The 5th Annual Vans Warped Tour / T.J. Martell Foundation Bowling Tournament is only a few weeks away, and we want you to be on our team for the evening! This year’s event will take place in the San Diego, CA area on Tuesday night, June 26th. All proceeds support the T.J. Martell Foundation. For information on the T.J. Martell Foundation, a 501 c(3) non-profit, go to http://www.tjmartellfoundation.org.

The auction is LIVE NOW and runs for 10-days ONLY on eBay. http://donations.ebay.com/charity/charity.jsp?NP_ID=2222 (This is your only way in to this closed private fundraising event.)

Falling in Reverse have come out swinging with their debut album ‘The Drug In Me Is You,’ which has yielded a handful of singles, including the catchy tune ‘I’m Not a Vampire.’

The band recently played on the 2012 Rock on the Range festival and is also set to be a part of this year’s massive line-up for Warped Tour; for a full list of tour dates, click here.

When Loudwire spoke to frontman Ronnie Radke and guitarist Jacky Vincent, they told us why they feel Warped Tour is a lot like high school, gave us the lowdown on the drama with their former bassist, mentioned some of their favorite tattoes (as well as their not so favorite ones) and much more. In addition, Radke told us about how his stint in prison helped shape the band’s music.
Can you tell me about the recent single ‘I’m Not a Vampire’ musically and lyrically?

Jacky Vincent: Musically, it’s Ronnie’s idea from prison, in his head and the first thing we knew about it, he had the drum beat.

Ronnie Radke: We got that from Muse, I got that in prison listening to that hit song by Muse, it’s so good, the shuffle beat. People in our genre don’t do that beat anymore, you never hear that in our genre so I just wanted to add a little flare to it. The lyrics are about drugs and my past problems with drugs and the tongue and cheek way of looking at it like “come see how good I look” or whatever. It’s like a rapper’s way of looking at things.
Ronnie, while you were incarcerated, what kind of music did you listen to?

RR: Katy Perry, Eminem, didn’t really have anything else. It was just pop culture because of our TV’s. We had TVs and the radio, CDs were too hard to get so it was Muse, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry.
From a band’s perspective, how would you describe the experience of a large festival like Warped Tour, hanging out with other bands and things like that?

RR: It’s like high school.

JV: It’s like a cafeteria and you wait in line, but the school kids are other the bands.

RR: You got the jocks at one table, you got the dorks at the other table the indie rockers, you got the gothic punk kids at one table and you got the groupie cheerleaders at another table, that’s Warped Tour all combined. Then you got the metal kids that shoot up the high school at the other table, the Lamb of Gods.
Who are the jocks?

RR:The military, like A Day To Remember fans, they draw military dudes and I started noticing we’re drawing them, too.

JV: With the first tour it was mostly kids and now I started to see a lot of dudes, like military hardcore dudes. My favorite thing seeing is old rockers, rockin’ out.

RR: Or little kids, I never saw little kids before come to the shows but I think it’s because I try to set positive examples so parents are more likely to bring them. I tell people not to do drugs on stage, I don’t drink and I try to promote a better lifestyle or them and I noticed them starting to get younger and younger so it’s a good feeling to have.
What is one band that you would love to go on the road with that you haven’t gotten a chance to tour with yet?

JV: A Day to Remember.

RR: My Chemical Romance; ourselves. [Laughs]
Ronnie, when did you realize you wanted to front a rock band?

RR: I always wanted to. I would play piano a lot and sing, I didn’t really have to practice when I was younger to sing in key but I really started practicing at 15, broke my ankle skateboarding and then I was just like, “Eh, I want to be a Rockstar,” and then my dad was like, “So now you don’t want to be a professional skateboarder, you want to be a rock star, okay.”

JV: I wanted to be a pro skateboarder, too.
What influences the style of Falling in Reverse both in appearance and musically?

JV: It’s everything, hip hop, rock, metal, pop.

RR: When I was in Escape the Fate, we did this album called ‘Dying Is Your Latest Fashion,’ it was an accident the way the songs came together; it would be pop songs and then there would be a really heavy song and our producer would be like “don’t do that, you can’t do that” people will criticize, people would write “they don’t know what their sound is” and I was just like that is the sound. That’s my sound, it’s a collection of different genres of music. I noticed some bands starting to do that they’ll have pop song then they’ll have a really heavy song next. It’s different collaborations of music tastes and styles.
You guys recently announced a lineup change, a new bassist. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened?

