[Emperor’s note: I’ve decided that if a writer doesn’t include an intro to their interview, I will write one that may or may not be true. This is the first one.]
I, Luke Toney, have always had a crush on Byron of the Bouncing Souls. How nimble and strong his bass playing hands must be. The thoughts of him holding down the rhythm have long since drawn me towards him. When the very smart and intelligent and funny Emperor offered me his meager interview scraps, I lunged at the opportunity to be close enough to Byron to smell his Old Spice. After fretting incessantly for weeks before this interview, I listened to nothing but The Bouncing Souls discography, mostly while nude so my skin could feel those pounding bass lines. Oh, Epitaph, you are the harkening angel of punk rock. -Luke “Not the Emperor” Toney.
RacketLuke: I was a bit nervous earlier so I prepared some questions. Why are you guys doing two nights in Cleveland? It’s the only city I saw on the tour dates where you were doing back to back nights.
Bouncing Souls Bryan: I think we actually did two in Boston. I don’t know, just for the hell of it. You know, sometimes it’s fun to play a small show so you do two small ones instead of one big one. I don’t know why.
RL: I actually haven’t been to the Grog Shop since they moved up the street to this bigger location. I called them to get tickets to last night’s show and they said you guys specifically requested the Grog Shop. What is it you like about the venue?
BSB: The experience, you know? Cool place, we feel right at home here.
RL: How’s the 20th Anniversary Celebration going?
BSB: Great! You’re looking at it, still best buds you know? We’re releasing singles all year and doing it on our own so it’s not like a major push so it just sort of feels like…We feel like celebrating with our friends and that’s everybody basically who cares.
RL: I’m actually curious about that, this is the first sort of online release you guys have done that I’m aware of, have you done anything else like this before?
BSB: Not really. Um, I think we wanted to experiment with that, the new world of digital downloading. It’s sort of an experiment, but mostly it’s like “Hey, let’s do something completely different.” You know? And that’s just in the spirit of reinventing yourself, keeping things fresh and keeping people guessing and trying not to fall into a predictable pattern, which is what was going on with Epitaph, you know? It was like “Oh, hey, another record, another tour.” We just want to keep people guessing.
RL: You do all the artwork so how do you feel about that kind of move to online downloads, where maybe there’s not…you know…
BSB: I think there’s a loss there, in my opinion. I think that there’s a loss in the experience of going and buying or finding something in a record store, bringing home a three dimensional object, reading through it, looking at artwork, and experiencing what someone is expressing through it. Reading along to the lyrics, going through a booklet as you listen to a record for the first time, that’s an entire experience that I think is valuable. Especially because I’ve designed and laid out every single Bouncing Souls record, you know? And every one of them, I don’t know, I just put a visual to what we’re saying musically and it’s like another dimension that is important, just as important I think.
RL: So is that why you’re also doing the 7 inches of the anniversary songs?
BSB: Yeah, we’re putting them out along the way on seven inch, and all the songs, the entire collection, will be available on record eventually. The one song a month thing is just a way to celebrate this year and keep it exciting all year for people that are really excited and want to hear the songs as their written.
RL: Oh! Is that…You’re writing… These aren’t all already written??
BSB: Some of them are still kinda half-baked and half-cooked. We just finished what might be our last session. So we’re just kinda trying to stay ahead of the wave of songs that are coming out.
RL: I just assumed they were already finished, so that’s cool you are still in the process of finishing those last songs. I’m curious because I know you’re into your Harley, the Night Train, is that the name of it?
BSB: Yeah, that was my first Harley. That’s not just what I called it; Harley named it that, it’s also the model.
RL: Oh, okay.
BSB: Yeah. That was my first Harley.
RL: And you got Pete riding right? So I’m wondering if you’ve gotten either of the other guys on a bike yet.
BSB: I got Pete riding, but it’s still kinda my thing, like, still trying to get him to ride across the country…That’s not for everybody.
RL: And how did that whole… You did like an online trip out to Sturgis, like an online blog kinda thing with Harley…
BSB: Yeah, that’s kind of a funny story. I was riding anyway across the country on my way to Sturgis, my third trip out there, and Harley Davidson approached us to work together and actually paid me and Pete to ride out to Bike Week and cover the events for their website with a video clip, and then we did the same thing at Sturgis the following year. It was a lot of fun.
