Bowling for Soup, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, 15th October
How did you get together?
Eric: How did we get
together....er....eight and half years ago, we, we were all in
different bands playing the same clubs, in a place that Chris
actually ran, and er, for one reason or another, all of the bands
broke up at the same time, and we all knew each other just through
that scene, and started hanging out and having some beers. Then er,
we started playing together and writing some songs and we decided
that we wanted to give it a go....
How old were you all then?
Eric: I was, er....19...actually, I was 18. me: That's pretty young...
Have you considered starting up your records label again?
Eric: Well, no, not really, but we're very active in our
managers record label, which is Pro Records, which we were on just
before the last 2 albums came out, and that still runs and operates
in the states and in Texas, so they're also a management company,
and that's still very much going on.
Do you think that 'Tell me when to whoa' will ever be available over
here?
Eric: were er working on that. Not 'tell me when to whoa'. but
'rock on honourable ones'. Because er every thing on 'tell me when
to whoa' is available on except for maybe a couple of songs that you
get on 'Lets do it for Johnny' so you know that probably will be
available
How does it feel to go from supporting [spunge] in small 300
person venues to headlining a UK sell-out tour?
Eric: It feels great, really amazing. You know when they first
called us back, and said the shows were starting so said out it was
just kinda like 'what the hells going on here' you know...its crazy,
its amazing you know, the fact that, to think that people want to
see us so badly that the shows are selling out so quickly.
Me: In like the past few months at college I've seen you get so
big...since 'Girl all the Bad Guys Want' really... Eric: That's very cool...that's really cool. I feel very very
privileged.. ..
Your probably asked this over and over, but how did you get your
name?
Eric: Er...there was a Steve Martin film on 'wild and crazy guy'
from 1978...it was just a comedy album he did in 1978 and talks
about a couple of books that he'd written and one of them was called
'Bowling For Shit' and your grandma's would kinda get a little
unsettled if you go around calling yourself Bowling for Shit, so we
changed it to Bowling For Soup'
Who are your influences?
Eric: You know we are extremely musically diverse in what we
listen to. We all come from different kinds of musical back grounds
you know like Chris and Jaret were metal kids, and er, I was more of
a straight forward classic rock, 60's rock, 70's rock, and er Gary,
came up, I dunno, I guess punk was really starting to happen and
he's a bit younger than the rest of us, so from the time he was in
junior high, 11, 12, that's when he was into punk rock, so...
What influences you personally?
Eric: I dunno, I love John Lennon, I love Johnny Cash, I love
Willy Nelson, I love...
Me: What English bands do you like? What do you think of Jesse
James?
Eric: oh, I think they're really really good. Um...English
bands...um....Paul McCartney, Oasis, er.....I'm drawing a blank with
these...er....Rolling Stones
Jen: What about like Led Zeppelin etc?
Eric: I don't' like Led Zeppelin actually, no, that's the only
one of that big group that I have never liked, and I don't know
why...I think is just probably just American classic rock
radio...Led Zeppelin is the staple, and they play like 3 songs,
y'know and it's just over and over and over again and it's just like
'please, no more stairway to heaven, I do not wanna hear that song
again!'
What's the best thing you've found about England?
Eric: The fans are truly, truly amazing.
Me: They're all so young...we feel old!
Eric: I'm 28 years old, how do you think i feel looking at that
kid?!
Jen: In Salisbury if we go to a gig.....like Spankboy...they
play ska punk, and the average height is about here *indicates waist
level*
Eric: right, right
Is your song Emily about a real girl?
Eric: Er....I didn't write that song, so...Jaret wrote that song
so that would be a question you would have to ask him. Urm...I think
Emily is just bits and pieces of several, several girls. I think it
is based on some truth.
How long have you all been playing your instruments?
Eric: I've been playing, er, virtually.....i have to do the math
every time! I started playing guitar about 14 years ago and started
dabbling in bass, and then I didn't really start playing bass
seriously until I was 17, and then put it down for two years,
without even touching it before this band started.
Jen: How many instruments can you play?
Eric: I can play...I'm a tuba player, I was er...you have no
idea what this means!
Me: Were you in a marching band?
Eric: Yea!
Me: Oh, how sweet! How American!
Eric: Hahah! We all did it, everyone but Chris used to be in a
marching band. I did er, you don't know what this means but I was
all state tuba player, which is like....In high school, that is the
best you can be.
What's the worst thing you've found about England?
Eric: The rain! Y'know...the weather today has been really
shitty! I miss the food, we've just been eating lots of sandwiches,
but that's great though. It's much better than trying to go out for
a meal every night.
Why did you dress up as women in Kerrang?
Eric: That was Kerrang's idea. I think some of the press are
trying to find the limit where were gonna say 'No, we wont do this'
and its just...
Me: And the Kerrang a couple of months back where you were all
naked surrounded in food!
Eric: Yea! They just showed up, I didn't know we were going to
be naked in that shoot until that day, but, it was at Jarets' house,
and they were like 'Right, now we're going to do this naked guys',
and I'm like 'Oh, cool, whatever'! We really don't have any shame,
so...
How did you come about getting your other names?
Eric: Right...Jaret von Eric.. I'll break it down. There's er,
where we live know, in Denton County, just near Dallas, urm, there's
a family of wrestlers that came from there, and when we were young
they were just like biiiiiiiig superstars, and their last name was
Von Eric, so that's where he got his name. Christopher Van Malmsteen,
that's a cross between Van Halen and er, Ivee (??) Malmsteen, the
guitar god. Erik Rohdam Clinton is after Bill Clinton's wife, and
Gary Wiseass is, we hadn't given Gary a name yet, and Jaret was in
an interview and he needed a name, so he just did that.
Jen: On the wrestling front, are you big on Smackdown and stuff?
Eric: Not so much, no, Chris does it a little bit...and my wife!
I don't know what happened, i went away on tour, and i come back two
months later and she's like addicted to this shit!
Me: You have a kid don't you?
Eric: Yea yea! She's 7!
Me: Have you got a picture?
Eric: I sure do! *gets it out*
Me: wow...so cute...she looks like a picture of innocence. Just
wait 10 years!
What's the funniest thing that's happened to you guys on tour?
Eric: Hmm...Just one? well, last time we were here, with
[spunge], it was our first tour on a tour bus, and er, we were on it
for about 2 hours and something happened-it broke down and we had to
get out and push the buss off of the M1. It was like we'd never had
a tour bus before, and here we are, pushing the very first one we
have off the motorway. We've had some horrible, horrible breakdowns!
Me: what's your tour bus called?
Eric: The one here? we haven't named it! We named all of the
vehicles that we've had in the states. Our first one was 'el guapo'
and the second one was 'Meadowlark' cos it was lemon...y'know a
lemon is a shitty car. You know who the Harlem globe trotters are?
Like a comic basketball team, they do tricks and stunts and all
that, and their leader was called metal lark lemon, so we named it
meadow lark.
Me: How big is your tour bus here?
Eric: We've got 10 bunks. It's like a coach. We came over and we
got a 15 passenger bus, when we first came here, which is what we
drive at home, and they're HUGE. And we get over here, and they pull
the bus out for us and we're like 'this is what we're driving?
cool!' The third bus was 'La Galetta' that means cracker in Spanish,
and the newest one is called 'whoop ass'.
What are your porn star names?
Eric: er, my porn star name is Johnny O'Megan
