Over the past 14 years, the Vans Warped Tour has featured iconic punk acts Bad Religion, Rancid, and NOFX, and with bands like Pennywise and GBH on this summer’s 46-city tour, 2008 is no exception. Despite the lure of the tour’s more established names, Warped Tour’s undeniable legacy is its ability to introduce the sunburned masses to tomorrow’s next superstars. Here are five stellar up-and-coming acts with staying power. Won’t you want to say you saw them way back in ’08?
Band: Sky Eats Airplane
Players: Jerry Roush (vocals), Lee Duck (guitar), Johno Erickson (bass), Zack Ordway (guitar), Kenny Schick (drums)
Headquarters: Fort Worth, Texas
Sounds Like: Sky Eats Airplane incorporate electronic flourishes and sequencers into their experimental brand of metalcore, mixing Refused and the soundtrack to an 8-bit Nintendo game.
What to Buy: If you can hold out another couple of weeks, we’d recommend picking up the band’s self-titled studio album which drops on Equal Vision Records on July 22. The band has already released the song “Long Walks on Short Bridges” via their MySpace page and if the rest of the disc is anywhere near as inventive as that track expect to hear a lot from these guys post-Warped, too.
Help yourself to a free download of Sky Eats Airplane's "Numbers":
Band: All Time Low 
Players: Alex Gaskarth (guitar/lead vocals), Jack Barakat (guitar/vocals), Zack Merrick (bass/vocals), Rian Dawson (drums)
Headquarters: Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland
Sounds Like: If Fall Out Boy abandoned their caustic lyrics and melancholy moments for something more upbeat and positive, it’d probably sound pretty close to All Time Low.
What to Buy: The band’s latest full-length So Wrong, It’s Right catapulted them into the consciousness of Hot Topic shoppers everywhere and with good reason―it’s a brilliantly youthful, lovable LP. Furthermore, the self-parodying music video for “Six Feet Under The Stars” shows the band positioning themselves as both the musical and ideological heirs to Blink-182’s pop-punk throne.
Band: Forever the Sickest Kids
Players: Caleb Turman (guitar/vocals), Marc Stewart (guitar), Kent Garrison (piano/keyboard), Jonathan Cook (lead vocals), Kyle Burns (drums), Austin Bello (bass/vocals)
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas
Sounds Like: A radio-friendly hot mess of palm-muted power chords, singing synthesizer, and anthemic choruses that were meant for summer sing-alongs.
What to Buy: Although the band released a handful of EPs early on in their still-nascent career, their best offering yet is this year’s full-length Underdog Alma Mater, which features the ubiquitous single “Whoa Oh! (Me vs. Everyone)” and is so infectious that we recommend seeing a doctor before listening—unless you want to be a sick kid yourself, that is.
Band: Valencia 
Players: Shane Henderson (vocals), JD Perry (guitars), Maxim Soria (drums), George Ciukurescu (bass), Brendan Walter (guitar)
Headquarters: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sounds Like: Driving, upbeat pop-punk featuring whiny vocals that are surprisingly unannoying and atmospheric accents that help the band stand out from being just another cookie-cutter Warped act.
What to Buy: The band’s major-label debut We All Need A Reason to Believe comes out in late August, but until then you’ll be plenty content spinning Valencia’s debut full-length This Could Be a Possibility, which features guest appearances from Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer’s Rachel Minton and Senses Fail’s Heath Saraceno.
Band: We the Kings
Players: Travis Clark (vocals/guitar), Hunter Thomsen (guitar/vocals), Drew Thomsen (bass), Danny Duncan (drums)
Headquarters: Brandenton, Florida
Sounds Like: There’s nothing remotely controversial about We the Kings’ music—and we mean that in the best possible way. In fact, the fresh-scrubbed players are so inoffensive that your parents could just as easily be hooked by their saccharine brand of pop-punk.
What to Buy: The band’s self-titled 2007 album on S-Curve Records is worth getting for their single “Check Yes Juliet” alone, which could go down as the catchiest single this summer. But don’t take our word for it; to date the song has been featured as the free single of the week on iTunes and on MTV’s The Hills. Not bad for an album released on a small indie label, huh?