Paradox Is Soaking In The Moment At Warped Tour

The ascension of pop-punk band The Paradox—featuring lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Eric Dangerfield, lead guitarist and background vocalist Christopher “Xelan” Bernard, bassist Donald Bryant, and drummer  Percy “PC3” Crews—keeps climbing, with more over the course of their mere two months as a band. Feeling familiar and fresh all at once with singles such as 2025’s “Do Me Like That,” the young band has captured the scene with their honest, catchy songs, making them a genre defining act that has made history with being the first all Black band to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart with their breakout hit “Get The Message,” wanting to “put rock back in the hands of the originators.” 

Formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 2024, the group  has carved out their own space in pop-punk, blending humor and pop-punk sensibilities that harken back to Blink-182 to create their own sound. After receiving an early opportunity to open for Green Day at a show  and  being invited by Jack White to open at a Nashville show after he had discovered their videos online, the group has only become bigger. Stars such as Lebron James, SZA, Travis Barker, and Kid Cudi have endorsed the band as well. As a young band from a city mostly associated with R&B and rap, the quartet are reshaping the look and possibilities for rock music. It’s been an “amazing” feeling for the band to be endorsed by such big names in the industry. “They’re so open-minded about us and it means the world to us. We look up to them. We grew up listening to them.  It means a lot that they’re so inviting.” 

Recently, the band appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk as part of the platform’s Black Music Month programming and performed an energetic six song set, coming days after the release of their soaring new single titled “Good For You.”  Of the set, the band says that it was an “awesome” experience. “We had so much fun doing that. Shout out to Atlanta too for putting us on and inviting us out to do that. We’ve been watching that since forever. I’ve been watching Tiny Desk in my drawers with some ice cream for so long, so the fact that we’re on it now is crazy.” 

For the band, playing at Warped Tour is a dream come true. At a moment when rock is seeking new voices and authenticity, The Paradox are emerging as one of the genre’s most vital new acts, something that they don’t take for granted at the festival. “It’s amazing. We love it here. This is our second time playing it. We’ve been to a couple (of them) on tour with All Time Low. Shout out to those guys! Playing it for a second time, we’re in a better slot than we were the first time. Both times were amazing. This time though, it’s insane. We love it. We love DC. They show us love out here. Warped Tour always shows us love. It was a movie today, for sure.”