PropertyOfZack spoke to Matthew Stewart of Outerloop Management, who is also one of the founders of the Scream It Like You Mean It Tour, not too long ago for a great interview. Emily and Matthew discussed the inspiration behind the tour, how things have grown for the brand within the past year, how they go about picking the lineup, and what the future holds in terms of tours and expansion plans. The tour starts on Friday, so make sure to read up on the interview and head out to a date if you can!

Last year was the first annual Scream It Like You Mean It Tour. What was your inspiration for bringing it off the ground?
I think we thought that there were a lot of bands last year who deserved tour spots that didn’t get it. We wanted to bring kids something different in a club setting. I teamed up with Dave Shapiro who was Silverstein’s booking agent, and I managed We Came As Romans, and we kind of just put a package together that we thought would be cool for the kids. We tried to make it a low ticket price and it worked out really well.

You’re also a manager at Outerloop Management. Is the tour an addition to the managing side of your career, or did you just want to step into a new area?
I try to be as creative as possible. I like going into the office every day with an open mind. I’m pretty blessed to work with two owners who give me the opportunity to do things like that. It’s been awesome teaming up with all the partners. Everyone has a role and we all try to be as creative as possible and try to put together the best thing we can.
POZ: Can you elaborate on who those other partners are?
Matthew: Jeff is a partner and he is the co-owner of Outloop Management with Mike Mowery and he is an entertainment lawyer for Bamboozle and Van Halen. He sees the big picture and is a partner with a few other major summer tours. He was sort of the father figure of the tour. Dave Shapiro is the booking agent who books the shows and works with dozens of artists. He has his role and deals with the promoters and helps put a lineup together. My role is to help Dave put the lineup together and to look at the big picture. Yogi Allgood is more of the marketing guy and goes out and makes sure that the sponsors are taken care of.

Has it been difficult for you to manage both jobs at once?
Absolutely not. I keep my roster pretty small and try to take care of all my artists and needs as much as possible. I make sure there are enough hours in the day.

How far in advance do you go about booking the tour?
It can go as far as five or six months in advance. It really depends on who we’re attacking for the headliner. That’s where it always starts. We started late this year with some complications at the beginning, but we worked through it and we couldn’t be more excited.

Last year’s lineup featured eight different bands, which definitely made for an interesting tour. Why did you decide to have so many acts on it?
We wanted to have a club setting that was different. We wanted to have an inside Warped Tour kind of experience with these sort of bands. We wanted kids to come see multiple bands and feel like they were getting a good deal. To get to see Emery, Silverstein, and We Came As Romans for $16 is great. We just wanted to do something different and creative and make sure that kids could afford to go to the show and have a really good experience.

Some thought it would be difficult to get into the rhythm with fans considering there were so many bands on the bill. Was that an issue?
No, last year was not an issue at all. We played it smart. You don’t want to have kids in clubs for too long where they get bored or worn out. Warped Tour you walk around all day and there are acres of land, but no one wants to be in the club setting watching the only stage for eight hours. Last year we did a good job of having doors open at four or five o’clock. That way we were still able to make kids feel like they weren’t there for that long and it was a very positive experience.

This year’s lineup features Breathe Carolina, Chiodos, I See Stars, The Air I Breathe, and The Color Morale. How has the initial reaction from fans been to the lineup?
It’s been awesome. Breathe Carolina are getting a ton of buzz off of their new stuff, and their new song is going to be going to radio very soon. We have this great dynamic.
POZ: Have you seen great ticket sales in response to that excitement?
Matthew: I think so, definitely. It’s going as well if not better than we anticipated. We’re on par with last year if not better.

Mod Sun literally just got added to the bill. How long had you been in talks with him for?
About four days [Laughs]. Tek One had some unfortunate circumstances that didn’t allow them to come over from Europe. We didn’t want to move it down to a five band bill. So we spoke to promoters to open it up to local bands in their markets to give them the opportunity to play the tour.

Was this year’s particular roster in your mind the whole time in terms of how you created it?
When we locked in Breathe Carolina they were very open minded to whom we wanted to have play, but they gave us their ideas as well. We worked with them and put together the best package of bands that weren’t on Warped Tour that went well with the bill.

Can you talk about some of the younger bands on the tour like The Air I Breathe?
They just released a new album, and they’re a great band. I had them go out with The Color Morale, who I manage. They both have new records for the tour and they both have very good records. We’re excited to give them the opportunity to show that to a lot of kids.

Do you think that this year’s tour will be more successful than last year’s tour since you now have some experience with it?
In terms of kids, I honestly don’t know. There are a ton of tours this summer, and kids only have so much money. In the early stages of ticket sales, we’re very excited about how things are going. It’s definitely going to be a huge success because I think our brand is growing every single day. We’re doing the proper marketing and we’re listening to the kids. We check the Twitter, the Facebook, the communities. We listen to what kids want and try to deliver that to them as much as possible. As much as I think I know, the kids know more. They know what they want to hear and we understand that.

Last year there were additional shows that had a few bands as guests on the bill. Might there be a few of those dates this year?
There might be a few guests.

Do you go out on the tour at all?
Yeah, I try to go out to as many dates as possible. I have bands on a few tours this summer and I try to balance where I’m going to be. I’ll be at multiple California shows and some other shows along the way.

Have you given thought to running anymore tours at different times in the year?
We’ve thought about that. The AP Tour has a spring and a fall tour, but we’re concentrated on building the band internationally. We’re definitely going back to Europe next year. Next year we’re hoping to even expand to different countries. I think doing it once a year keeps the brand excited. I like the way it’s set up where less is more. We want to bring the tour to Australia too, that is the next step. In 2012 or 2013 we’d like to have the tour in the US, Europe, and Australia. We’d like to make it a world brand.

Is this genre of music your particular specialty, or would you consider adding different based bands onto the bill?
I would consider this the most comfortable I am. I like to consider myself very diverse in music. The owners allow us to be creative and open-minded, and with that I’ve taken a lot of time over the past couple years and have really gotten to understand other genres of music. I don’t think we’re ever going to do anything too crazy, but you never know. No one knew seven years ago what genre Panic! At The Disco were, and as this genre develops it gets interesting. I don’t know what the future holds.

*This interview was conducted by Emily Coch