How Idobi Radio Summer School helps elevate the next generation of pop-punk stars
Before Kevin Lyman, the founder of Warped Tour, decided to revamp the iconic alternative and emo staple in 2025, he was busy developing a summer school curriculum. It wasn’t an academic program tailored to his students at the USC Thornton School of Music, but rather to the next generation of musicians looking to get a leg up.
Lyman, along with Eric Tobin of Hopeless Records and Mike Kaminsky of KMGMT, who also teaches at USC, got together to create the Summer School tour, a traveling group of emerging pop-punk and indie acts, to try to fill the void left after Warped Tour temporarily hung up its cape in 2019. The trio could see online how bands were building viral fanbases, but felt they had nowhere to go, so in 2024, they answered with Summer School.
“There used to be this pathway to development for many different acts within their own communities, and in the last few years, a lot of that has gone away, but the kids who love this haven’t gone anywhere, and they’ve had no place to meet up and discover new things,” Tobin said during a recent video interview. “There’s a lot of nostalgia fests happening, and so much of it is wrapped into, ’emo never gets old, it’s not a phase,’ but what about that 15 to 20-year-old who loves that music, and is looking for something that can one day be their nostalgia?”
Leading the Idobi Radio Summer School tour and performing with Y2K nostalgia of their own is Honey Revenge, who was the first tour’s opener and is returning as this year’s headliner. Other acts featured include newcomers South Arcade, Games We Play, Winona Fighter, and Chase Petra.
The tour kicks off at the Observatory North Park in San Diego on June 19, followed by a stop in Los Angeles on June 20 at The Belasco, and culminates with a finale performance on July 25-26 at the Vans Warped Tour in Long Beach.
“They all fit together, and I hope that by the end of summer school, everyone will say that was the best summer camp I’ve ever been to, and these are all my best friends,” Tobin said.
Honey Revenge helped add a layer of community to the tour by shaping the lineup to include more emerging acts with a local focus. On the Honey Revenge Instagram and TikTok pages, the group called on submissions from local bands in over 20 cities where the Summer School tour will stop and offered them an opening spot at their shows.
“We were getting asked to open for touring shows, and now we get to kind of return the favor,” said Devin Papadol, lead vocalist of Honey Revenge. “We really pride ourselves on building a platform to uplift our friends and smaller bands because we’re really proud of our journey as a local band, and then getting to become an international touring band all these years later. This is very much a homie fest.”
Kaminsky said that one of the major aims of Summer School is to help develop bands and give them the experience they need to grow their audiences, and that’s what they’re going for again this year. He said that many of the first-year class, such as Magnolia Park, Stand Atlantic, and Scene Queen, have seen their careers jump after the tour.
“We’re really proud of that, and I would say that’s our measure of success,” Kaminsky said. “We’re not taking sole success for that, but I do think we can be instrumental to that.”
Tobin said he and the other co-founders wanted to find a way to give back to the music scene that helped shape their lives. Part of that ethos includes working with sponsors such as Guitar Center, Idobi, and Hot Topic to help keep ticket prices as low as possible.
“There’s the cost to do business, but that all has to come down for a fan who wants to come out and purchase that ticket,” he said. “We firmly believe that if a kid is going to love being at a show, a concert, or whatever it is, we’d like to offer them a pathway in at the lowest possible price,” Kaminsky said. “There’s really no genre to summer school. If there’s a kid who wants to discover music and is struggling to fit in, but goes to a show and sees people like them and feels like, ‘This is where I belong,’ then we will be doing right by what we set out to accomplish.”
Ahead of the tour, Southern California News Group spoke with this year’s summer school class about their music, what it means to tour with emerging artists, and how they feel about their upcoming performances at Warped Tour.
Honey Revenge
Los Angeles-based pop-rock duo Honey Revenge, consisting of lead vocalist Papadol and guitarist Donovan “Donny” Lloyd, draws influence from You Me at Six, Paramore, Hannah Montana, Demi Lovato, Kesha, LMFAO, and early Katy Perry. Although the group dabbles in party music and pop anthems, laced with Y2K-neon fashion, Papadol said she also grew up going to Warped Tour, playing in local pop-punk bands such as her previous project, Forever Emerald, and listening to heavy music.
“We’re like music for choir kids that love rock music,” she said. “We’re in our cool matching outfits, and if you have an edge and love radio pop music, come see us. We try to find a nice balance between nostalgia, but also forging our own way to blend familiar sounds with something a little fresher.”
The singer said that they are excited to return to Summer School and appreciate the spirit behind pairing emerging acts, as it reminds everyone involved how community-oriented music can be in alternative music spaces. She said the group knows all of the bands on this year’s touring lineup, including Chase Petra, who performed at Honey Revenge’s first show.
Papadol said she grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and mostly discovered music on her own, but Warped Tour helped her find new music she might not have otherwise. As a high school graduation present, her aunt bought her plane tickets to follow Warped Tour across six different states, so being able to perform feels like a full-circle moment.
“We got to do it last year, which was such an honor, but we get to do all these U.S. stops again and feel more seasoned,” she said. “It feels like a family getting to do it with the summer school gang. It’ll be kind of the finale to the tour in Long Beach, which will also be like a homecoming show.”
Chase Petra
Another local band featured in this year’s summer school tour is Long Beach’s Chase Petra, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Hunter Allen, bassist and vocalist Brooke Dickson, and drummer Evan Schaid. The group produces music melded in alternative, emo, and pop genres and has been influenced by The Cranberries and Panic! at the Disco. In a phone interview, Allen described Chase Petra’s mantra as “quarter-life crises music,” crooning to a younger audience that feels directionless.
