PipemanRadio Interviews Taking Back Sunday at Aftershock 2025

PipemanRadio Interviews Taking Back Sunday at Aftershock 2025

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Aftershock 2025 Draws Record-Breaking Crowd Of Over 164,000 Fans, The Largest In The Festival’s History  

The West Coast’s Ultimate Rock, Punk & Metal Destination 115+ Bands • 4 Unforgettable Days • Fans From Every Corner of the Globe

Danny Wimmer Presents’ record-breaking 2025 festival season concluded October 2–5 with the largest Aftershock in history — drawing over 164,000 fans from all 50 states and more than 30 countries to Sacramento’s Discovery Park, generating an estimated $35 million in local economic impact.  

The West Coast’s biggest rock, punk, and metal festival reached new heights in 2025.

Debuting in 2025, Aftershock introduced several new fan-favorite experiences that elevated the  festival weekend to new heights. The Capitol Club offered an all-inclusive oasis with premium amenities and elevated views of the main stage, while Tremors Dive Bar kept the energy high with a pop-up set by  DJ Rock Feed with surprise guests My Darkest Days, and a special Sunday takeover by Sacramento’s own The Jungle Bird. Fans also discovered spontaneous performances at Beatbox and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speakeasy hidden beneath the underpass — each adding to the sense of discovery and excitement that defined this year’s festival.  

To celebrate DWP’s cultural and economic impact to the region, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, Senator Angelique Ashby, and Assemblymember Maggy Krell honored Danny Wimmer Presents with official recognitions from the City of Sacramento, the California State Senate, and the California State Assembly. The proclamation and resolutions celebrate Aftershock’s decade-long legacy, recognizing its profound cultural, economic, and charitable contributions to the Sacramento community and beyond, and highlighting how the festival has firmly established the city as a premier destination for live music in California.  

The 2026 dates for Aftershock will be announced in the coming months along with early bird tickets, allowing fans to lock-in lower level pricing and maximum payment plan options. Fans are encouraged to stay tuned to the festival’s official social media channels and AftershockFestival.com.

In addition to music performances, this year’s edition of Aftershock featured various partner onsite activations, award-winning beverages and delectable eats from partners including Animal Place, Astral Tequila, Beatbox Beverages, Black Shades, Blackcraft, Body Art Express, California Army National Guard, Coors Light, Don Julio, Eargasm, Freak On a Leash, Fxck Cancer, Golden State Cider, Hyatt Vacation Club, Jack Daniel's, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Little Rocker Clothing, Mortus Viventi, Nowhere Fast, Parlor Root Beer, Red Bull, Sierra Nevada, Strüng, Take Me Home, The Pretty Cult, Tito's Handmade Vodka, To Write Love on Her Arms, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, and Waterloo Sparkling Water.  

Aftershock is proud to partner with Visit Sacramento and is produced by Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents, one of the largest independent producers of destination music festivals in America.  

For more information on Aftershock please visit:
Website: www.aftershockfestival.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aftershockfestival
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aftershockfestival
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, you love them too?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yes, that's true for see why for you young. This
is pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W
four c Y Radio, and I'm.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Here with Taking Back Sunday. That's us. My name is
Adam and hey.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm Sean Nice here Aftershock Man.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah we're pumped.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Oh man, do you love this festival or what?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
So far? So good?

Speaker 3 (00:38):
This is our very first experience with after Shock and
I gotta say I love what they've done with the place.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's kind of cool with all the trees. Like how
many festivals are like that where you have just the
it's like you're just sitting in a park having a massive, cool,
big family reunion.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, it's so great there there, It's like that's a
real thing. It is the way that it feels to
be in a setting like this as opposed to some
kind of parking lot, right is like night and day.
And that's one of the things I think contributing to
just the day we've been having so far.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
So we're happy to be and.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
How to make artists like you feel when to play
in this environment opposed to the regular parking lot, expo center,
what have you?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I mean, I don't think.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
For us as far as playing, We're gonna do this
thing the same either way, right as song.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
As there are people there, Yeah, there's people there. We're
gonna go off no matter what.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Well, you can be sure there's gonna be people.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
Here for sure, that's right, so bump. But for this environment,
for talking to people and hanging out and seeing the bands,
me and stuff, it it feels like a camping trip, right,
So it's very relaxed. It's very chill. So the mood
is the same getting up on the stage, the same excitement,
but a little bit more relaxed before, which is really nice.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
See that's important. And I don't know about you, but
I think I attribute that to Dan Wimmer because the
stuff I hear artists tell me of how he treats
you guys, Well, don't you guys tell us what it's
like to be at Danny Wimmer festival and how he
treats you.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, it's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Actually, for the longest time, we would always say, man,
there's we wish America had festivals figured out the same
way Europe does because dude, like they have it down
to a science over there. Yeah, but he's one of
the people over here that is doing it right.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
And he actually went and attended hell Fest one time
years ago. Yeah, so that he could do that because
he really cares about the fan experience the artists experience. Yeah,
and like Health Health Fest, I've covered it and like
nobody's late there. They treat artists great, and I think

(02:46):
he kind of took from that model of how it
could run smoothly and stress free because listen, nothing better
than if you have no stress before you have to
get on.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Stode oh Man. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Well, and then two, if you're someone even attending the festival,
then like you're going to walk away with having had
so much of a better experience when you're not having
to deal with all the ticker tape.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
And all that totally.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
So after doing this for all these years, what still
drives you to come perform at a festival like Aftershock?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Oh Man?