RL: Yeah, and I mean, they don’t advertise a lot on TV, but when they do they advertise sort of to older guys and you guys are younger…
BSB: Yeah, that’s why they did it I think, they were trying to reach a younger demographic, that’s why they wanted to work with the Bouncing Souls. Maybe not necessarily a younger demographic, I mean they wouldn’t go all the way to some teeny bopper band, with some hair/fashion band or whatever. We’re still kinda like, we still make sense…We’re some kind of weird link between modern young kids and the old school dudes or something. We made sense to Harley, worked for us!
RL: Actually, the first time… [Gestures] This is my sister Alison. The first time we saw you was in 1995 in…
BSB: 95?
RL: Yeah, the tour was Maniacal Laughter and you guys were opening, I think for Face to Face, and after the show we went to eat at this Waffle House in Sharonville just north of Cincinnati and you guys came in…
All: [Laughter]
RL: It was a really great experience for us, and it became a tradition anytime we would go to Cincinnati we would eat at that Waffle House. I’m just wondering if that was just the place you chose to stop or was the Waffle House a favorite on tour?
BSB: Yeah, we have frequented Waffle House establishments wherever we find them. It’s affordable, it’s food, it’s fast, it works. It’s a step up from McDonald’s and stuff, which I like. Sometimes you end up at McDonald’s, but you try to avoid fast food of that level.
Charlie from Black President: It’s the poor man’s Cracker Barrel.
RL: [Laughs]
BSB: Yeah, exactly, it’s the poor man’s Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel is too expensive. Sometimes we eat there too, but then you’re like, “Oh my god, I just spent fifteen dollars on breakfast!!!” You know?
BPC: You know about the deal though, the guy who started Cracker Barrel was a touring musician in a country and western band and when he got out of it he invested his money in Cracker Barrel and supposedly if you talk to the manager and tell them, “Hey, we’re a touring band,” they’ll hook you up.
BSB: No way!
BPC: Yeah, we’ve eaten there like six times between TSOL tour and this tour for free.
BSB: No way.
BPC: We tip really good, but they eat the check.
BSB: Wow.
BPC: Try it.
RL: You could’ve been eating free at Cracker Barrel this whole time!
BSB: Seriously, my mouth’s agape. Because we used to have the tradition of going there, early on, when we were broke as motherfuckers; we’re broke now, but we were broke broke. And we were so excited about Cracker Barrel for some reason. When we were young we ate there like, motherfucker, all the time. We’d roll in there, eight fuckin’ scrubby ass punks taking the big round table, stared at by all the people and all the rest of it. Of course, we’d spend like a hundred bucks for everyone to get breakfast, you know?
BPC: In Black President we call Cracker Barrel “Honkey Bucket.”
RL: [Laughing] Honkey bucket…hahahaha.
BSB: Honkey bucket!
RL: Okay, um, alright, I don’t know if this is a stupid question or not, but I want you to settle this debate. Back in the day everyone used to chant “Here We Go” and now everyone chants “Ole.” What’s the proper chant?
BSB: I think it’s just like you said, I think once “Ole” came out they just dropped “Here We Go.” Although, if it’s a good chanting crowd, you’ll hear them both.
BPC: Heard’em both last night.
Alison and Luke: That was us.
All: [Laughter]
BSB: Boston’s a good chanting crowd. Of course, Europe, they know how to chant, they’re who fucking originated it. UK, Europe, and then Boston, in that order. I think the Dropkick Murphys have taught them well. About the chants. I don’t know, maybe we had something to do with it with the “Ole” thing, but they’re sure good at it in Boston. And, of course, hometowns for us: New Jersey, New York, Philly.
RL: Okay, kind of a related question…This is nerdy, but I’m a bit of a tennis fan, like I watch tournaments on TV and shit, and I was watching the Australian Open a couple years ago, and I know you guys have a good following down there, you’ve toured there before and stuff. One of their national players is this guy Lleyton Hewitt and during one of his matches the crowd started chanting “Here We Go,” and I was just wondering if you had any idea about a connection there?
BSB: I was not aware, I have no idea.
BPC: Well, it started out as a sporting chant.
BSB: Yeah, I mean, “Here We Go,” we didn’t write that or “Ole.” Those are public domain. It was an English guy from Nottingham who taught us “Here We Go.”
