Well. It was amazing! We shot the shit about the pandemic, how my partner and I dealt with it, etc. And then Greg kinda pivoted the conversation into something that might be better material for a song. Asking my partner and I how we met, special things we do... And we got to share a few stories about different times the band had been a part of our lives both individually and together (we brought that up; not them). Greg basically took notes the entire time while Pete, Brian, and George asked questions and you could see him trying to sort out the lyrics and lines for the song as we went. It was pretty amazing. Like, we mentioned that we met on a dating app and I commented on said-app being a dumpster fire. Then mentioned that we decided to move in together during a global pandemic... 10 seconds later Greg goes: "So you met in a terrible place. 'We met in a terrible place.' That's a line for the song!" Oh. And whenever Hot Water Music came up, Brian would just yell out "WOLLARD WEDNESDAYS!" for some reason. Which was bizarre and amazing. Really rad experience!
Just got a ticket to see them here in Boston on July 2nd at a benefit show at our House of Blues. Knowing that the Bouncing Souls will be my first show back after a year and a half without any shows feels incredibly special. They've been my "go-to" live band ever since my freshman year of college (2002), so I've seen them more times than any other... So yeah. So stoked!
Fuck yes! I'm seeing Alanis/Garbage/Liz Phair the night before in MA but might have to make the trek down to Jersey for that... Also: Sick Of It All looks to be one of the openers on that Boston show happening on July 2nd. Gonna be a real fun summer for east coast Souls fans!
20th anniversary press of How I Spent My Summer Vacation! https://kingsroadmerch.com/epitaph-...-spent-my-summer-vacation-20th-anniversary-lp
Glad I got a copy before this sold out. That pressing is gorgeous! And it's one of the few albums I feel good about owning multiple variants/pressings of. Haha.
I've been buying a few duplicates lately but definitely need to stop lol couldn't pass this up for sure though
Ghosts On The Boardwalk is still underrated and I like to think it is their "Warning" (the Green Day album). Anyways, super ready for a new Bouncing Souls album.
Bryan mentioned they're recording with Will this Winter on the Sailor Jerry podcast. So probably will have an album in the Fall
Silent Drive (Zach from Bane's post-hardcore band) released an album today and the closing track on the record is gut-wrenching. It's all about Stu. Posting the song itself here, because some of the lyrics are pulled from a Souls track ("Manthem") and used in such a way that it puts a whole new spin on them. I'd suggest taking the full ride to maximize emotional resonance but if you want to minimize the risk of tears and/or just want to hear the Souls part... It's at 4:22 or so.
They played a new song at Stoked For The Summer, looks like maybe we'll be hearing that soon! They also opened with Shark Attack which is awesome, and played Wayfarer and True Believers with HWM... wish I coulda made it
New songs kick so much ass. What’s with this trend where bands release the opening and closing tracks first? Haha
Greg's interview with Jeremy Bolm on The First Ever Podcast is really great! The last ~15 minutes or so of the interview focuses on how they wrote the new record during the pandemic including the calls they did with the Patreon subscribers that informed the lyrics, etc. Really cool hearing more about the process. It sounds super unique! Apparently "True Believer Radio" is about a guy who 'found himself' while being a college radio D.J. and that was the name of his show. I'm super stoked to hear this song now!
Can’t believe there’s actually a new BS album out. It’s nice outside, I’m off work and feeling 100% better today, and we are going to the beach. I’m going to listen hard AF after the beach.
Album is great. I had my reservations until the singles were released. Album feels like the band was reinvigorated. Not exactly sure how to describe it, but you can hear it.
This album exceeded my expectations in every way possible. Like @Michael Schmidt said, the band sounds reinvigorated. The songs feel urgent and inspired... And the speed is back in a way that feels natural and age-appropriate. Haha. This is exactly what I needed today! It's always cool this far into a band's career when you listen to an album and think that virtually any of the songs can be slotted into their set comfortable.