RR: I live out in Hollywood, I have an apartment out there, it’s a lot of money a month to live there and he [former bassist Mika Horiuchi] didn’t have a key to get in while I was out to dinner and he called me and he was like “alright I’ll figure it out” and I come home and he got a screwdriver, he broke my door to get in, it looked like a burglar tried to get in.

I confronted him and he said nothing, no apology he just looked down. Then the next night I told him a couple of times not to bring these certain girls over, like these fan girls because I didn’t want them to know where I lived. I don’t want people to know where I live or where I’m sleeping. So he waited until I went to sleep and literally the next night he snuck them into my house. There’s other things that added up like he had a naked picture on the internet, I try to keep this band sacred I don’t want naked picture on the Internet, it looks tacky. It was just a collection of things that added up so I was just like you’re more trouble than you’re worth, you got to go. He was okay about it, it was surprising, no fighting nothing — he just left.
Tell us a little bit about your new bassist.

RR: I feel like an idiot because our last bass player to this bass player is like night and day. Last bass player was more of like “the look” more than the actual playing and this new one [Ron Ficarro] comes and locks up the rhythm, he’s got harmonies for days. He’s so professional, he makes us sound 10 times better than we’ve ever sounded.
You’re still out supporting the first album; have you started to work on the next album yet?

RR: I have so many songs, he has so many songs and riffs, he had a whole 10 song demo.

JV: That’s just the beginning though.

RR: I have about 12 songs in my head that are just ready to go.
When do you think you would hit the studio for this?

RR: At the end of this year, for an early 2013 release hopefully.
You guys are all inked up. What’s the one tattoo you regret?

RR: All of them.

JV: I wouldn’t say I regret a certain one, the thing that gets me is that I’ve wanted to teach music to kids, I’d love to work with kids but I know I couldn’t because of the tattoos on my neck and my hands. It’s not regretting it but it’s the only thing that really kind of makes me think.
Is there a favorite one?

JV: This house is my favorite, it’s from Goosebumps. I used to be obsessed with the art, I wanted to be a painter, that art was amazing. The house was amazing. I have my ’24′ tattoo. I’m kidding, it’s from ‘The Lost Boys’ but I have Kiefer Sutherland on my arm forever.

RR: I have Popeye the sailor man tattoos, oh my God this arm I’ve got a six tentacle octopus, not eight. About a year after I got it I was like “wait a minute one, two, three, four, five six…there’s only six tentacles” it’s a memory. I got “To Fast for Love” the “To” is spelled wrong. I got a tattoo that’s an optimistic way of looking at my prison sentence it says “On Vacation ’08 to 2010.”

“@taspotlight is in studio” - Ronnie Radke 

“Me and Sammy Hagar before my show” - Ronnie Radke

“Stoked on life” - Ronnie Radke

“God damn. This is unbelievable.” - Ronnie Radke

“It never ends.” - Ronnie Radke

“Getting ready for the backyard BBQ” - Ronnie Radke

Falling in Reverse’s Ronnie Radke on His ‘Extreme’ Workout Plan, New Found Glory and More.

Falling in Reverse, whose debut album The Drug in Me Is You cracked Billboard’s Top 20 last year is gearing up for a main stage run on this year’s Warped Tour. Lead singer Ronnie Radke, formerly of Escape the Fate, has had some highly publicized brushes with the law, which resulted in a two-year jail sentence.

Since being released from jail, Radke has bounced back, focusing his energies and talents on Falling in Reverse. Recently, the singer even got to live out a fantasy most hard rock musicians dream out — opening for Guns N’ Roses, which Falling in Reverse did last March in Hollywood, Calif.

While getting a new tattoo in Los Angeles last week, Radke spoke with Noisecreep about the upcoming tour, and hinted at the band’s much-anticipated new record.

First up, tell us about the new tattoo, Ronnie.

Well, I’m getting the rest of my chest filled in. All these new flowers on my chest to really fill everything in.

Okay. What’s the rest of the week like for you?

Well, we’re gearing up for some radio shows, around the country, but the big thing is getting ready for the Warped Tour on the main stage starting in mid-June.

What do you do to prepare for an intense summer run like that?

