To be broke and famous: Punk Rock 101

When told I’d be interviewing Bowling for Soup, I’ll admit I had to do a bit of research. And I’m glad I did. Had I not, my first question would definitely have been something like “Are you excited for your comeback tour? Haven’t seen you guys in a while!” Bowling for Soup have slipped off the radar a bit since their 2002 hit, Girl All The Bad Guys Want. I had pegged their current tour, which stops at Dublin’s Academy on October 16, as a similar gimmick to the Boyzone reunion tour last year. Something to please the hardcore fans and make a bit of cash. Turns out I was shamefully wrong.

Though it is true that Bowling for Soup have never managed to reclaim the success they had with Girl All The Bad Guys Want, it’s certainly not for want of trying. Their new album, Sorry For Partyin’, is released here this week. It will be their eighth studio album, and the fourth one released since they hit the big time. So no, this is definitely not a comeback tour.
The band’s lead singer, Jared Reddick, says that this new album won’t throw up any shocks for fans. “From the very beginning we’ve been known as that crazy, happy, party band. We made the choice a long time ago to stick to a formula that works for us. We didn’t try and go in any weird new directions on this album.” In fact, Reddick says this album is “pretty similar” to Drunk Enough to Dance, the 2002 album that featured, you guessed it, Girl All The Bad Guys Want. And hopefully the fans will lap up this new album just as fast as they did in 2002. “During our first years together, there were a lot of bands out there doing the same thing as us. Now we’re one of the few bands left who are just out there to have fun”, says Reddick.

When I speak to Reddick, it’s 10am and he’s just gotten back from the school run. Reddick has two children aged three and six, but it’s clear he’s still a party boy at heart. “My home life is very structured. It’s completely different to being on tour. When we’re touring, we all go a bit nuts. We drink a lot and holler a lot.” Which does he prefer? “After releasing our last album in 2006, we took a break from touring, except for a few festivals. It was awesome being at home, but I do miss the craziness of being on the road.” He’s not the only Bowling for Soup member who has to hang up their party boy reins every so often. “Erik, our bass player, has a 14 year-old daughter. Everybody has something to go home to. Home life has changed what being gone is like.”

This year will mark fifteen years since Bowling for Soup formed in Wichita Falls, Texas. “We all grew up in the same area. We started off in four separate bands. Chris [Burney, on guitar and vocals] used to run a coffee shop where all of our bands would play. After many nights of beer drinking and hanging out together, we decided to form our own group.” The band is still based in Texas. “We’ve all lived in Dallas for the last 12 years. Even though we’re still living close together, the dynamic is different now. At the start, all we did was rehearse every night. I like to think we rehearsed more than any other band out there. We loved it. It was something to do. Now, there’s less pressure. We’ll only rehearse if we’re working on new stuff.”

Apart from rehearsal schedules, what else has changed for the band over the last fifteen years? “Up until Girl All The Bad Guys Want, we were just making music for fun. It wasn’t about money. Living was second. Music was first. After we began to get noticed, we suddenly realised, ‘Hey, we can actually feed our families.’” But the band refuses to become too polished or manufactured. “One thing we’ve never used is a set list. How do I know before a gig what song should go fourth or fifth? The tone of a gig can change instantly depending on the crowd. It’s more exciting this way. We always have a few songs that we know we’ll play at some point, but if someone shouts a song title from the crowd, then we just go with it.”

Reddick still writes all of the songs for the group. “Until 2003, I was the sole writer for the band. Now I do some co-writing too, which is a good change of perspective. I love writing- a song can stem from a hundred different things. A riff, a line, a concept, a story, anything really.” Where Bowling for Soup really shine is in their lyrics, which are like stories in themselves. “All the songs are relevant to me or to an experience I’ve had or we’ve had in the band. We don’t just throw any old lyrics down.”

Reddick says that friends and family are the inspiration for songs like Emily, released in 2002. “There is an Emily. We went to high school together but I haven’t seen her in years. I was thinking about her recently, actually. She’s my friend on Facebook, I’ll have to get in touch with her soon.” Considering the opening lyrics to the song read ‘I got drunk, had sex with all your friends’, it remains to be seen whether Emily will be as keen as Reddick to rebuild the lost friendship.

Is the band looking forward to returning to Ireland? “We really worked hard to include an Irish date in this tour. Dublin was skipped the last time around. I really had to fight with our manager this time around.”

The band’s last Irish appearance was at the Oxegen Main Stage in 2008, where Reddick was pelted with toilet rolls during his performance. He doesn’t seem too bothered by his TP attack though, or maybe he’s just blocked it out. “The toilet roll was great. I even caught one and threw it back.” Hardcore.

Even as the lead singer of “a crazy band that does crazy shit”, Reddick clearly has a business head on his shoulders.

“We’re still with Jive, the record label that picked us up after our first album in 1998. Our lawyer’s always saying we must be one of the only bands in America that has managed to fulfil their whole deal with their record company.”

Bowling for Soup will be touring and promoting their new album across Ireland and the UK until the end of the month, and Reddick said fans can expect a “good balance of our old and new music. I know a lot of bands think they have to play all new music, all the time. We’re music fans too though, we know people want to hear their favourites”.

On a final note, if you’re heading along to the Academy gig, don’t forget to bring some toilet paper. And promise me you won’t refer to it as a comeback tour.