The Bouncing Souls

JOANNA: What are your names, and what do you do in the Bouncing Souls?

BRIAN: My name is BRIAN and I play bass.

PETE: My name is PETE and I play guitar.

JOANNA: How long have you been a band for?

BRIAN: Almost 15 years.

JOANNA: Damn. Did you start in high school?

BRIAN: Well, we started playing together in high school. After we graduated we made the band into our lives. No one cared but us, but we cared a lot, so it was all we did.

JOANNA: Well whatever you did it worked.

BRIAN: Yeah, I mean, 15 years later. It took a really long time and it was a long slow road. After being a band for about 6 years, we were able to make enough to afford extremely cheap rent, but we had to be on tour for 8 months out of the year, and we really just barely made it by.

JOANNA: Do you think that any of your current fans are familiar with any of your older stuff?

PETE: It�s a mix really. I see some people at our shows who�ve been watching us play for the past 10 years, and I see some people there who are seeing us for their first time.

JOANNA: So when I was in high school, I wore the same Bouncing Souls tee-shirt every day.

BRIAN: Aww, really?

JOANNA: (embarrassed) Well yeah. But anyways, there was a big MTV logo on the back with a big cross through it, and it said �fuck the industry.� Do you still remain true to that value? Because most punk bands now are on MTV, and don�t seem to have any qualms about it.

BRIAN: Yep. We�re the only ones it seems.

JOANNA: So you really have no desire to be on TRL with Carson Daly?

BRIAN: You know, I just really hate how that station has a total monopoly over youth culture. It�s fucking ridiculous that whatever that station says is cool, automatically is.

JOANNA: Yeah. So you�d rather make everyone know you�re cool on your own, rather than have some TV station do the work for you.

BRIAN: Well, we�re not that cool. (laughs) I mean it�s a shame. �Music television� is such a great concept, but MTV itself is just such bullshit.

JOANNA: So you�re not gonna change your mind, no matter what?

PETE: Yeah, I mean we decided something a long time ago, and we�re gonna stick to it. It kills us sometimes, but we won�t give in.

JOANNA: Do you get offered a lot? I can imagine that most people who work for MTV probably don�t understand why anyone would have any moral apprehension about being on their station.

BRIAN: Yeah, people try all the time.

JOANNA: Next time tell them you�re putting your videos on Burning Angel instead.

BRIAN: (laughs) Yeah. That sounds like a lot more fun.

JOANNA: So do you guys watch porn?

BRIAN: Yeah. We were actually in one.

JOANNA: You were!?

BRIAN: Well, it was just our feet. We were kinda like extras in Shane�s World 9. We were all hanging out near where they were filming it, and they were like �come on in and hang out�� so we did.

JOANNA: Did you get to watch people fuck?

BRIAN: Yeah. There were like 5 people all fucking each other on a bed, and we just kinda hung around, smoking all their cigarettes and drinking their beer. Then we were finally asked to leave because the guys were losing their hard-ons. I guess us dirty punk rockers weren�t doing it for them.

JOANNA: Do you want to be in a Burning Angel porno?

BRIAN: (silence) I�d have to think about that.

JOANNA: Yeah. Well, you really should. You only live once, you know?

BRIAN: Yeah. Let me get back to you on that one.

JOANNA: (laughs) So, you�ve been a band for so long. You have to have some tour stories to tell�

PETE: Tour stories? Man, we have so many of them. That�s a really broad question.

JOANNA: I mean like a sex-related one.

BRIAN: Oh! Yeah I have one.

JOANNA: Spill it.

BRIAN: OK. So this past tour when we were coming home from Europe, I smoked a whole bunch of weed before I got on the plane.

JOANNA: Uh huh�

BRIAN: Yeah I was totally out of it. I drank a couple of tequila shots and took a valium as well. I really fucking hate flying. Anyways, I was sitting by the window seat just zoning out, and this half Russian, half German stripper sits next to me, who was just about as fucked up as I was.

JOANNA: That sounds like fate!

BRIAN: Yeah. She snuck a bottle of whiskey onto the plane so we drank it together. Before I know it, we were all like all over each other and getting pretty nasty. I got up, and we went into the bathroom, got totally naked in there and fooled around and stuff. I was like, hey, I�ve got a condom in my bag, want me to go get it? She was like yeah, so we both put our clothes back on and went back to our seat. She was then like �I want a cigarette� so I put a blanket over the two of us and she lit up a cigarette. We both took a drag and then got caught, so we put it out. I grabbed the condom, and we went back into the bathroom and fucked. We fucked like crazy, banging around making so much noise. The stewardess then started banging on the door, and we just kept going. We went back to our seats, smoked again, got yelled at again, and then they wouldn�t let us back into the bathroom. We put the little blanket over us, fooled around some more, and then we passed out.

JOANNA: That�s an incredible story. It�s kinda like what everyone hopes will happen any time they get on a plane, but they know it never will.

BRIAN: Yeah it was awesome.

JOANNA: Well� um� what are you working on now as a band?

BRIAN: Hmm. Well, we just finished up a new record and I feel really good about it. I�m really happy with how it came out. We also just put out a DVD.

JOANNA: Yeah I saw it actually. Everyone reading this, it�s quite good. You should all see it.

BRIAN: Aww. Thanks!

JOANNA: OK. Well it was nice talking to you guys.

BRIAN: Yeah, you, too. Your website rocks, I really like it.

JOANNA: Yeah. You would, you pervert. (laughs)