OS @ Warped Series: War Games

posted in: Artist Features • Exclusive Interviews • Rock

With summer right around the corner, we can’t help but be totally stoked for Warped Tour. In case you haven’t heard, we’ll be sponsoring our own stage for twenty-two dates and bringing twenty-three artists out to perform on it. Twenty-two acts will snag a performance at their local tour stop, and one lucky artist will get to perform on every date (tour bus included). In addition, there are a handful of other OurStage artists already booked to play various dates of the tour. We decided to catch up with them to get the scoop on their summer plans.

Having earned their stripes from a young age under the name Another Option, War Games are primed to be breakout stars on this year’s Warped Tour. Comprised of lead vocalist/guitarist Kyle Therrien, guitarist Ian Provost, bassist/vocalist Andy Calheta and drummer Cameron Raubeson, this indie rock outfit promise fun and energetic shows this summer that are sure to win over plenty of new fans. We caught up with Kyle, Ian and Andy to talk about the band’s history, who they want to see at Warped Tour, and why they love Ace Enders.

OS: How did the band first begin?

KT: Technically, the band started when me and Andy were very young. We decided we wanted to start a band after being pretty heavily influenced by bands that were big at the time, like Green Day, Blink-182, Saves the Day. Before we even knew how to play any instruments, we decided we were going to be in a band. We started walking around our lunchroom in middle school and started taking donations so we could start buying equipment, literally, with a bucket, walking around. We were pretty popular at school so we made a lot of money and were able to actually buy some equipment for ourselves. We assigned each other instruments and started to learn them. If you jump forward to where Ian joined the band as a drummer and things started to get serious, ever since then, the better we got at our instruments, and as soon as we started playing shows, we became more and more determined to become more of a serious band. Somewhere along the line, we decided it must be a career choice, so we never let go of that dream and we’re still kind of chipping away at that.

OS: Where did the name War Games come from?

IP: It kind of just popped into our heads one night. It wasn’t anything thought out, there wasn’t a general way we wanted to go with a new name…it thought of itself, I guess.

OS: Who would you say are your biggest influences when you write songs together?

KT: We all have a bunch of different influences. We all take that and put them into our songs. Andy doesn’t even listen to any rock music at all…

OS: None?

KT: He listens to strictly hip-hop. He plays the bass, so I think that what gives him some of those groovy bass riffs. Me and Ian have some similar influences…I’d say Ian listens to more aggressive music and I listen to the same type of music, but on different sides of the spectrum.

IP: That’s kind of what makes the band what it is, though. If we all listened to the same style of music, things would get boring after awhile. So the diversity is really what makes War Games what it is and it allows us to keep evolving and keep changing. It never becomes stagnant.

OS: You guys are playing a few weeks worth of shows on Warped Tour this year. What can fans expect to see at your set?

AC: Expect to see us having a lot of fun…and we expect them to be having a lot of fun. We haven’t played a show in awhile. I’m just really excited to get back on stage. It’s a lot of fun. Maybe we’ll show you guys our abs and stuff…work out on stage… [laughs]. It’s kind of like a mix between KISS and The Backstreet Boys…

OS: Who are you most excited to see perform on Warped Tour?

KT: One thing I’m really excited about for this year is that a lot of the bands that were on when I used to go as a kid are on this year. I feel like it’s almost going to be like hopping in a time machine for me. Bands like The Used, Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday…

AC: I wanna see Machine Gun Kelly. That’s who I’m going to watch every day.

IP: I’m really pumped to see Every Time I Die every day.

OS: If you were planning your own tour, who would you ask to perform on it with you?

IP: Jamiroquai.

KT: I’m gonna go ahead and say I’d like to play with the Foo Fighters…maybe Manchester Orchestra?

IP: Jamiroquai. I’m gonna stick with that one!

OS: After Warped Tour is over, what are your plans for the rest of the year?

KT: After Warped Tour is finished, there’s been talk about going on another US tour…but in the winter time, we’re heading down to South Jersey to record our first EP with Ace Enders from The Early November. We recorded our last EP with him and it was great. We had an awesome chemistry. A little bit prior to that we became friends with him and it’s really been a lasting friendship. We work really well with him.

War Games were recently filmed for their very own documentary. Check out the trailer below and make sure you catch their set at Warped this summer!