For 22 years now, the Vans Warped Tour has been a traveling summer camp for punk, emo and metal bands. Countless bands have gotten their first big nationwide exposure thanks to Kevin Lyman’s festival, and 2016 is no exception. This year, thanks to the Monster Energy Party Zone, the majority of the heavy band playing are in their own area. If you’d like a primer of the more aggressive bands playing this year, go here.

Metal Insider contributor Nathan Katsiaficas traveled to Hartford, CT, Scranton, PA, and Mansfield, MA, to catch the tour. He also caught up with some of the heaviest bands playing this Summer to ask them what’s in their Warped Tour survival kit, what they do to beat the oppressive heat, and what the first Warped tour they ever saw was. The video features interviews with Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die, Davey Muise of Vanna, Lukas Magyar of Veil of Maya, Alex Koehler of Chelsea Grin, Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel, and Gus Farias and Myke Terry of Volumes. Check the video out, and follow us on YouTube if you already aren’t.