RL: Oh… I did not know that. I mean, “Ole” you hear everywhere, but that was the only time I’d heard “Here We Go” outside of the Souls. That one was news to me. Okay, you mentioned earlier that you guys still like small shows, but at the same time, you guys are still doing the Warped Tour, you did the Fest in Gainesville last year, I was at that one, Krazy Fest, you’re doing tons of fests in Europe here…
BSB: We’re doing a lot of fests this year, it’s true. We did Harvest of Hope Fest in Florida, it was big and pretty awesome. We’re hitting like Reading and Leeds and all those festivals, they’re great, great fun.
RL: What do you like as far as a small show and a fest, and vice versa?
BSB: I don’t know, they’re both great in different ways you know? It’s just fun to spend the day walking around in the sun and being around a lot of, like, dirt-ass Europeans that have come with nothing but their tents and are living in them for the weekend, walking around drunk. It’s just a really fun vibe.
BPC: Fun with people you wouldn’t normally hang out with.
BSB: Yeah, we get to see bands that we’re friends with, but for just one reason or another we just don’t tour together…We always seem to end up together on festivals. Like, you know if the Bouncing Souls and Madball went on tour together it would just be weird, but we’re friends, and we like each others’ bands. We’ll hang out all day with each other and watch each other’s bands at a festival in Europe, you know? Same thing happens with Sick of it All and a couple other bands like that, you know, bands that we like. And we get to watch good bands all day, it’s cool.
RL: That was definitely, like…Krazy Fest is a mostly hardcore festival and you guys headlined that.
BSB: Yeah, Hell Fest was a total hardcore festival and we played that…
RL: Is that…uh…Louisiana?
BSB: Nah, it’s like upstate New York, Syracuse or something. Total hardcore and metal fest, X and the Bouncing Souls. [Laughs] Which I love man, I love when that shit happens. I like our weird, broad appeal that we can do that, get along with everybody, and people still appreciate the band. So that’s cool, I love that we’re not exactly, totally pigeonholed.
RL: Sooo….you guys do a fair amount of covers, a couple on each album normally. How do you go about picking those? I mean, some of them are pretty obscure.
BSB: Um, “Better Things” by the Kinks was a song that I loved in high school. I just said one day, “Let’s cover that song,” and Greg was like, “Yeah.” That one was just that simple. I’ll claim credit also for the Misfits cover…
RL: [Laughs]
BSB: “I wanna do ‘Hybrid Moments,’” you know? I love that, that’s my favorite Misfits song. Somebody just comes up with an idea. Actually, I’m coming up with ideas all the time, and half the time they get shot down. That was a tune that made it through, I got a couple more in line in my head right now that I’m waiting for the right moment to pitch. In fact, you heard it here first, my next one is “On the Bus” by the Replacements.
BPC: Oh, fuck yeah.
The Loved Ones: We gotta cover “On the Bus” tomorrow.
BSB: You heard it here first. I wanna do “On the Bus” and…what was the other one I thought of? Oh, here’s another one that has long been on my list but we just haven’t gotten around to doing: “Regress, No Way!” by Seven Seconds.
BPC: Fuck yeah.
[Bryan imitates the guitar part, then the drums]
BSB: And that famous Troy Mowat [more drum simulating] 1, 2, 1-2-3-4. That’s their thing, which we totally ripped off on “That Song.” Black President covers another song I always wanted to cover and actually brought up to the band before, “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg.”
RL (to Charlie): You were playing that when we came in last night, it was awesome.
BSB: I really didn’t want to give us away on this one, but fuck it. And I had totally forgotten because I was on about this song, right? This Ramones song. It was right about that time that we wrote “True Believers,” when they play it tonight, listen to it. It’s “True Believers.”
All: [Laughs]
BSB: F, C, G, F, C, G. I just blew up our spot dude. You can sing “True Believers” to [singing] “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg and goes out for a cup of tea. As I watched it on TV…” It’s like, “We can cover that song.” Like “Born Free,” we were playing a Bad Brains song, “Pay to Cum.” Or we can write a song like it… and we wrote “Born Free.” I’m giving you all the dirt here.
[At about this time the drummer, I gather, from the Loved Ones enters the room and begins playing “drums” on his legs. Most of the inaudible portions of the interview that follow are a result of his warming up.]
BSB: Sometimes inspiration is a thin line over [inaudible].
RL: There’s only so many chords.
BSB: There’s only so many chords and you gotta kind of rip something off. It goes on and on, you know. And you go “Motherfucker, that’s so and so.” I know the Loved Ones have got one that’s like [inaudible]. Everyone’s got them shits man.
