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PL: I have no questions prepared.
BS: Those are the best kind of interviews.
PL: Ok. Start by saying something interesting about yourself.
BS: Ah...thats not a good question. That wasn't a question, but maybe we'll just talk. Where are you from?
PL: Providence.
BS: Rhode Island? Cool, I'm from New Jersey originally. I was living in LA for six or seven years and I just moved to Idaho. I've played in a band called the Bouncing Souls for almost 20 years. 2009 will be 20 years.
PL: Are you planning anything special?
BS: Yes. We'll be writing 12 new songs that will be released on the first of every month throughout 2009. So there will be a new song to download on the first of every month, and we're gonna put out some seven inches and surprise stuff and some acoustic stuff. And then we're gonna go on a small world tour.
PL: I think I've been seeing you guys live for about ten years.
BS: Oh yeah? In Providence?
PL: In Providence. I've seen you in Boston. I saw you at Warped Tour a couple years ago in Jersey.
PL: How does it work with you being in Idaho and the rest of the band being wherever they are right now?
BS: It usually works out. I'm gonna spend a lot of time in Jersey. Thats where everybody is, and we have a studio there. I'm gonna spend a couple months there this Fall, and thats where we're gonna record the bulk of it. We manage to work it out. Sometimes it works out really good, but it has its advantages and disadvantages.
PL: What made you move to Idaho?
BS: My wife's family had built a house there that they weren't living in anymore. We went there and fixed it up-it needed a lot of work-but its nice. Its in the mountains.
PL: Thats a good reason to move there.
BS: Yeah, its more affordable, and we like it because we tour so much. Its good to get away.
PL: Is it in the city?
BS: Its out in the mountains. Our backyard is a few houses and then there's hundreds of miles of a national forest.
PL: How different was that? Was there a culture shock at all?
BS: Its a little more easy going than the east coast. There's more space, and people really live off the land a lot more. Its a little bit more at one with nature. Its cool.
PL: You and your wife did a book, too, right?
BS: Yeah.
PL: How different was that as opposed to writing an album?
BS: It was really cool. I did the illustrations and Shanti wrote the story. She wrote the story first and I did the illustrations while I was on tour. It was a great new experience. We actually finished the book and took it on a tour of elemantary schools where we played music and read the book to little kids, which was awesome. Kids are the best audience. They're so uninhibited. They question things in a really interesting way. It was great. It was pretty much the same thing, but with little kids. Since we did that tour, some producers at PBS talked to us about doing a TV show, so we're now working on doing a music kids puppet TV show, so we're working that out.
PL: Is that gonna take away from the band at all?
BS: Not really because we're gonna be in the creative process for a couple of years. And once its created, we're gonna make a block of shows. We're gonna take a break from tour, about a month or two, which we do anyway, and tape the shows. We're gonna tape 30 or 40 episodes, just doing two a day for a month or a month and a half, and then we're done for the season.
PL: Is it gonna be daily or weekly?
BS: I'm not sure, because we're still creating it. Its gonna be awesome because we're gonna invite all of our friends; our musician friends and our punk rock friends. Its gonna be tons of fun having real music kids shows, instead of having these animated, non human kids shows. Its gonna be fun to bring a rock and roll punk rock feel to a kids show. A lot of punk rockers our age are into having kids now anyway, so it should be pretty cool.
PL: Do you think 10-15 years ago a show like this would be able to happen?
BS: Probably not. I know the people at PBS wanted to do it, but it didn't seem to happen. But, we'll see.
PL: You guys have been a band for almost 20 years. I know what you'll be doing next year, but are there any goals you haven't reached yet?
BS: Its gone way past any of our expectations. I've seen parts of the world I never thought I would. I've been able to make music and bring a good time to so many people. I grumble about it sometimes and I don't like all the traveling sometimes, but its really really awesome. Beyond that, personally, I've been able to find-it takes you to your ultimate limit, and thats been an amazing experience.
PL: How has Warped Tour changed, besides getting so much bigger?
BS: I guess its kind of generations. We're kind of the traditional generation that first came to the Warped Tour. Older people come out that are so glad that we're here, and then there's a whole new generation thats never seen us. There's a whole bunch of super stoked happy kids, especially compared to when we were growing up. We were more aggro and a little bit more crazy. Its kind of fun to see them. Its different. There's different bands. Some of them I'm not interested in; I'm not into, but hundreds of kids are totally stoked on them, and thats cool for them. I'm happy to be a part of it and I totally appreciate and love it more than I ever have.
PL: Do they ask you to do it every year?
BS: We didn't do it last year. Usually they want you to have a new record, but we don't have a new record this summer. Kevin just asked us if we wanted to do ten days this summer, so we're just doing the ten days. Actually, ten days is a lot of fun, because you're not here for two months. Its been a lot of fun. We've been a band for so long that its like a huge family. We go on this tour and see all our friends and family from different places. Its sort of an excuse to get together. Its awesome and great to be a part of a band like that. I think thats kind of what we're gonna be celebrating.
PL: How has music in general changed for you?
BS: I think its just become more expanded overall. I've discovered more things. Creatively, the Bouncing Souls have been able to open our minds and get better at what we do and be a little bit more free with what we create. Instead of having ideas of what we want to sound like, we just go out and have fun. When you're 17 and you have nothing. There's no chance of making money or going out on the Warped Tour-there was no Warped Tour-in that sense, you're really free. And then, suddenly you start making money and you start going on tour. People tell you that they love this song, don't like that song. You start to get those gears turning and it gets you into this "what should I be" state of mind, and then the fun is kind of gone. So its been really amazing going through that whole cycle from day one to now. We just have a good time. We're writing songs and will be going on tour, and we're gonna have a good time. We know people are gonna like it. Thats whats fun about being in the Bouncing Souls: everybody argues over which record is better, and thats awesome. Its fun to see that someone can be so stoked about this one and someone could be so stoked about that one. So, we're gonna keep doing it and we're gonna get out and bring people together, especially in this world today. You can really feel isolated with all the technology. Lets just get together and be humans.
PL: Is there anything else you want to say?
BS: Enjoy yourself. Do whatever it takes to enjoy yourself, except killing somebody, or yourself.