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Publication: BYU NewsNet
Date: August 7, 2006
Title: Utah sisters keep the Warped Tour alive
Author: Matt Pruitt
Original URL: http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/60598
Behind all the glitz and glamour of the music industry lies the reality of life as a rock star.
It's not all roasted duck on a silver platter as Utah band Meg & Dia have found during their travels with the Warped Tour.
Meg and Dia, two sisters from Draper, have played together since childhood and are releasing their first full-length album today (August 8, 2006).
The album's title, "Something Real," goes miles to describe their experiences on the Warped Tour, an annual national tour of more than 75 punk bands beginning each summer in the dead heat of June and lasting through the blistering August sun.
While other bands might be found cooling off backstage, the Meg & Dia band wanders through the scorching heat searching for people who will buy their CD, funding their gas for the next day of traveling with the Warped Tour.
"My least favorite thing is going up to people and trying to sell them CDs," said Meg Frampton, 21, guitarist, backup vocalist and co-songwriter, for the Meg & Dia band. "But that's how we pay for the tour."
Meg & Dia was invited to play at the Warped Tour MySpace tent after receiving attention from Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace, when someone hijacked their MySpace page and started adding friends uncontrollably.
Despite their good luck, the tour started out with a catastrophe. The band booked a tour bus over the Internet, only to find out later they booked through a bogus company and were out thousands of dollars.
Finally, after bumming rides with other bands, they were able to get their own tour bus, but the stress of the tour was only beginning.
There's a lot of high-school drama that goes on between everybody at the Warped Tour, Meg said.
"The environment is really stressful," said Dia, 18, lead vocalist and co-songwriter for Meg & Dia, sweat dripping down her face after a performance under the sun's relentless rays. "But you can't complain because you choose to be here."
Dia has also had to deal with overcoming her stage fright while on the tour.
"I'm a really, really, really, really shy person," Dia said. "I hate talking on stage."
Despite Dia's claim to shyness, one wouldn't realize it from watching her face full of emotion while she rocks out on stage.
The band members clearly enjoy performing and the opportunity to connect with their fans and other bands makes the hard work and exasperating heat all worth it.
"[The Warped Tour] is like punk rock summer camp," said Nick Price, drummer for Meg & Dia.
In their short time on tour, Meg & Dia have become friends with famous acts such as The Academy Is, Armor for Sleep, Gym Class Heroes and Dia has even been dating the lead vocalist from Stiletto Formal, Kyle Howard.
"I like a lot of their [Meg & Dia's] new stuff they're coming out with," said Howard. "It's really different than the things they get compared to."
Getting invited to perform at the Warped Tour was a stroke of luck that built upon the fate which brought the band together.
The sisters started performing together after Meg's first heartbreak prompted her to write a song and form a band in 8th grade.
Meg and Dia played in several bands since then, but none of them really seemed to come together the way they wanted, so they decided to take a break. Dia stayed home while Meg enrolled at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. During Spring Semester 2005, Meg was inspired once again to pursue her love of music. She and Dia decided they needed a bigger sound, so they began to look for additional band members.
Meeting their drummer was a fortunate misfortune.
"One day she [Meg] wrecked her car [while backing out at Smith's grocery store] and just happened to take it to Price Auto [in Sandy]," said Kenji Chan, 21, lead guitarist from Los Angeles.
Nick Price was working at the time she went in and, long story short, Meg ended up making Price buy her CD; they jammed together and she was sold - he would be their new drummer, Chan said.
There's something different about being in this band, said Price, born and raised in Salt Lake City. "There's some weird connection."
Price said that in other bands he's been a part of they've had a hard time with the music scene in Utah, but with the Meg & Dia band, it's become his favorite place to play, largely because of their fans.
BYU student Tara Huston said she is Meg & Dia's biggest fan ever.
"I think they're amazing," said Huston, 19, a visual arts major at BYU. "It's hard to come by a good female vocalist as far as punk rock goes."
One of the reasons Huston said she likes Meg & Dia is their music is all original and written by band members.
Huston has been to about 10 of the band's shows. "They know us by name," she said.
One time, Huston said, she went to the local pool hall Ozz for a Meg & Dia show, but arrived after the band had already played. After complaining to Meg & Dia about missing the show, the band asked Huston and her friends to follow them out back.
"They took us out back to their van and played us a private show on their acoustic guitars," Huston said.
Band members try hard to keep things real with their fans, even when they're away on tour.
Meg attempts to do that in her online Letters from the Road, posted on the band's Web site, www.meganddia.com, which describe the band's experience on the Warped Tour.
"We always have things on our Web site to give an insider's perspective," Meg said.
Meg's letters give her fans an authentic view of a band's life on the road.
Meg & Dia's Music Video |
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