different international metal bands. And so I took Clark to see the Who. And then for the next day, we saw Baby Metal, which is a K-pop metal fused in one, and they have synchronized dances, and they are amazing. Yeah, the incredible musicians. And so it's like this is my way of like today's gonna be fun. Today's gonna be different. You're gonna see stuff that you're not expecting to see. I was like, okay, I know it's kind of a buy, and we're going to a heavy metal festival. I need to curate. And so we saw the Who, and then we walked around for a little bit, and Clark discovered like an amazing, like cocktail little bungalow cart, like off to the side.

Clark 18:03

Yeah, so we hung out in there because it was, I mean, it was hot. It was hot Sacramento. Yeah, Sacramento in October. Like it's hot.

Aaron 18:09

We saw Bad Omens, uh, which is great, a really awesome modern uh kind of metal band, like very kind of metal with a lot of gothic kind of influences to it. And then um sitting side stage for Megadeth, and that's when I met Dresden.

Sunny 18:24

Yeah.

Aaron 18:25

Yeah. Connection to Grass Valley. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so hanging out there, and then yeah, seeing Tool. Both years I've went, Tool was one of the headliners. But in 2019, when I saw him, I went by myself for all three days.

Speaker 18:42

Nice too.

Aaron 18:43

Because I was just like, I really love all the bands. I don't care if I have to go by myself. You know, it's like I am going there, and I had such a great time. And they played Tool doesn't release an album a lot, and so it was their first album in like over 10 years, and they played some of my favorite songs off that new album, and it was like a full moon, and I was like, I'm by myself and I'm here, and I'm right to where I'm supposed to be. And uh I had one of those moments which was great. And the day before, I saw one of my top bands of all time, Slipknot and Lamb of God, opened for them, yeah, which was great.

Vanessa 19:26

Did you know Slipknots from Iowa?

Aaron 19:28

I of course I did. The only reason I know anything about Iowa is specifically Des Moines. So good. And I saw like Gojira, um, A Day to Remember. I saw a little bit of Blink 182 that year. Um, but also um seeing Limp Biscuit with Clark was probably a highlight.

Vanessa 19:53

I remember you telling us about Limp Biscuit.

Clark 19:54

So incredible.

Vanessa 19:55

Was he the one who was wearing a cowboy at the end? Yeah, yeah.

Highlights: Tool, The HU, Babymetal, Megadeth

Clark 19:58

And on the screen behind him, it said Nu Metal Cowboy when he came out.

Aaron 20:03

In between the sets, he would play like Cotton Eye Joe and just like had full tucked-in flannel, full cowboy hat, giant belt buckle, and would just like during the breakdowns,

Clark 20:14

he'd just like scoot. He'd go to the front of the stage and boot scoot. It was so good. That's so good.

Aaron 20:18

He was just like, I don't give a fuck. Oh my god. Yeah. And I'm not a really big Limp Biscuit fan at all, but I was just like, it was so entertaining. Yeah. And that's the best thing about music festivals that you all talk about all the time, right? It's just like you're gonna see something that you might have not liked or cared for, but you see it and it's like, oh, okay, I kind of get it.

Sunny 20:40

Yeah. Since the three of you have all been to rock festivals, do you have any tips for specifically a rock festival?

Aaron 20:47

Um, I don't do mosh pits anymore, but my tip is use the mosh pit to your advantage. So what you do is uh mosh pits are always in really great spots, like kind of in the middle, but people get really scared to kind of go near it. And so it's honestly one of the most spacious places that you'll find. So what you do is you start at the back of the mosh pit, everyone's kind of going for it. There'll be some time where people get tired, and so they'll stop for a second, and then you just cut across that shit so fast, and then you go and you end up at the front of the mosh pit that's closest to the stage, then you stay there, or you kind of hang out around the border of the mosh pit, like not the right or the left of the ring. Like keep three people between you and you know, on your right or your left of the mosh pit, especially for rock music, you get the chaos that you want from that, but also the awesomeness of the stage at the same time. Yeah, that's good advice. That's one of my tips, especially when I'm by myself. That's where I am. Like that's where I like to be.

Sunny 21:56

Well, I've noticed that the people on the outside of the mosh pit have taken. It upon themselves to protect everybody else from the mosh pit. Yeah.

