The Bouncing Souls

Before he took the stage with Strike Anywhere, The Loved Ones and Static Radio, Greg from The Bouncing Souls had a nice little chat with me during their stop in Edmonton. We discussed the lengthy history of the band, the current tour, mp3s, the universe of Mold and more. Thanks to Greg for doing it and to Keith and Tonni for setting it up.

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Bobby: Starting with the basics, you guys have been on tour with Strike Anywhere and The Loved Ones for a few weeks now; how’s that going so far?

Greg: It’s going really well. It’s going great.

Bobby: Have there been any really memorable moments from it?

Greg: Montreal was pretty interesting because we got to Montreal on Earth Day and they were having Earth Day parades so we got stuck in a whole bunch of traffic. Then the cops pulled us over to a one way street because we couldn’t get though – the traffic was blocked – so we got a police escort which was pretty fun.

Bobby: Have you ever got a police escort before?

Greg: No.

Bobby: On January 26th, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did an exhibit on the Warped Tour which you guys gave some memorabilia for. What did you guys give to that exhibit?

Greg: There’s a shirt that I wore on the Warped Tour. A tie that is designed by my wife Shanti – she has some stuff in there too, she was on the tour. There’s a set list, a lyrics sheet, and another set list – a Bouncing Souls set list.

Bobby: You guys also performed at the opening ceremony, how was that?

Greg: It was great. It was cool. It was a good show, it wasn’t exceptional or different in that way, but it was fun to be acknowledged as being – The Warped Tour being acknowledged was cool and then us being a part of the Warped Tour made it a great experience.

Bobby: Okay, this may sound like a very vague question – and it is – but it’s leading into something so don’t worry. To you, what is a complete album?

Greg: A complete album? Uh… Well, I guess if you listen all the way through and you really enjoy it all the way though. Whatever kind of music, every song has its own character and it feels complete. I don’t know how to explain it.

Bobby: I was asking that because I wanted to see if you were going to touch on the artwork. Because I know Bryan does a lot of the artwork for all of your CDs, do you think that adds an extra layer to the album?

Greg: Oh yeah. The artwork also has to be part of that whole character as well.

Bobby: A lot of people these days are saying like “CDs are dead, MP3s are where it’s at.” Do you think that with MP3s people are missing that tangible quality? The artwork by Bryan, the more complete feel to it?

Greg: Well, yeah, I mean there’s something definitely enjoyable about vinyl or CD and then there’s something very convenient about MP3s. So I think it can all be there if you choose to. Now you can download the art, turn it into whatever you want. If you want to make something physical out of it you can. I think it pays to be more creatively interactive with artists and musicians as music and art is expanding into different kinds of formats. I look at it as all positive and expanding different ways of pretty much just being musical.

Bobby: You can’t really deny that MP3s are having a big impact on CD sales and all of that but what do you think about the way the Record Industry Association of America is handling all of that? Suing all the college students, the dead grandmothers, the twelve year old kids? Do you think they’re going a bit too far?

Greg: Yeah, they’re just panicking. They don’t know what to do. They’re just trying to hold onto everything they can because their entire infrastructure and their system of doing things is falling apart and they don’t know what to do. To put a long story short, I don’t know all the details, but that’s the way it appears to me.

Bobby: In 2003 you guys released the DVD, “Do You Remember? 15 Years of The Bouncing Souls.” I read there was a lot of material left on the cutting room floor, like the short movie “Clockwork Santas.” Was there any other little movies you guys left out?

Greg: There were a couple little things, yeah, but all the best stuffs there. All the good stuff’s really there.

Bobby: Do you think anybody will ever see “Clockwork Santas” or any of that?

Greg: No, no. It’s all just what it was. It’s perfect for the moment, it gave a little bit more interest, personality and character to the DVD but we’re always working on new things too.

Bobby: You guys were also recently interviewed for the book “My So Called Punk: How Neo-Punk Stage Dived into the Mainstream.” First off, how did that interview go?

Greg: I don’t remember.

Bobby: How do you think Neo-Punk stage dived into the mainstream?

Greg: I don’t know man. I don’t know *laughs*. Too much for me to define. You know what I mean? I don’t know, you figure it out, whatever you think is just as valid as what I think.

Bobby: Next week, the compilation “Prisoners Of War: A Benefit for Peter Young” hits the stores. You guys have a live version of Born Free on it, what made you work with that compilation and give them that song?

Greg: It just makes sense. People ask us to do things like that and it makes a lot of sense and it’s for a good cause and we say yes.

Bobby: It has been two decades since you guys formed back in ’87. When you first formed do you think you’d still be going twenty years down the road?

Greg: No. I had no ideas. To ever think back that it’s been this long, it’s been amazing, and it’s been an incredible experience that’s for sure.

Bobby: Do you think in twenty years from now you’ll still be involved in the music scene? If not in a band, still putting our records on Chunksaah or anything like that?

Greg: I’ll always be making music as long as I can physically do it. As far as how and how I’ll be involved with the rest of the world, I don’t know. I enjoy the creative part, I enjoy the performing part. As far as the where and how, I don’t know and that’s the fun part, like I don’t want to know. You know what I mean? I like to see the world. All things change and I’m right there with it.

