For many people, there’s nothing better than listening to Charlotte’s commonly occurring afternoon thunder-showers, the tears and laughter of friends reuniting in the CLT airport, or the gentleness of a guitar riff at The Evening Muse. For me, it was listening to Dave Warsop’s compelling British accent while he expressed his passion for music at the Vans Warped Tour. Beat Union’s vocalist and guitarist has led the band to success by securing tours with Gym Class Heroes, Taking Back Sunday, and Good Charlotte. I met with Dave to discuss the difficulties of being a U.K. band in an American tour, the significance of his favorite tattoo, and the future plans that band supporters can be expecting from Beat Union.

D: Will you introduce yourself to readers who are unfamiliar?

Da: Hi, I’m Dave Warsop, and I’m the singer and guitarist of Beat Union.

D: How’s Warped Tour so far?
Da: It’s really, really good. We’re nearly a month into it, and we definitely needed to find our feet for the first few days. We found it quite difficult; we’ve never seen anything quite like Warped Tour. You don’t get this kind of tour in the UK so it’s something very new. We’re actually loving it.

D: What would you say the biggest difference between touring in the UK and the United States is?

Da: The sheer size of it, definitely. I thought UK touring was hard, and then we came to the United States. We did club tours, and that was difficult, driving through the night, and arriving to a venue at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We thought “Oh, we’ve done American touring; we can do this!” And then we get on Warped Tour, and this has to be the most grueling thing. If we get through it, every other tour is just going to be a walk in the park.

D: I don’t know how you guys do it. I’m exhausted, and it’s only been a few hours for me.

Da: I think it’s surprising what you can put your body through and what you can get away with. Today was a little bit hard because I got very little sleep last night. We have a driver, but we have to co-drive and so it was me doing the co-driving. I was a little uncoordinated today.

D: And you guys just came from the Florida heat?

Da: Yeah, I’m hoping that was the worst. It was definitely the most humid. I’m sure for you Americans you’re used to it.

D: We’re pretty acclimated to it, but it can still be hard.

Da: Yeah, we’re not at all; our summers don’t get this hot and humid.

D: What’s been your favorite show so far?

Da: Probably Denver, Colorado. We played first that day; it was about 11:45AM, and we thought there would be noone there. The doors opened, and a load of people just came straight through to our stage, and we played to a really big audience who were really into it.

D: Did you get to go out in Denver at all?

Da: We went to a bar that night; there was a free bar for all of the Warped Tour bands. It kind of spelled trouble, really.

D: What are the plans for Beat Union after Warped Tour?

Da: Our debut album is called Disconnected, and it was released in April. We’re spending the entire year trying to build it up here in American and promote that record. After Warped Tour, we have a few more tours penciled in. I can’t announce them yet really because it’s not totally sorted out, but we’re going home in November for a tour with Less Than Jake. We’re spending pretty much the whole of the year in America, as well as some more next year.

D: So I’m fascinated with the tattoos. Tell me a little about yours. Can you tell me a little about the star [behind your ear]?

Da: The star. Well me and my brother have the same thing. It was a time when our parents were divorcing. Lots and lots of people are separating these days so it was kind of like me and my brother sticking together.

D: Well thank you for taking the time to do the interview for us.

Da: Thanks for interviewing me. When you’re far from home, and you’re getting to do something like Warped Tour, which is a dream come true, and have people interview you every day, well, it really is appreciated. Thank you.