Allen said Chase Petra was invited by Papadol, who has been a friend of theirs even before Honey Revenge formed. The two groups hadn’t toured together, so they thought the Summer School road trip would finally be a great opportunity to do so. Although Allen has lived in Long Beach most of her life, she recently moved to the U.K., and said that performing at Warped Tour will be a nice homecoming, even though she feels a bit nervous performing for a crowd of that caliber.
“I’ve been to Warped Tour before, and it’s legendary and almost mythical, so being able to be a part of it this year, it just feels unreal,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going to be real until I’m there doing it, and then I will probably be scared, but of course I’m excited. It’s kind of like jumping into a freezing pool. You kind of just have to do it all at once.”
Winona Fighter
While Nashville may be the capital of country music at the moment, a pop-punk scene is sprouting, and one of its leading acts is Winona Fighter. The trio, consisting of frontwoman and multi-instrumentalist Coco Kinnon, lead guitarist Dan Fuson, and bassist and producer Austin Luther, formed in 2022. Winona Fighter quickly made a name for itself with its dynamic live shows and DIY spirit, which attract large crowds and have drawn the attention of the Summer School founders.
“So many musicians come here because it’s cheaper than Los Angeles or New York, but not everyone who comes here wants to do country music,” Kinnon said. “For the longest time, there wasn’t really any strong rock or punk scene or anything like that. So it drove us even more to try to continue to shape the scene and inspired us to continue to do our own thing and step outside the box.”
The frontwoman grew up playing drums in the Boston punk scene before starting Winona Fighter in Nashville, where she sought to create a project that bridges underground punk and catchy pop. At first, she said booking shows in Nashville was difficult for the band. They got turned away a lot in the process, but they would jump on anything they could, including a country honkytonk, where they played a full punk rock set.
Eventually, the band started getting invites to perform with more established bands in Boston’s punk rock scene and other touring acts. Kinnon said she’s excited to join this tour, which features bands all similar in age, and that the band will get to be part of the Warped Tour lineup.
“It’s really an honor, and I’m just so excited to get to experience that scene,” she said. “Some of our best shows have been those more beachy, surf, skate, and punk areas. I remember growing up, I always wanted to go to Warped Tour and would always ask my mom to take me. Eventually, I did end up going a couple of times, but it’s now extremely surreal to be a part of it.”
Games We Play
Another pop-punk band joining the Summer School tour is the Los Angeles-based group Games We Play, led by frontman and multi-instrumentalist Emmyn Calleiro, and when he’s on tour, his best friends and brother hit the road with him. The project draws influence from All Time Low, Blink-182, and Fall Out Boy and is signed to Pete Wentz’s DCD2 Records and Fueled By Ramen. Calleiro’s relatable heart-on-sleeve lyricism and guitar hooks granted him viral fame on TikTok in his early days with his breakup hit “I Hope You’re Happy.” The song was a letter of support to his wife, and all the waves of feelings he had knowing she was there for him.
“My music is way too personal,” Calleiro said. “I give a lot of information that I don’t need to give, but it’s how I write my music, my fans like it.”
Calleiro said that if you scroll back far enough on his social media, you can likely find old posts of him trying to get his friends and family to vote for him for the Warped Tour contest that would let the winner go on the iconic tour. He said he was even banned one year after getting caught for making fake accounts to boost himself.
Games We Play was invited to return to Warped Tour after making their debut last year, where the band went all out with a beach-themed set, dressing in board shorts and performing shirtless. They used props like beach balls to really set the ambiance, which paid off by catching the attention of the summer school founders, leading him to join this year’s Summer School tour and to get another shot at Warped Tour.
The frontman said he’s looking forward to performing at the Orlando Warped Tour stop because there were some mishaps last year. Calleiro said that instead of rehearsing, he thought it’d be better to go to Shake Shack and skip it, which led to them messing up on stage the day of the performance. This year, he’s happy to be heading back to prove themselves to Orlando, and then come home to an L.A. send-off.
“The response I got at Warped Tour was the best regardless of the stage sizes we played at the different stops,” he said. “The crowds showed up and knew the words. It was an emotional show, especially in Washington, D.C. It was the best show I’ve ever played.”
South Arcade
South Arcade is a rising English alternative rock and pop-punk band consisting of singer Harmony Cavelle, guitarist Harry Winks, bassist Ollie Green, and drummer Cody Jones. The group describes itself as “Y2KCORE,” embracing a blend of nostalgic elements from the crunchy guitar riffs of nu-metal’s Limp Bizkit to the pop-alt vocals of Avril Lavigne. Their music is sure to be a crowd-pleaser at Warped Tour this year, where some of the foundational early-’00s influences will be welcomed with a new generation’s touch.
Idobi Radio Summer School Tour
When: 6 p.m. June 19
Where: The Observatory North Park, 2891 University Ave., San Diego.
Tickets: $46.70 at Ticketmaster.com.
Also: 6 p.m. June 20 at The Belasco, 1050 South Hill St., Los Angeles, $50.50 at Ticketmaster.com. The groups will also perform at Warped Tour at the Shoreline Waterfront, 386 East Shoreline Drive, Long Beach, on July 25-26. Tickets for the festival start at $200 at vanswarpedtour.com.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 10:09 AM.