Bouncing Souls Come To Canada To Fight Bush
Rock Against Bush? What the hell is one of punk rock's most personal, non-political bands doing on a tour based around disapproval of U.S. President George W.? Something feels really weird about this.
Bouncing Souls guitarist The Pete is almost befuddled himself.
"It does seem a bit weird that we'd be on this tour," he admits. "I can also see why some people would wonder what the hell we're doing coming to Canada when it's more of America's problem."
Well, the dude has already proven himself a risk to world as we know it... but I digress. The issue here isn't some clown in the Oval Office. It's how The Souls --- a band renowned for songs about throwing the toilet off the roof and relationships going down said shitter --- are taking a political stance for a change. Why?
"We felt it was time for the Bouncing Souls to broaden our horizons, you know?" Pete says. "Look at it like this: we wanted to make our personal feelings about this political situation known. There's a problem we need to address here and hopefully by being a part of this tour, we're creating some understanding."
Wow. It's only taken like, 14 years, but now the Bouncing Souls are even reading a little Noam Chomsky, to paraphrase NOFX. Joining the ranks of D.O.A. and the Dead Kennedys, can we now add The Souls to the list of politically-minded punks? The Pete says well, no. While this particular instance has prodded The Souls into political commentary, don't fret just yet. They're still the same old bunch of loveable guys; the quintessential emo band (c'mon... Hopeless Romantic's "Night On Earth?" Please!), if you will, albeit with a few more drinking songs.
"We're not going to become the next Propagandhi or anything like that," The Pete assures. "But sometimes you just can't hold your tongue. I mean, even our last album [2003's Anchors Aweigh] has no political undertones. It's just about heavier anthem-styled songs. I mean, we realize that we have this avenue to educate people so we're taking it because this is a pretty important thing," he adds, laughing. "[We're] just going with it for now. I can't even say this will carry over to the next tour. We're people who would have barely even voted a few years ago! I don't think we'd make the transition that quickly."
Catch Bouncing Souls on May 4 in Toronto at The Phoenix.
---Keith Carman
href='http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2004/04/2809.cfm' target='_blank'>www.chartattack.com