Aaron 22:04

People love to do that. And also what's great is because mosh pits will kick off, and then people who want a mosh will see where the mosh pit is and they'll go directly for it. And people will make way for those people. It's like, okay, you want to go do that activity, you can go do that activity. And so you kind of ride that wave. So it's a way to actually also get up really fast while still maintaining really good concert etiquette because they're like, Oh, you're going here for that. And you're like, kinda. But like, if you tap someone on the shoulder and you point to the mosh pit, they'll be like, oh, by all means. You know, it's a good way to like get there a little bit more. Yeah. Yeah, that's dope air. I love that.

Sunny 22:48

Great tip.

Aaron 22:49

Also, I do want to say on the record, Sunny, I am officially trying to get you to come to Aftershock.

Sunny 22:55

Oh, you don't have to try your heart.

Aaron 22:57

Also, I will go. The last thing I want to say about all these festivals is that the headliners are always the same. If you miss one one year, it's like two-year cycles.

Vanessa 23:07

Kind of like the reggae ones. Yeah, exactly.

Aaron 23:10

Like once you get really a genre-specific festival, especially if like the legends of that genre are still alive and kick in, it's like Korn will always be headlining that. Metallica will always be headlining that. Like tool, turnstile, slipknot, they will always be headlining these kinds of festivals. And they'll turn over, but it's always kind of the same deal. And even that's internationally, because there's huge heavy metal festivals in Europe, and the same people are always kind of headlining those festivals, which is a complaint kind of of the festivalgoers of like, we wish that you kind of give that final spot to another legacy band.

Festival Magic: Surprise Sets And Vibes

Clark 23:57

Who is the other band right before Tool on the other main stage? Their lead singer also plays drums. Oh, was it God Smack? Godsmack. Yeah, it was God Smack. Godsmack got me into Yeah, and that was fun because when you're up in the crowd at Aftershock, the two main stages are separated by like a a meridian of trees in the park. So they'll actually on the jumbotrons on the other main stage, they'll show you what's going on at the other stages. Yeah, which is nice.

Aaron 24:28

Aftershock has a really good layout, it's like on this little island, kind of in the middle of Sacramento, but it's got a big main stage, then it's like a horseshoe, and on the other side is another main stage. In the middle, that's a VIP area. They have two other stages that are kind of far off into the side, and it's kind of under this freeway uh overpass. But it's got a really good flow to it.

Vanessa 24:52

You can camp there?

Aaron 24:53

No, no, no.

Vanessa 24:54

Oh, it says camping.

Aaron 24:57

Ohshock? Oh that might be new.

Vanessa 25:00

Oh, I think it's RV camping only. Oh, park tank camping. Wow.

Clark 25:04

My brother lives in Sacramento, so we yeah, we just hit him up and we crash there.

Aaron 25:10

And the city loves Aftershock too. People come from Idaho, from Oregon, from Southern California. Like, this is the only major festival that has all these artists, and so this is like one of the main times that metalheads around this area can go see everyone, you know. They're they're pretty respectful and everything, just metal heads. I I love them. I love us, but we smell bad, you know. So you kind of have to deal with that a little bit. But it fills up all the hotels, like all the restaurants, like get really, really booked. It's a giant surge in tourism that happens, and yeah, it's been it's been going strong.

Vanessa 25:49

Are we going to Aftershock this year?

Aaron 25:51

Yeah.

Pro Tips: Navigating Mosh Pits Safely

Sunny 25:52

October 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, 2026. And it says the lineup is coming early 2026. So keep an eye out for that. What do you think makes Outside Land so special?

Aaron 26:06

Oh god. I feel like a lot of things, uh the atmosphere is really, really important. I feel like um back in the day, like when I first started going, I really loved the legacy acts that they always had mixed with a lot of newer acts. And then as the festival has really, you know, just gotten bigger, just the caliber of acts that you can see is amazing. And San Francisco's been going through a lot of cultural ups and downs, like the city has changed a whole bunch, and outside lands remains one of the really consistent points of the year for the city. Yeah. I personally love all the lights in the trees. Yeah, and I love the lights in the trees. And I love the fog that rolls in through there, you know, and it brings out all like the indie people and people who just like want to go and have a good time. I don't think I've ever seen any fights at Outside Lands. A lot of people are just there to like hang out and party and dance. And as I say, with a lot of art, you can always tell when something's made with love, as opposed to something that's just trying to make money. And I feel like Outside Lands has always been made with a lot of love for people who love music of lots of different types, lots of different varieties. It's really spacious, and so being able to flow kind of from one thing to another has always really worked. It's packed more than ever because they're more successful than ever. Like good for them. But you can still flow from one place to another. And I think that the quality was really good because especially in the early years, I didn't know any of the bands. I maybe knew a legacy act, but so much fun was like you all would know cool bands. So it's like, oh, we should go here, we should go there. And it was all good. Like it's that feeling of like when you go to a restaurant and it's like it doesn't really matter what you order, it's gonna be good. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Sunny 28:17

Do you have a outside lands tip?

