After several years of performing locally, Levittown-based quartet Patent Pending earned a spot on this year’s Vans Warped Tour, a punk rock music and extreme sports festival that hits 45 cities across the country each year.
The tour, which is now in its 17th year, has become a summertime staple for young music fans because it features a daily lineup of over 100 national touring bands and performances from world-renowned skateboarders.
On July 23, the tour came to Nassau Coliseum and Patent Pending was excited to get the chance to play in front of their hometown fans after spending most of the past two months on the road. “Being able to go city to city is great, but it feels like home right away when I get back to Long Island,” said guitarist Marc Kantor. “All of the familiar faces and friends, plus the chance to play at Nassau Coliseum. It can’t get any better than that.”
While Kantor spends most of his days as a touring musician playing gigs hundreds of miles from his Levittown home, he fondly holds onto the memories of his roots in the Long Island music scene.
“I started playing music in a ska band with some of my friends in high school,” added Kantor. “I have played many shows in Levittown, mostly at the Bunnery Inn, which is now Faddy Malone’s; I also used to perform at the East Village Green.”
The band’s 2006 album Save Each Other, the Whales Are Doing Fine features The L-Town Shakedown, paying tribute to their Levittown roots.
Joelle Andres, 27, was among the many Levittown residents who came out to support the band. “The Warped Tour acts as a huge social gathering for both bands and fans,” said Andres. “Bands that haven’t seen each other in some time become reacquainted, and fans flock to the event with their friends, many times even meeting their idols. I’ve been to every Warped Tour since 2000, but some years I’ve gone several times. There’s a great variety of bands that play. It gives me a chance to see my favorites as well as check out new ones, whom I normally wouldn’t have had an opportunity to see.”
Patent Pending is on the tour to promote their new album Second Family, which is a throwback to the sing-a-long pop-punk sound of the mid-‘90s. “Their new record is much different than their first one,” said Evan Gardner, a recent graduate of MacArthur High School.
“The songs are a lot more catchy and melodic.” Many Division and MacArthur High School students who came to the Warped Tour to rock with Patent Pending joined Gardner, a Levittown resident.
Check http://www.patentpending music.com for future tour dates, video clips, music and booking information.
