#dee fizzy

So the other day I read this post that the lead singer of Hands Like Houses, Trenton Woodley wrote stating his opinions about YouTubers on Warped Tour and felt like sharing my own thoughts on the subject. I agree with several parts of what he said and disagree with others, but this post isn’t really to combat that or respond to that at all, it’s simply me adding to the discussion of this topic that he inspired me to want to write.

-You can read his blog post >> here <<

When I think of the fan demographic for most of the bands that play at Warped Tour, I think of 14-17 yr old girls. That’s not the only age, sex or gender to listen to these bands, look at me I’m 23, but it feels like they make up a large portion of the attendance and the people who run Warped Tour have also taken notice of that fact.

Now what do 14-17 yr old girls and boys do when they’re not in school or sometimes even when they are in school, they like most people on the internet watch some form of YouTube. YouTube is huge. Most people I know, even the one’s who don’t have an any social media connections, “subscribe” or routinely watch a number of channels and have favorite YouTubers. It’s hard not to. Often times it’s real people entertaining other real people and I’m about that life style.

For those of you who don’t know here’s a little back story, about this years Warped YouTubers. The group mainly belong to the colabrative channel My Digital Escape outside of their solo channels, except Damon Fizzy or DeeFizzy as many call him, who simply works a solo channel, but has been featured in several MDE and other YouTubers videos across the internet. Moving on.

The question here I guess is, What is their importance?

These guy’s are the ones rocking the band tee shirts, interviewing your favorite band, covering their songs and overall just being active in the music scene that Warped Tour works so hard to promote.

Bryan Stars has been around interviewing bands, big and small for several years now and even stepping outside of the official Warped YouTubers, other records labels and groups have separately brought on YouTubers to work the tour. Fearless Records brought the rock scene comedian, Jared Alonge along and Warped Tour ever picked Rock Forever Magazine‘s, Tori Kravitz as this years Pit Reporter. These kids are around and you can’t pretend that they’re not. 

Beyond that I think there’s a connection with these guys and it hits a little closer home then I think the bigger YouTube stars and channels can offer. It’s assumed by me that a lot of then, like the rest of us are following at least a few of the big channels like Tyler Oakley, Grace Helbig, and Dan and Phil, but when you dive a little deeper, you’ll find people, especially teenagers are attracted mostly to people who look and act more like they do.

The lines to meet the rowdy teenagers/young adults were ridiculous, but then again, because these YouTubers are so active 1) on the general internet and 2) in the preferred music scene of Warped Tour, they get just as much love as the bands do and it’s no different than wanting to meet your favorite band. Like I said there’s a connection there and what better way spark that bond then at a show, the one place most of them feel at home. If they weren’t there as part of the experience or internet famous at all, I’m sure they’d be there as just another set of kids in the crowd and I think that’s why people are looking down on them. Like who are they to deserve this kind of fame, love or attention? They’re just kids.

People who look down upon teenagers who look up to other teenagers/young adults need to check themselves. I don’t get the idol worship or the overwhelming feelings that brings them to tears, but I do get fangirl/anxiety feels all the time in front of my fave “celebrities” so there is that. On a similar note I don’t idolize her, but I do often look up to my best friend because I believe she’s amazing. She hasn’t cured cancer or been on Ellen, but she’s been there for me and has a giant heart and it should be no different then these kids and their favorite online content creators, who they feel do pretty much the same thing.

I don’t subscribe to MDE, but I have and do watch a few of their videos. It’s not my favorite content out there, but I still support them. I believe if you aren’t drowning in a couple million subscribers, sitting on a book deal or considered a house hold name, what you do online as a content creator isn’t worth as much to the world and that’s a shame. They still vlog and participate in tags and spew randomness at a video camera inside their bedroom, one just gets treated better.

Side note: Although I love YouTube/YouTubers for the most part, I’ve never been to a convention or waited in the pretentious and super long lines that they tend to bring with them. It’s easier to just pay 40 dollars to see your favorite band and internet celebrity, then 100 to 250 to go to a convention where there’s less of a chance to meet your faves. (That’s a whole other conversation though.) I did wait in line to take selfies with Set It Off though, but it doesn’t really count because I was like 3rd in line. Just saying.