Aaron 28:20

Yes.

Sunny 28:21

Um I'm ready for it.

Aaron 28:23

Parking. My tip is about parking.

Sunny 28:26

Thank you. Are you gonna give away your secret?

Aaron 28:28

I am. I I do it.

Sunny 28:30

Our festives deserve it. You're not gonna gatekeep.

Aaron 28:32

I'm not gonna gatekeep the secret. And also small plug Argonne Elementary School, they provide parking in their school's parking lot, and all the money from that goes to their public elementary school. And um SF public schools need a lot of help. So if you can, it's really close walking distance. That's a good place to park.

Vanessa 28:55

Uh insider tip heard only here on Festies.

Why Headliners Repeat In Rock

Aaron 28:57

Yep. But mine is there's two main streets on the west side of San Francisco. There's 19th Avenue and then there's Sunset. And 19th Avenue gets packed around outside Lands Time. It's a highway inside the city. But sunset, it's another through street, but on the sides of sunset, on the right and the left side of that are these really long street parking ways. And as you go deeper on either side of sunset, it becomes more residential. But every year, without fail, you do have to get there kind of early. But I have found parking around Judah and sunset every year. Every year.

Clark 29:46

And one of those parallel streets to sunset.

Aaron 29:48

It's free all day. You may have to walk like five blocks or so. The the left side of sunset, you know, kind of down there. It's pretty close uh to one of the entrances, but that is my my insider parking tension. You heard it here first.

Vanessa 30:07

I wanted to bring up something. Do you guys know why it's called Outside Lands?

Aaron 30:11

Because it's outside. It's outside. I don't know why.

Vanessa 30:15

I just recently discovered this, like last month. I don't remember where we were. I think we went to like a museum. Somewhere in the city, Ed and I were wandering around, but when San Francisco was being settled, it was mostly like out on the east side and everything to the west, what is now Richmond District and Sunset was called the outside lands. It was kind of like outside the settlement, and it was just like sand dunes. So that's why it's called outside lands. I love that.

Aaron 30:47

So perfect. Outside lands balances that mix of making it a good solid festival, but also rooting it in a lot of local things that are really close by. For sure. The windmills, the buffalo, and just being in Golden Gate Park. Yes. The jewel of the city is pretty incredible. It's amazing. When do I tell my onesie story?

Sunny 31:08

Right now.

What Makes Outside Lands Special

Aaron 31:10

One of my favorite memories from outside lands was we all planned to wear onesies of different animals, and I was really, really stoked. We were all uh coordinating of who's gonna be what animal, and it's a foggy San Francisco day, and I just have like shorts on because I'm gonna be changing into this onesie. I get through security, go to the porta potties, and I change into this giant blue and white great white shark onesie. And I am skipping through the festival. I'm like like I'm excited, I'm happy. He's hot, he's high on the onesie. Yeah. Really onesie rush mood here. And so I skip all the way to Twin Peaks from the polo field. So I traveled the whole length of the festival. And um I get closer and closer, and I think I see Sunny, and I'm like, she's not in hers, but I bet everyone else is. And I get closer, and I'm like, hey guys, what's up? Oh and I'm the only one in my shark onesie, and everyone else is like dressed like cool indie style, like from that era, and I'm just like, who forgot to tell them? Yeah, just like, aren't we all supposed to be dressed up? And so he's like, that's Sunday. That's Sunday. It was like, it wasn't even tomorrow.

Vanessa 32:48

Were you so disappointed? I was.

Aaron 32:51

I was just like, I'm stuck like this.

Sunny 32:55

We should have worn them that day though, because it was the coldest day.

Aaron 32:59

It was cold that day.

Sunny 33:00

You were more comfortable than all of us because when we wore them on Sunday, it was hot. But didn't you also wear it Sunday again? I did wear it Sunday again.