Bobby: Being around for so long now and with so many CDs out, how hard is it to set up a set list before a show? Like do you consciously try to fit new and old stuff like Joe Lies or PMRC into your set list?

Greg: Yeah, it is difficult because everybody wants to hear everything. We write the songs, we put in a few songs from the new record and then we try to do as much of a mix as we can from all the old records about as best we can do.

Bobby: When you’re playing the older songs from the first couple albums, do you still get the same feeling as if you’re playing the new songs? Or has the meaning lost it a bit after twenty years?

Greg: You know, it really depends on a whole lot of things. If you’re tired, what kind of mood you’re in. I think performing music, sometimes it doesn’t matter what the songs are, it’s just your music and you’re expressing yourself and the moment. So I think certain songs are more enjoyable than others because they’re just more celebratory than others, some are more depressing. So we try to carry the celebratory energy into all the songs, that’s what I do because that’s the energy that I don’t see enough of in the world so I do it as best as I can. But some nights it’s just hard to be stoked every night, so you do the best you can.

Bobby: In June you guys are playing with Bad Brains at the School of Rock Festival, are you excited for that?

Greg: Yeah, it should be really cool.

Bobby: Do you agree with the School of Rock’s philosophy that the only way to learn something is by actually doing it?

Greg: Yeah, absolutely. I absolutely believe in that. Like traveling, you can learn so much just by traveling to different places.

Bobby: In March, you released your first solo material online; do you think they’ll ever see a proper release other than just the MySpace songs?

Greg: I don’t know, I’m gonna keep making music and if it feels like it’s appropriate to release something then I will. But until then, I’m just gonna keep being creative and enjoying it and see what happens.

Bobby: What made you try and do the solo stuff?

Greg: Well, I’ve been making records as a singer of a band for almost twenty years and as a musician you get all these ideas watching everyone else recording. And it’s like, well, I wanna try stuff. So it’s just a natural evolution, I think, to experiment and see how all that process, how it would work out if I play with it a little bit.

Bobby: You also just did some paintings with your wife Shanti and you just finished writing a children’s book called “I Went For A Walk.” What made you decide to do the paintings and what made you decide to write a children’s book?

Greg: Well, the art I just started doing for fun. Doing the paintings, inspired by Shanti and she had written the story and I actually have a rough copy, let me show it to you. *He reaches into his pocket and takes out a copy of the book to show me* She had written the story and was looking for an artist to do the artwork and I had been touring for so long and she suggested “why don’t you just, if you want, try playing with it for a little bit?” So I just brought it out on tour and every time I had time I just started doing some drawings. Four years later it’s finally done.

Bobby: One of the places the character goes to a walk to is the Universe of Mold. How would you describe the Universe of Mold?

Greg: Its right there *pointing to the book* I don’t need to describe it because it’s better as a visual, wherever that page is. But the picture in the front, it shows outer space and then the character gets cast into the Universe of Mold to the concept being that this is being inside the size of the atom so our whole concept of space being much different than you might think. Outer space is outer space. The size of an atom on this table is, in some perceptions, massive, endless space.

Bobby: I love going to concerts and I try to go to as many as I can but of course there’s always some which are more memorable than others. So thinking back, what are some concerts that you went to or you played at that are really memorable for you?

Greg: I saw Johnny Cash in New York; that was really cool. I saw the Replacements, I saw George Clinton, a few Fishbone shows that I’ve seen were amazing. There’s a few.

Bobby: Okay, when you were growing up, whose poster did you have on your wall?

Greg: I had a few different ones. I had Bruce Springsteen, I had some U2 ones, I had Robert Johnson – a blues musician.

Bobby: Who sold his soul to the devil.

Greg: Yeah, supposedly. The Who, I had a couple of Who posters.

Bobby: Okay, if you could have one thing at this moment, anything at all, what would you have and why?

Greg: Wow… what would I have? Anything? You know, to answer that question truly and accurately, there’s a lot of things I can think of that would be nice. Maybe I could be on a nice beach, be with my wife, be somewhere else. But in truth, in my experience I really believe that all of us are exactly in the most perfect spot wherever we are in our lives. It’s up to us to acknowledge it and see why that’s the perfect spot although it might be some place you don’t wanna be or you don’t like being at certain times. But whenever I go there, and believe me, I’ve been truly an escapist and being an escapist, in a sense you’re a dreamer, but a lot of times you’re missing out on what’s really going on around you. So in my last few years I’ve been acknowledging that part of myself and saying “you know what? I have to find out what’s so great about this moment instead of wishing for something else.” And realize that I’m here, and you’re here, for a perfectly good reason. There’s no reason why we’re not somewhere else. So this must be as great as any other moment that ever was and try to see that and make that happen and believe and understand it. It’s not always very easy.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it, thanks a lot. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add? Or, I guess, that was a pretty good final thought to end with.

Greg: Yeah, I think that was pretty good. Check out our MySpace page, it’s “Iwent4awalk”- MySpace.com/Iwent4awalk. And, thank you.