28-12-2009Interviews - Bowling For Soup

Id like to give a big shout out to Xhamster.com! Rocksnail talks to Bowling For Soup

After years of never taking themselves seriously, being at the end of their own jokes but still with an ability to write songs that are as infectious as they are side splitting it seems the band are finally getting the recognition they never were really that fussed about. Although the line snaking round the venue, the swathe of fans congregating around the tour bus and those just desperate for a glimpse, a handshake or a hello from their favourite musical comedians makes it all the more worthwhile. We catch up with bassist Eric ahead of their show at Sheffields O2 Arena.
 
Hi there, I guess I want to start by asking how as a band you have managed to keep going for ten albums now, I mean so many comedy based bands seem to come and go but you've been around for a long time now?
I think it's the fact that we truly enjoy what we're doing and the people that we are doing it with, these people are closer than family and we have a good time doing it, I think that comes across.
 
And you must be pleased with the reviews Sorry For Partying is getting?
Oh yeah absolutely ere getting good reviews for the first time ever in our career!
 
Have you ever paid much attention to what is being said?
Critics are critics they get paid so say records are bad so that's just that.
 
You mentioned that story tellers and country musicians are a big influence on the band, where does that come from?
I think that influence has a lot to do with growing up in Texas and being so influenced by the country music that goes on there. You know we were all definitely huge punk influenced but at the same time you can't disregard Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson that sort of stuff because that's stuff we all grew up with.
 
So what came first the country or the rock and roll?
At the same time, you know it just kind of co-existed.
 
When did you decide that music was something you wanted to make as your career?
Erm you know I kind of always had it in the back of my mind you know? It seems like I don't remember a time when I wasn't thinking about doing music but then my whole thing really changed to rock and roll in 1990. I saw Jane's Addiction for the first time and it was like SHIT I wasn't to be that... That's what I want to fucking do, it was just insane, and like OK I want to play rock and roll
 
What was it about that show that got you hooked?
It was the whole thing man, the persona on stage, the production and just how fantastic they are still now but that they were back then. It's just intense.
 
So how did you get from Jane's Addiction, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Black Sabbath to where you are at now?
You know it was crazy because Jaret was ion death metal bands and I was in an acoustic hippie rock band with Chris. After his death metal band, the band that immediately preceded this band for Jaret it was kind of a Berkley punk type thing, Greenday-ish or whatever. We came together for this and it just started, It just came very naturally, we just wrote the music that we wrote in the direction that we thought we wanted to go. At first in the band Jaret and I shared lead singer songwriter duties or whatever but then as the band started evolving naturally it started leaning more toward the stuff he was doing. I got him drunk one night told him that he was going to be the lead singer and that it was all up to him and he was going to have to stand in the middle now because I wasn't doing it anymore.
 
Going back to the new album 'Sorry For Partying' you're obviously pretty pleased with this, what was different about the recording of this album than you previous releases?
The biggest differences is that this is the first album we recorded in Texas since 1999. We went down to Austin to do it so we were only about four hours away from home so it was really easy to jump back up if you got a day off. Also the co producer co wrote a few of the songs on the album and he had a different approach to the studio than we normally take so I can say a lot of how the album sounds has to do with him and in my personal opinion I don't think we've had an album that sonically touches this one. When I first got the mastered copy and played them on my big stereo at home I was just like Oh my god this sounds like a thunder god.
 
And how is the tour going in support?
It's really good. We are like five dates in I believe, tonight being the sixth
 
.Just how is it being on tour with this band?
Aww man it's a rolling ass kicking is what it is. We're here to have a good time so that's everyone's main priority most of the time so if you're feeling out of it you put yourself to bed early. Once you're in your bunk and those curtains close it's like you're safe at that point. If you're up and out and around then anything goes.
 
So what kind of antics have you got up to so far?
Smashing chickens over each other's heads! The first night we got here we parked underneath a Tesco in London so a couple of guys had gone in and bought whole roasted chickens. I don't know exactly what happened I just walked in to see one of them being smashed over someone's head. That really put our driver off, it's his first time with us so he has to adjust to our rambunctiousness.
 
Do you continue the lifestyle of the road when you get back home?
It's so amazingly different when we are off tour. Three of us are married and have wives that are professional business women, my wife is a college professor, Gary's wife is a paediatric nurse and Jaret's wife runs a non profit organization that gives grants to areas for rural improvement. We all go home to these amazingly normal situations that have nothing to with this rock and roll thing that we do. Gary was actually the last person to say it but it's really weird when the two worlds overlap, you're wife invites her friends you invite yours and you see these two worlds collide. It's like no no no you don't need to tell them anything about the Jackassery we were up to last week.
 
With the tour band's you seem to have some connections with most of the bands you take out with you, is this something you always try for?
You know it's about getting along. The way that we do it we got to get along. Then also people that can lend you a hand selling some tickets, then people you can lend a hand putting you in front of some people, that's the way we like to do it?
 
And how do you get motivated on those days when you get up and feel shitty but still have to go on stage in the evening?
Something strange as soon as you're in there. There are times its rougher than others, obviously if you've got the flu you don't want to be going on stage but that's the thing about rock and roll you don't get a night off, you can't call in sick to this job. You get out and power through but even on your shittiest day you walk out on stage and there's like this switch just flips. I don't know what it is, it's like this electrical magical thing and I'm ready to go.
 
We hear you like a drink, are you a beer or spirits kind of guy?
I'm having vodka tonight, it was beer last night. When were at home in the states its beer but we don't get the beer we like over here. So I'm trying to drink more vodka over here.

Do you have a preference or favoured tipple?
I used to be very experimental and I didn't care what it was, just like 'new beer I haven't had... give it to me' but we all agreed to one beer that we put on our rider. Then I dated a girl that would only drink that before I met my wife so during that period I kind of lost my flavour for everything, I'm just getting back into trying new things.
 
You guys seem to really be into movies, why is this?
We're children of the 80's it seems like that's all that we did, at least in America, just watch films on television and as a group one of the easiest best ways to pass time is to constantly have a movie going.
 
Any films in particular?
There was a period of probably a year and a half two years that Anchorman was constantly playing and always in the DVD player, we'd watch it like four or five times a day!
 
Anything else no dirty DVD's or do you have laptops and the internet for that!?
Internet by far and I'd like to give a big shout out to Xhamster.com and redtube is a good one, the new youtube style internet sites are exactly where its at.

So you're bus is pretty hooked up for the full home comforts?
Oh dude you have no Idea, In the states there's a front satellite, back satellite, front DVD, back DVD so in your bunk you have four television channels you can watch. Anchorman was always in one, the front Sat is ESPN the back to Playboy and then another DVD was in the other. So any point if you woke up at 7 in the morning and felt the need, you'd roll the screen down and flip to the playboy channel.
 
How do you take fans who get really obsessed or that are so into you they break down?
Sometimes it gets a little weird I will say. It's very rare that things get uncomfortable but sometimes like you know when people cry, I realise it's just an emotional response you don't have any control over, but how are we supposed to react to that. At the same time it's amazing that people look at us in that sort of light that could cause that sort of reaction.
 
Finally, what is rock and roll to you?
I'll give it you in my punk rock description, It's doing things your way the way you want to do, taking no prisoners and not letting anybody else tell you how you're going to do it. As far as I'm concerned Johnny Cash was one of the biggest punks of all time.