Right now I’m doing a thing called the Insanity Challenge. It’s like a work out regimen - extreme conditioning training - I’m doing it with my drummer. We do it every day so we can be the best we can be on the summer Warped Tour because of how demanding it is. Every day, we go from the extreme training to our rehearsal studio to rehearse. We turn up the heat to about 98 degrees to make us sweat, and then we put all this gear on and we pretend like we are actually playing on stage and move around like we’re on stage so that we condition our bodies so that when we are hot the sun, we’re not like out of breath and about to pass out.

Sounds like sort of a Warped pre-tour boot camp.

I do this with every tour because I never want to be half-assing anything when it comes to performing live. It’s hard out there, especially on Warped. People don’t always give bands credit for being out there for 30 to 42 dates or so straight in what mostly is extremely hot weather - over 107 degrees sometimes.

Are you and the guys fired up about playing the main stage this time out?

I’ve always wanted to be on main stage. I’ve seen my favorite bands in life as I was growing up, on the main stage, I’ve been envious of everyone up on the main stage, I’ve always wanted to be the center of the show so I really feel like we have accomplished something now. It’s gonna be an amazing year.

Do you remember the first shows you saw as a kid growing up?

The first was a church show, a little outdoor thing, when I was really young. I saw people singing and I thought, I want to do that. Then I saw Blink-182 with New Found Glory in Anaheim and it was amazing. I was 17-years-old or so. And now I’m on main stage with New Found Glory. It’s definitely a dream come true. Taking Back Sunday, The Used - I’d listen to all of these bands when I was 18, 19-years-old and now we’re all sharing the same stage.

What sorts of emotions are you tapping into as you write the new record?

Well, I would tell you but I can’t - I can’t let myself tell you. The last record was so vengeful and biter and spiteful - so everyone is wondering what ‘m gonna sing about next. And I’m just not quite ready to let people know. I’m sorry.

That’s okay. Safe to say you have a lot of emotions to draw on?

Oh yeah. When people hear the new stuff though I promise you they will lose their mind. It’s light years ahead of my last album. We’re demoing new songs right now, as we speak, and I’m telling you, people are seriously gonna lost their mind.

Will you be playing any of the new stuff on Warped?

I used to go to shows and hated when the band played new songs nobody knew. So I’m just playing what people know. When I hear something live, I don’t know, I want to be familiar with it, I want to like it - and so that’s our plan for Warped. Just stuff people know [laughs].

Falling in Reverse’s debut album, The Drug in Me Is You, is available now via Epitaph Records.

Warped Tour 2012 dates:

Jun 16 Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah State Fairpark

Jun 17 Denver, CO @ Sports Authority Field at Mile High

Jun 20 Las Vegas, NV @ TBA

Jun 21 Irvine, CA @ Orange County Great Park

Jun 22 Pomona, CA @ Pomona Fairplex

Jun 23 San Francisco, CA @ AT&T Park Lot A

Jun 24 Ventura, CA @ Ventura County Fair

Jun 27 Chula Vista, CA @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre

Jun 28 Scottsdale, AZ @ Camelback Park

Jun 29 Las Cruces, NM @ NMSU Practice Field

Jun 30 San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center

Jul 01 Houston, TX @ Reliant Center Parking Lot

Jul 03 Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion

Jul 05 Maryland Heights, MO @ Gexa Energy Pavilion

Jul 06 Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills

Jul 07 Tinley Park, IL @ First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre

Jul 08 Shakopee, MN @ Canterbury Park

Jul 09 Bonner Springs, KS @ Sandstone Amphitheatre

Jul 10 Noblesville, IN @ Klipsch Music Center

Jul 11 Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center

Jul 12 Burgettstown, PA @ First Niagara Pavilion

Jul 13 Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center

Jul 14 Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau

Jul 15 Toronto, ON @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Jul 17 Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

Jul 18 Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion

Jul 19 Mansfield, MA @ Comcast Center

Jul 20 Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center

Jul 21 Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Jul 22 Hartford, CT @ The Comcast Theatre

Jul 24 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

Jul 25 Virginia Beach, VA @ Farm Bureau Live At Virginia Beach

Jul 26 Atlanta, GA @ Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood

Jul 27 Orlando, FL @ Cenral FL Fairgrounds

Jul 28 West Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Ampitheatre

Jul 29 St. Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Park

Jul 30 Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Jul 31 Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center

Aug 01 Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheatre

Aug 04 Redmond, WA @ Marymoor Amphitheater

Aug 05 Portland, OR @ Rose Quarter Riverfront

Awesome Jacket Ronnie!

“Those are aliens in the sky!” - Ronnie Radke