Bowling For Soup: “We’re Planning A Lot Of Sh*t”

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For almost 30 years Bowling For Soup have been at the forefront of the Pop Punk music scene, we sat down with Rob Felicetti to delve into the band’s incredible journey, discussing their latest covers album ‘Don’t Mind If I Do’, 20 years of ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, and more.

Hello, I’m Fraser Kerr, and you join me backstage here with Rob from Bowling For Soup, how are you?

Rob: Hi, I’m doing great. How are you?

I’m good, thank you. How has the reaction been to your new covers album ‘Don’t Mind If I Do’.

Rob: Very, very well. It’s been really well, like, we’ve had really, really great response to it because… so we, in doing that, we just we just picked songs we like. We didn’t really try and pick songs because we thought people would like them or they’re a popular. We’re just like, let’s just pick songs we like and just play it the way we play songs and see if people like it. And so far, so good.

So how did you pick the songs, like, did each member get a pick or…?

Rob: Pretty much, yeah. I mean, it’s like in one of our group texts. Jared’s just like, “Hey, let’s all just come up with a few.” Like, it was really informal. Like, Hey, just list some songs you really like and you’d want to cover and you think that would work if we covered them, that would work in our sound, that We could translate as a Bowling For Soup song. So we all sort of threw ones in the mix, and some of them were like, I don’t know about that, and ended up working, like Chris’ pick was that Kid Cudi song ‘Erase Me’? And I remember hearing like, he was talking about I was like, How the hell are we going to do that? And then hearing and I’m like, I think that’ll work. It’s cool. And I think we pulled it off. I mean, we’re no Kid Cudi, but like, even me, like I picked an Eagles song, you know, I just wanted to pick something straight forward and we’re all social distortions in the mix and it’s just bands we all like, you know.

How was the recording process different for that as opposed to like your regular work?

Rob: Well, really what was different about it is that we did it over the course of almost three years. So when we started recording what became ‘Pop Drunk Snot Bread’ that album, we were like in the studio and had some other songs that we were recording at the time that didn’t end up on the album, but we were like, well while we’re here, let’s just record… let’s just lay down some stuff for covers too just to have them, release and whatever, you know. We must have did like three or four then. Then we every time we would book studio time to do something else, we would just throw a couple other ones and it was coming then, Yeah. And then it just sort of turned into a thing. And then we’re recording of remote, you know, like I’m cutting bass at my house and doing some singing there. And it kind of just sort of came together, like with no rush, no deadline, which made it kind of nice and relaxing. Right? So I think it was our management’s idea, like we should just take all the covers we recorded, some of which were already released as singles just here and there, and just package them as an album and just put it out and that was that.

So Bowling For Soup have been going for a long time, and you’ve been in a band for a long time now,

Rob: Yeah.

Next year is 20 years of ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’,

Rob: Correct.

Is there any plans to celebrate that?

Rob: So yeah, not only is next year, 20 years of ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, next year is 30 years of Bowling For Soup. Which is crazy because I was eight when they started. So…

Wow.

Rob: Yeah, but we’re planning in a lot of shit. As a matter of fact, the whole reason I’m saying this right now is because I saw Jared post on Instagram, a picture that’s up on the screens over at The Dickies Stage that we’re playing, which is an ad mat poster for the tour that we’re doing in February in the UK, where it’s called er… I don’t know what it’s called doesn’t matter, but the tour is where we’re coming here, doing it with Less Than Jake to celebrate 30 years of Bowling For Soup and 20 years of ‘Hangover You Don’t Deserve’. I don’t know that we’re going to necessarily do like the thing where you play the album front to back, but I’m going to play a lot of it, the ones that people want to hear. And so we’re… I think we’re planning on basically going everywhere with it next year and just staying really busy and making the whole thing of that. Yeah.

Nice. And how is how has the scene changed over the time that the band has been playing? Obviously you were young when they started.

Rob: Yeah,

but you’ve still seen the scene change.

Rob: You talking about how like the overall scene has changed.

Yeah, everything.

Rob: I think it’s better than ever, to be honest, just because as and I’ll use Jared’s words again for this, but it’s like it’s like how hair metal came back. You know what I mean? Like, it did its thing and then kind of died out a little bit and then just jump right back, so like pop punk is like the new hair metal,

Pop punks back.

Rob: Like all these people that are now adults with kids and shit that are that have grown kids like could go see concerts and stuff again, are coming and they’re showing up. And we’re doing we’re doing better business than we ever have. Like bigger-bigger rooms, Bigger… Filling out bigger venues, and doing great because people are excited about it again and they can… It’s really it’s come with the age group of the demographic, right, where they’re like, they’re independent again, they can go to see shows again. So yeah, it’s really showing and everyone still as energetic as they’ve always been, which is awesome.

Obviously all of your sets are full of funny moments and-and craziness, how important is it that you keep the set fun?

Rob: It’s the most important thing. I’m not just saying that, like there’s a saying in this band and we all agree with it, “When it stops being fun, it’s when we stop doing it.” So it’s-it’s the… I’ve had people ask us, we’ve had people ask us before like, oh my God, did you like, go over that bit before you did it. Like everything’s just completely on the spot. So that’s what makes it fun, spontaneity and just go for it, say whatever. No, no rules. Just have fun with it and roll with it. So we just we sometimes realize, like, we’ve been joking for like minutes now and haven’t even played a song yet, like, okay, let’s start playing some music. But it’s that is what keeps it fun and fresh. If it was the same exact thing every night, it’d get a little stale, you know? So it’s more about keeping ourselves as entertained as we’re attempting to keep the crowd entertained.

And finally, what advice would you give to a new band starting out today?

Rob: Advice to give to a new band is basically our own advice. If it’s not fun, don’t do it. If you’re not having fun, it’s not worth it because there’s a lot of bands that treat it like a job before it even becomes a job for them. And that’s how they get salty with each other, right? So fun is the name of the game. Music is entertainment. Entertainment is fun.

That’s all the questions I’ve got for you today.

Rob: Alright.

Thank you for joining me.

Rob: I have a question for you.

Yep.

Rob: What-How do you keep your hair so nice?

Oh…

Rob: is it the humidity?

Yeah. Yeah, it’s the British weather.

Rob: Awesome.

Thank you, man. Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Rob: Awesome you too!