Speaker 3 (03:21):
For us, I have found that through playing and like
the live like there's a thing that happens to me
and there's like a like it's just the dis cathartic
experience selfishly and that and to be able to do
that with just being on the bill with that's as
great as this one is and in front of all

(03:41):
the people that came out, I just really look forward
to it and I hope somebody else can get lost
with us, you know, like through seeing us at all.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
And see I love that because I always talk about
music is the best therapy, not just for ro but
for you guys.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, And I use the word cathartic all the time, like,
and I think that's how you find your tribe of
listener and people that attend your shows because they can
sense what you're putting out there and it's making you
better and making them better for different reasons at the
same time.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Big, and it's beautiful, right, It's just so beautiful. I
have this thing, it's like magic. It's like real world magic, right.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
I have this thing like, if we want to solve
all the world's problems, we need one big music festival
that everybody in the world's required to attend because listen,
in this environment, we all are just like one big
family and we don't have those outside world problems, right right,
And it's because of artists like you that can take

(04:42):
us on a journey somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Oh well, man, I really hope we can, because that's
always the goal.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Tell you, I think that's why you're still around because
you do not only can, but I think because you do.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Well, I do for myself. So yeah, I think that's
it's the smartest thing. Feel great to hear.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, I think that's the smartest thing as an artist
because you're not gonna please everybody. So if you do
for yourself, you're gonna get your people and they're gonna
notice that you're into it. Because when you do it
for yourself, then you're really into it. If you do
it for other people's reasons, you may look like you're
dialing it in. So I love that when an artists

(05:24):
just it's not selfish. It's basically creating art from within
instead of somebody saying you should do your music this way.
You know, true, you can only do it yourself.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, and then oftentimes, even if you try to do
it the way that they're telling you to do it,
it's still gonna come out sounding like you anyways.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Exactly exactly all these years, one story good or bad
in your musical journey, what would you guys share and
maybe different stories? God, that's a hard one, right.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
If Yeah, picking from a whole lot.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, Yeah, we've been very so very fortunate, Like, right,
it's hard to there's a moment, it's a just to
keep on the theme.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
It was like a personal moment.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
We were just out on tour of the band called
Coheed and Cambery, and we're playing like these larger places, right,
and we're playing this song that we have. It's like
acoustics starts, so like I'm starting out, I have the
acoustic guitar, and normally and when I have a guitar,
I'm like tethered to one spot. And so it's nice
because I can like look around and the whole thing.
And so we're like playing and I look over and
my wife and daughter are walking up the stairs going up,

(06:33):
and literally the whole song from start to finish.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I walked in. I watched them walk.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Up and then kind of stop for a minute and
then keep walking and they're holding the hands, walk all
the way across, and then walk all the way back down,
and then they left out the other side, and it
was just it was one of those moments. I'm like,
I felt like I was in a movie like it,
and it was hard to keep it was hard to

(07:02):
keep my composure and that was really special.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
That's pretty cool now, has your daughter ever given you
feedback on your music? And what has she said?

Speaker 3 (07:15):
No, she hasn't yet, But I figure if like, so
long as we can get her head up and we're
doing good.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, like if she's not saying anything that's actually good
because like it, if she thought it sucked, she would
probably tell you.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, yeah, true, especially up to like a certain age
for sure.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Right right, yeah, what story would stand out for you?

Speaker 4 (07:35):
Gosh, I don't know, like you were saying before, I
was just thinking. We did this long tour with Cod
and Cambria. It was a beautiful thing. We used to
play shows to them to like less than one hundred people.
Then we're playing these great, big giant venues and stuff,
and it was just such a beautiful tour and a
great time. And then we get to play this big
festival and I'm not gonna lie. I don't like getting
on the plane and flying across the country back and forth,
but through that, through sitting in the traffic in New

(07:57):
York and getting on the plane and dealing with the
people and this and that, like can you believe you
get to play a show with Blinkwin eighty two? When
you get there, like my god, what a wonderful thing
you get to do once you're there. The show is
the easy part to travel and all that stuff. That's
what being a pro is about, dealing with that. But man,
when I go up there, I'm the happiest guy in
the room. And that's kind of the perspective being this

(08:17):
twenty five plus years. You know that you kind of
see and how lucky we are that we still get
to do it. So it's just reminding myself that all
the time, like I get to do this. I can't
believe the dream has come true and continues for all
these years.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
See. I love hearing that because there are a lot
that don't get to do it, but they start a
band out and then for whatever reasons, it just fizzles out.
And to be able to actually be in this industry
doing what you love and helping us at the same
time by giving us art, Yeah, it's like to me,

(08:51):
I think that's probably the best feeling you could have, right, Yes, Yes,
Is there anything else you guys want to talk about
that we haven't discussed yet that you think the listeners
need to know?

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, I just have to say we have a record
call one five two that's out right now and it's
fantastic if you ask me and then, but aside from that,
I think we covered well, yeah, Shan, you gotny More bases.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
No, no, my bases are covered.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
There you go. Well, they definitely have to check it
out because it is badass. Your music's badass, and I'm
so glad you're hearing after Shock and thanks for being
on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Thank you so much for having us. We hope you
have a great rest of your day.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
You too.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Hello.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
My name is Adam, I'm Sean and we are in
a band called.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Taking Back Sunday. You are listening to the Pipe Main
on W four c WHY Radio.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man
on W for CUI Radio.