Interview With Greg Attonito Of The Bouncing Souls
A lot of Bouncing Souls fans were surprised when they found out lead singer Greg Attonito was releasing a children’s book with his wife, singer-songwriter/actress Shanti Wintergate. I, however, thought it was a totally logical step. I have a vision of Greg and Shanti on PBS thirty years from now, singing songs and sparking the creativity of children, on a larger stage. Whether that happens or not, the duo’s book I Went For A Walk is an inspirational tale that not only provokes the imagination of youngsters, but also the youthful spirit that exists in everyone. I had a chance to talk with Greg, while he was visiting family on Long Island, about his experience with creating the book.
How did you and Shanti come up with the idea for the book?
Greg: We are both musicians. She does a lot writing, music and all sorts of creative stuff. She had started writing this story when she was at a restaurant, just hungry and I guess that kind of spurred her on. Within about a week or two, it was obviously a children’s story. [Shanti was] not really intenting to ever be a children’s book writer; she is just more of a musician and an actress. We both loved [the story]. We kicked it around for a while and we thought that this would be great [and] how were we going to illustrate it. I thought I would give it a shot. Shanti gave me a little prompting too and said ‘you should do this too.’ I did two or three drawings and thought they looked pretty good. That began the job creating an entire book that was cohesive and that is when it became kind of hard. I had to make it all work as opposed to making one or two drawings that look cool. It was a long process; it took about five years. I would just do it when I had the time. Most of it when I was traveling on tour and I had a minute here and there.
