On the first day of this years Warped Tour, I was able to sit down and speak with a member from one of my favorite bands, Pete from The Bouncing Souls. We talked about their new record, The Gold Record, their six night record release party, and he enlightened on the meaning of “Picken Chiken Style”.

Elona: This is the first day of the 2006 Warped Tour. How many years have you guys played ?

Pete:Um, for the whole thing I think this is our fourth time. We’ve played bits and pieces of some of the tours too so if you include those it’s our sixth. We’ve been a big part of it.

E:Oh ok, well since you’ve played Warped Tour for so long, what are some of the best and worst things about the tour?
P: There are so many good bands to see everyday, that’s always great. The only bad part is sunburn and long days and stuff like that.

E: For this year’s line up what’s the band you’re most excited about seeing?
P: I’m interested in seeing Joan Jett.
E: I remember seeing her a few years ago.
P: Oh that’s cool, I think she is playing like right now.

E: Before Warped you guys played a six night, sold out record release party for the Gold Record at the Knitting Factory. I was actually there for one of the nights, the night Sticks and Stones played, and that was pretty awesome.
P: Yeah, they are good, right! (Pete points to his Sticks and Stones shirt he is wearing)

E: (laughter) So, what were some of the highlights of those shows?
P: It just like everyday was like we were playing with different bands and they were our friends as well. We were just hanging out with all of our friends all week. It was kinda fun being in the same place for six days.

E: Why did you guys pick the Knitting Factory of all places to play for six nights?
P: I just seemed like a good size do that in.

E: On the new record, there are a lot of new instruments being played like the harmonica, and the trumpet and also there are a couple of covers. So what kind of effect were you guys trying to bring to the new record?
P: We just wanted to do something different. You know like have acoustics and different rhythms. I think in essence it is a typical Souls record in the themes, but, musically we wanted to make it more interesting for ourselves, ya know?

E: Yeah, well it was differently interesting. Its one of my favorites. But what’s the general response from other fans about the new record?
P: Its been pretty positive but every time you do something new you’re always going to get people like “Eh, doesn’t sound like fucking Maniacal Laughter” We just can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again. I think we’d get bored.

E: How did you guys approach the cover of the Avoid One Thing song “Lean On Sheena”?
P: I love the song. We wanted to do it and kinda make it our own too so we asked Joe (lead singer of Avoid One Thing) to write another verse to add to the end of the song to kinda fill it out a little bit. I think we played it like a soul song.

E: On what terms was “Letter From Iraq” created? How did Garett Reppenhagen feel about writing about something so emotional?
P: Well Garett is a veteran and he would send us letters writing about his experiences. We’d post them up on our website all the time. It was a different perspective that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else. His letters were so passionate. Then we wanted to write a song about his letters so we were trying to write lyrics and stuff and we thought ‘ we can’t do this’ because we weren’t there and had these same experiences. So that same day he wrote us this long poem and we read and condensed it to that one song. And it kinda said the whole thing totally and completely. Garett has a way with words.

E: Also on the Gold Record there is a theme throughout the record about following your dreams and doing what you love. So have you always dreamed about being in a band?
P: Yeah, it’s the common theme throughout all our records it links through everything else. Other than that, we wouldn’t know what to write about, you know?

E: So if you weren’t in the band what type of job do you think you would have right now?
P: I have no idea. I don’t know what I’d do. (laughter)

E: (laughter) Alright, so you never dreamed about being a firefighter when you were a younger or anything like that?
P: (laughter) No, but that would be really cool though! It’s a good job.

E: Also on the record there are a lot of songs dedicated to the song writing process and listening to music. So how has the music you listened to when the band begun compare to what you listen to now?
P: It’s the same spirit we’ve always had. I’m a fan of music first and I’m lucky to be in a band. To me, being a fan, I get it and appreciate the sentiment that’s what I feel inspires me sometimes. Just dealing with different problems and stuff, music saved my life.

E: In between making records you guys probably have a lot of spare time. What do you enjoying doing?
P: I enjoy hanging out with my cats!
E: Ok, what are their names?
P: Lloyd and Roxy. And I like riding motorcycles.
E: How long have you rode?
P: A while, like five years. I like going to the beach too and hanging out with my friends

E: I have been curious about this for a while. What exactly is “Picken Chiken style”? On the self titled CD you guys talked about a dog dancing ‘picken chiken style’.

P: (laughter) Basically, we lived in New Brunswick and there was this typical ghetto chicken place called Picken Chiken, we’d go to all of the time. We didn’t have any money and we’d go there everyday, that was our meal everyday. So its not a particular dance or anything, we just wanted to add that in there like a homage. It an actual place.

E: Alright, that’s all I have for my interview. Thanks.
P: No problem, I hope you have fun today.

Tags: Bouncing Souls, Interview //