BPC: We rip off our own songs. We rip off our own songs.
BSB: That’s true, we rip off our own songs. It just goes round and round. There’s only so many chords, like you said.
The Loved Ones: Seven.
BSB: Seven. Three if you’re a Bouncing Soul. There’s only three if you’re us. Fat Mike plays a lot more chords than that. How many chords does he play?
The Loved Ones: Like 52 ½. The thing about NOFX that’s so great is the chords.
BSB: He loves the fact that he knows more chords than anyone else. [Impersonating Fat Mike] “You guys should learn some more chords.”
[Laughter all around]
BSB: [Still imitating Fat Mike] “You’ll write better songs, you just, people like us ‘cause we play more chords.”
The Loved Ones: My favorite thing to say to that is “No, people like you because you’re a fucking comedian and a jackass.”
BSB: That’s true. NOFX, it’s great music [inaudible].
RL: Okay, I wasn’t sure who I was going to be interviewing so this is going to be even better since it’s you. Are you familiar with your stalker out in California?
BSB: My stalker?
RL: Yeah.
BSB: No.
RL: If you do a Google search for your name her website is like the second one that comes up and she’s all like, uh, calls herself “Mrs. Bryan Kienlen” and stuff.
BSB: Oh yeah, yeah. I know what you’re talking about, I’ve seen it. I think I know what you’re talking about.
RL: She has a kid and stuff, so maybe it’s an innocent crush, but uh…
BSB: Flattering.
RL: Maybe a little bit.
BSB: I’m not scared, man. I ain’t scared.
RL: You guys are pretty openly anti-television, but are there any shows that you do watch?
BSB: I’m not really anti-television, although it is true that I don’t own a television. I haven’t had a TV for a couple years, but that’s not really like; that wasn’t all by choice. I have a girl and I moved in with her, I had a TV and she didn’t, and that was the end of TV for me. Since then I’ve embraced it. Actually, right away I embraced it and said, “Fuck it, I don’t wanna get a TV.” Neither one of us wanted to get a TV, it’s a good match that way, but I miss The Daily Show and I miss Family Guy. I like the History Channel. I like some TV. I hate almost all reality TV and anything that’s on MTV. I hate that garbage disposal like pop TV, but I like History Channel and some things maybe on Discovery channel. I love some Comedy Central, Family Guy. I like Family Guy so much that sometimes, I’m getting distracted… I’ll go to Hulu.com and watch old episodes of Family Guy.
RL: Yeah, I do, I actually watch a lot of TV on Hulu. Actually, my roommate right now has cable, but she’s moving so…
BSB: You save a shit ton of money man.
RL: Yeah.
BSB: You just fucking go online. That’s the other thing; it’s kind of like a financial situation why we don’t have TV. If we had tons of money we might get one, but I don’t know that we would. I think being without TV my life has probably changed for the better. I don’t miss it really. I miss The Daily Show, if I could just watch The Daily Show everyday at eleven.
RL: I know The Colbert Report is on Hulu. Maybe The Daily Show is too.
BSB: Oh, yeah, and The Colbert Report too, a close second.
RL: Um, well, you know what, that’s pretty good.
BSB: Yeah?
RL: I had a couple of other questions, but I don’t wanna keep you forever.
BSB: Okay, either way.
RL: I mean I could keep you here for hours.
BSB: That’s fine, I got beans to digest. I got nothing to do.
RL: [Laughs] Well, okay, I’ll keep going then. I’m a big fan of the DVD, the documentary. Our friend Matt out there told us he just showed it to his girlfriend and she’s not the hugest Bouncing Souls fan, she’s not too familiar with you, but she shed a tear I guess.
BSB: Oh cool, awesome.
RL: And you guys kinda famously skipped college to start a punk house, basically. I don’t recall, I haven’t watched it in a couple years, but there was no mention about how your parents took that.
BSB: Um, they weren’t stoked about it, but they were actually; gotta give all of our parents a lot of credit because they gave us room, you know? They gave us the room we needed to be ourselves and do what we needed to do, you know what I mean? They weren’t like hardcore ball busters about it. They wished we went to college, of course. But, you know they rolled with it and uh, I don’t think they, I don’t know, I don’t know if they regret it at this point, we’re all just adults who accept each other for who they are, and we have good relationships with our parents. I was an angry kid, you know, and angry with my parents a lot when I was young, but I guess I reached a certain age and I looked at my father in a different way. Like “Wow, the guy did a lot,” you know? He did a whole fucking lot. I had a respect for him I didn’t have as a kid. I didn’t really think about what it takes to raise a family and work as hard as he did to make the family work. Now I think he’s rad. And you know, whatever, you get over a bunch of things as you get older. At least you should.
