Kevin Lyman

Kevin Lyman is creator of touring music and extreme sports festivals called the Warped Tour, the Taste of Chaos and the Mayhem tours. He also is a partner at SideOneDummy Records. He owns 4FINI which annually produces the above-mentioned tours as well as past tours such as the Down From the Mountain Tour, The Watcha Tour and Sprite Liquid Mix Tour. 4Fini is based in Pasadena, California, with four employees, including Lyman. The operations manager for 4fini is Keri Lee, who worked in radio for many years. One of Lyman's most recent successes is the Coachella and Stagecoach Festival Campgrounds. He was contracted by the promoter, Goldenvoice, to consult on the Campgrounds. In 2007, it was reported that campground attendance was in excess of 17,000. He is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona with a degree in Recreation Administration.

Tours and festivals

Active tours

• Vans Warped Tour
• Mayhem Festival
• Country Throwdown

Previous tours

• Down From the Mountain Tour
• The Watcha Tour
• Sprite Liquid Mix Tour
• This is Why Wurr Hot Tour
• Taste of Chaos

Filmography

Lyman has appeared in four films:

• Punk Rock Holocaust
• Punk Rock Holocaust 2
• Punk Rock Holocaust 3
• No Room for Rockstars

Warped Tour

Kevin Lyman - Warped 2009

In 1994, Warped Tour started out when Lyman, a 3-year Lollapalooza veteran, put a handful of his favorite South California punk and ska bands, including Sublime and No Doubt, on a bus and embarked on tour. Considering cancelling the event for summer 1995, Lyman was approached by the Vans Shoe Company to put together a skating festival. Seeing the obvious connection, Lyman jumped at the chance to incorporate their idea into his Warped Tour, leading to the longest-running annual tour in North America: The Vans Warped Tour. In 1997, the crowd was twice as large as in 1996 due to the fact that bands such as Blink-182 and Social Distortion were there all year long. This continues, which is why it is known as "The Tour That Won't Die". Lyman also included Warped Recycling in recent Warped Tours to help get all the trash left at the shows recycled. The incentive is that the person who brings the most trash to the "recycling tent" at any show wins $100. He also worked with Shelleylyn (owner of Tada Catering), who is the annual tour caterer, to include EarthWare as the dishware used every day. He also started to use a mix of diesel and bio-diesel in the production buses on the tour. Lyman has openly admitted that the concept of the Warped tour was inspired by Perry Farrell, founder of Lollapalooza. Lyman was also a judge for the 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. In an interview with Punknews.org, Lyman said, "If it was the just the “Kevin Lyman Tour”, it’d be Bad Religion, NOFX, Flogging Molly, and the Bouncing Souls all the time."