About The Bouncing Souls
The Bouncing Souls are an American punk rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1989. By the time of their acknowledgment by the national punk rock scene, they had reignited a "pogo" element to New Jersey punk rock by playing fast light-hearted songs, a model followed by various other local bands.
The four original members grew up in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and played in smaller bands while attending Ridge High School. Although they decided to forgo college, they made the decision to move to a college town; New Brunswick, NJ, which is the home of Rutgers University. New Brunswick had a reputation for supporting underground music, and over the years had seen not only musical acts but actors enjoy professional success. The Bouncing Souls not only became a staple in the New Brunswick music scene, but also helped other bands gain an audience by opening up for them in the clubs around town, as well as parties and shows they put on themselves. The band's name is a derivative of Doc Martens shoes, specifically their advertising slogan "with Bouncing Soles". Doctor Martens air-cushioned soles are a staple of punk dress.
Their first full-length album, The Good, The Bad & The Argyle was released in 1994 on Chunksaah Records, their own label. The album was a compilation of several EPs the band had released previously. Two tracks of this record, "Candy" and "What Boys Like" served as homage to 1980s new wave while simultaneously striking a humorous jab at homophobia. Their next album, Maniacal Laughter was released in 1996. Half the album was written in a week. It led to a high-profile tour with Youth Brigade that got the attention of Epitaph Records.
The Bouncing Souls signed with Epitaph in 1997 and released The Bouncing Souls later that year. While it contains some Bouncing Souls classics like "Cracked", "Kate is Great", and "East Coast Fuck You!", certain tracks on the record are anticlimactic in comparison to their lo-fi earlier recordings. Greg himself stated on Do You Remember? 15 Years of the Bouncing Souls that "It's a CD of unfinished songs". Hopeless Romantic followed in 1999. Hopeless Romantic has been heralded for admixing poignant lyrics with their melodic rapidly paced punk style. Soon after the album's release, personal problems arose between the band and long-time drummer Shal Khichi which resulted in his departure from the band. He was replaced by former Skinnerbox, Mephiskapheles, and Murphy's Law drummer, Michael McDermott.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation was the first album released with the new line-up. By now, the band had become viewed as seminal to the modern punk sound, with a new generation of fans discovering their earlier releases as they toured with newer bands as well as larger punk acts such as Hot Water Music. 2002 brought a b-sides album, The Bad, the Worse, and the Out of Print and an acclaimed split with Anti-Flag as part of the BYO Split Series. In 2003, the band released their sixth album Anchors Aweigh, as well as their first DVD, Do You Remember? 15 Years of the Bouncing Souls. In 2005, they had two live releases, a double CD album, simply titled Live, as well as a DVD, titled Live at the Glasshouse, which was the 19th entry in Kung Fu Films' The Show Must Go Off! series. The band released their seventh album, titled The Gold Record on June 6, 2006, or 6/6/06 which the band has called "The release of the beast", in reference to 666, which is known as "The number of the beast". Also, due to their first full-length record being a collection of previous releases, many fans also consider this to in fact be their sixth studio album, and thus 666 is also partly in reference to this. They then headed out on the 2006 Warped Tour in support of the record, and again three years later, in 2009.
In 2008, while at the Vans Warped Tour stop in their home state of New Jersey, the band helped Music Saves Lives raise the blood supply by signing a guitar for the non-profit to auction off.
Map & Directions To Venue