RL: Yeah, I know. I was definitely, definitely a brat; kinda the same thing, and as I got older, turn around, you know, and it’s like “Wow.” I mean my dad wasn’t around much, but it’s ‘cause he was at work all the time.
BSB: Yeah, you hit about 22 and you’re like “Ah.” You look at your father differently. “That guy raised a family, so who the hell, who the fuck am I to judge him?” You know?
RL: Yeah.
BSB: So…
RL: Well, and this is sort of a follow up question. I mean, they’re all probably kind of cool with it now, right? I mean things have worked out pretty well for you guys.
BSB: Yeah, they’re cool with it, but they’re not like “Well, it’s no less precarious.” In fact, it’s probably more precarious because when we were young and homeless, and like fucking poor and punk, and on tour and trying to make a band work…All of that stuff can kinda be like, you know, kinda cute when you’re young and like “Oh, these kids, eehhh, they’re these kids and they’re punk.” But when you’re pushing 40…McDermott just turned 40 and the rest of us are definitely pushing 40, it’s no longer cute and it’s kinda like “You guys are…You have no plan, you’re broke, you’re as broke as the day you started, you have no skills, no marketable skills at all. And everything is riding on this band that…” You know what I mean?
RL: Yeah, haha.
BSB: Reality starts creeping in and it’s like “Oh, these guys aren’t going to, quote, ‘make it’ and suddenly everything is going to be great.” I mean, “They don’t have health insurance and they live month to month.” It’s, you know, I don’t know, man. On one hand we’ve made them proud because they’ve seen some of the ways we’ve touched peoples lives and they’ve seen that physically, they’ve met people and come to shows and been like “Holy shit!” Had people come up to them and be like “Oh my god, you’re Bryan’s parents, they’re so cool!” And, you know, that’s awesome. They’ve seen that what we’ve done has mattered, you know? But at the same time, “What the fuck are you guys going to do with your life? Aren’t you guys worried about that?” My mom will still be like “You know, you can still go to college” and I’m like “No, I can’t man; I really can’t go to college now.”
[Laughs all around]
BSB: Like, I’ve spent my entire adult life getting good at one thing: being Bryan from the Bouncing Souls, and I don’t know what you do with that except be Bryan from the Bouncing Souls. It’s kind of a strange predicament to be in, but that’s where I am now.
RL: Well, you know, obviously, all schools are different, but I went to Ohio State and if you go to school there as a returning senior you go for free.
BSB: Hmmm, returning senior…
RL: No, no. Not yet, you still got a while to go, but, you know, you could.
BSB: Alright man, that’s like a bit of a back up plan.
RL: I think it’s like they feel like if the elderly want something to do, why not go to school and get a degree?
[Laughter]
BSB: Oh, that’s so sad, man. Hopefully that’s not me, I don’t know.
RL: So you guys have been a band for 20 years now, do you think eventually you’ll have to go the route of Metallica and start sucking really bad as you get older or [laughing] is that avoidable?
BSB: I suppose it depends on who you ask; maybe we’ve already done that. Whatever, we’re just going to keep doing exactly what we do and that’s just make music that we like and we hope everyone else cares but if they don’t, that’s fine too. We’re used to either side of it; we’re used to being loved or being ignored. And both work for us equally well. Nothing affects us at this point. We’re driven by the urge to create and that’s what we’re going to keep doing. Just keep, we’re always gonna keep writing.
RL: We’ll always care too, man. This is like my 26th Bouncing Souls show or something, and I’m from West Virginia so you guys have never played anywhere where I live so, you know, there will always be people out there who care.
[We shake hands and I notice a tattoo on his wrist]
RL: Oh, is that a Hot Water Music tattoo?
BSB: Yeah.
RL: I love those guys.
BSB: Yeah man, me too.
After taking a few pictures with us, Bryan offers me a beer on the way out. Then my sis and I head back to the bar to meet up with Matt so we can watch our favorite band for the 27th or so time.
Do you remember?!?!? We Do!!!
–Interview by Luke Toney