Clark 33:08

He's like, I'm not gonna miss out on the actual thing.

Aaron 33:11

I was like, you guys are actually wearing it this time, right? Like, you're not pranking me. And I remember there was a couple people dressed as like my neighbor Totoro and like a couple others who like other people in onesies joined us, and we uh we called ourselves the petting zoo. I gave my phone to this woman uh to take a group picture of us, and she took almost a hundred photos. Like she just went and I refused to delete all of them because there were so many. So whenever I would just scroll through my photos, there was this giant block of just all of us.

Parking Secrets And Local Logistics

Sunny 33:53

I had a game to play, but since you said that you've retired from the pit, I don't know if the game makes sense, but it the game was called blanket versus pit. And we were gonna say an artist, and then you would tell us if you're gonna hang back of the blanket or get in the pit.

Aaron 34:06

Oh. Just play it anyway. You can cut it out by just one play. I'm gonna play game.

Sunny 34:12

Okay, if anyone thinks of good artists as we go, feel free to popcorn and say them. Uh Foo Fighters.

Aaron 34:19

Blanket.

Sunny 34:20

Billy Eilish.

Aaron 34:22

Uh blanket.

Sunny 34:24

Corn.

Aaron 34:24

Pit.

Sunny 34:25

Tool.

Aaron 34:27

Blanket.

Sunny 34:28

Skrillex.

Aaron 34:29

Blanket.

Sunny 34:30

Lana Del Rey. Pit. Jack White. Blanket. Anyone else got any artists?

Aaron 34:41

It's you. It's you.

Speaker 34:43

It's oh everything. I do do it all the time.

Vanessa 34:49

Dropkick Murphy's? Yeah, exactly. Oh, oh, oh. Dropkick Lana.

Aaron 34:54

Oh my gosh. Lana Del Murphy? Lana Del Murphy.

Sunny 34:58

Hozier.

Aaron 35:00

Oh, I don't know a lot of hosier. I I I need to know more. John Mayer. Oh, uh blanket.

Sunny 35:08

I know.

Clark 35:09

Uh the B-52s. Oh, Pit. I knew that was gonna be Pit for sure.

Sunny 35:15

Slipknot. Oh, so good.

Aaron 35:17

Uh Pit. You have to. Yeah.

Sunny 35:20

All right. What about Fallout Boy?

Aaron 35:22

Oh, blanket.

Sunny 35:23

Blanket. Yeah. That's the last one I got.

Aaron 35:25

Okay.

Sunny 35:26

Machine head.

Aaron 35:27

Oh yeah, Pit. Ooh, uh Godsmack, because we're talking about him. Oh, uh probably Pit for them. Yeah.

Sunny 35:34

Okay. Thanks for indulging me. Yes. Festies uh festival.

Vanessa 35:37

Oh, Festies Festival lineup. Okay. Since you're a big fan, I know what you know what this is, but we're coming up with our dream lineups. And there's one for people who have passed on and people who are still with us. Pick two artists that you would love to see on your dream lineups for these festivals.

Aaron 35:54

I get two?

Vanessa 35:55

One dead and one alive. Oh damn, they were both dead. Terrible.

Aaron 36:03

If I was a wizard and I could bring them back from the dead, I would do original lineup slipknot.

Speaker 36:10

Okay.

Aaron 36:10

Because uh Joey Jordison and Paul Gray both have passed. And um Joey Jordison is one of the most I argue one of the most influential drummers of our age. It got me into drums, got so many kids who I still teach how to play drums into drums. Um so that would be about my dead, and then for my alive tool.

Sunny 36:34

Okay. Oh nice getting sick. I know it's all over the place, but I love it. Now all of our festies know who Aaron is, and I know why he's been such a big part of our festival world. Aaron, thank you so much for coming on. Oh, so nice being on.

Aaron 36:51

Yeah, thanks, Aaron. You're welcome. You're welcome. I love the show.

Sunny 36:56

Thank you for being a fan of Festival since day one.

Vanessa 37:00

Okay, that's all for today, Festies. If you have a festival friend that's more on the rock or metal side, please share this episode with them. And if you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you're following or subscribed wherever you listen to us. Please leave a rating and review, and that really helps the show and helps more people find us. You can also hang out with us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Pesties Podcast. We'll catch you in the next one. Bye. Bye.