Post by rose on May 4, 2007 18:28:06 GMT -5
thanks, hh!
Here's another tip o' the hat to RAY & Kinks!
Music Previews
Bouncing Souls bring politics to the party
Music Previews By Steve Newton
Publish Date: May 3, 2007
Scores of bands have recorded songs about the horrors of the U.S.–led war in Iraq, but few have used the words of a soldier on the frontlines as lyrics. The Gold Record, the seventh CD by New Jersey punk-rockers the Bouncing Souls, features a track that was penned by Iraq veteran Garett Reppenhagen. "Hot Sunni sun passes moaning mosque spire," writes the 1st Infantry Division sniper in "Letter From Iraq". "B-Company is pinned down under heavy fire/Underneath the palms there's improvised bombs, because Jihad Johnny knows Yankee is a liar."
The Bouncing Souls met Reppenhagen in Germany, where they played to a group of American servicemen who were about to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq. As vocalist Greg Attonito explains from a Hamilton, Ontario, tour stop, the GIs were all wound up, and had a million different expectations about the war. "I personally had a hard time not making judgments on them," he recalls, "because part of me was like, 'Why are you even gonna go?'"
While the Bouncing Souls were eager to set the first-hand account of Dubya's Middle Eastern debacle to an intense, Rancid-like workout, the quartet–which also includes guitarist Pete Steinkopf, bassist Bryan Kienlen, and drummer Michael McDermott–is normally drawn to more optimistic vibes. "We're a punk band, but we're all about having a good time and being real positive," notes Attonito. "People are surprised by that, but to me it's just natural."
The best example of the Bouncing Souls' upbeat attitude is The Gold Record's cover of the Kinks' "Better Things". Though the Kinks obviously weren't punk in the same way as the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, Attonito–who remembers seeing them as a kid at an outdoor Manhattan venue called Pier 40–believes that Ray Davies and Co. embodied the essence of the genre. "It was in their revolutionary attitude," relates the 36-year-old rocker. "I mean, they really had a rawness to them, and they kept breaking their own boundaries."
As far as Attonito's own boundaries are concerned, just don't try to confine him to the stage during a Bouncing Souls show. His group has played on the Warped Tour several times, and he's been known to indulge in long-distance crowd-surfing. "We were playing to really big crowds," he says, "and I would make it a personal challenge to dive out into the audience and make it all the way to the sound board, which was maybe 75 yards back there. So I made it out to the sound board a coupla times. I never made it back [to the stage] though."
While Attonito hasn't mastered the return-trip aspect of crowd-surfing, we're happy to report that brave lyricist Reppenhagen has come full circle, and made it safely back from Iraq. He has since left the army, and is currently working full time to spread awareness against the war. "It makes perfect sense," says Attonito. "He had to go there and come back and tell everyone what was goin' on."
Here's another tip o' the hat to RAY & Kinks!
Music Previews
Bouncing Souls bring politics to the party
Music Previews By Steve Newton
Publish Date: May 3, 2007
Scores of bands have recorded songs about the horrors of the U.S.–led war in Iraq, but few have used the words of a soldier on the frontlines as lyrics. The Gold Record, the seventh CD by New Jersey punk-rockers the Bouncing Souls, features a track that was penned by Iraq veteran Garett Reppenhagen. "Hot Sunni sun passes moaning mosque spire," writes the 1st Infantry Division sniper in "Letter From Iraq". "B-Company is pinned down under heavy fire/Underneath the palms there's improvised bombs, because Jihad Johnny knows Yankee is a liar."
The Bouncing Souls met Reppenhagen in Germany, where they played to a group of American servicemen who were about to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq. As vocalist Greg Attonito explains from a Hamilton, Ontario, tour stop, the GIs were all wound up, and had a million different expectations about the war. "I personally had a hard time not making judgments on them," he recalls, "because part of me was like, 'Why are you even gonna go?'"
While the Bouncing Souls were eager to set the first-hand account of Dubya's Middle Eastern debacle to an intense, Rancid-like workout, the quartet–which also includes guitarist Pete Steinkopf, bassist Bryan Kienlen, and drummer Michael McDermott–is normally drawn to more optimistic vibes. "We're a punk band, but we're all about having a good time and being real positive," notes Attonito. "People are surprised by that, but to me it's just natural."
The best example of the Bouncing Souls' upbeat attitude is The Gold Record's cover of the Kinks' "Better Things". Though the Kinks obviously weren't punk in the same way as the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, Attonito–who remembers seeing them as a kid at an outdoor Manhattan venue called Pier 40–believes that Ray Davies and Co. embodied the essence of the genre. "It was in their revolutionary attitude," relates the 36-year-old rocker. "I mean, they really had a rawness to them, and they kept breaking their own boundaries."
As far as Attonito's own boundaries are concerned, just don't try to confine him to the stage during a Bouncing Souls show. His group has played on the Warped Tour several times, and he's been known to indulge in long-distance crowd-surfing. "We were playing to really big crowds," he says, "and I would make it a personal challenge to dive out into the audience and make it all the way to the sound board, which was maybe 75 yards back there. So I made it out to the sound board a coupla times. I never made it back [to the stage] though."
While Attonito hasn't mastered the return-trip aspect of crowd-surfing, we're happy to report that brave lyricist Reppenhagen has come full circle, and made it safely back from Iraq. He has since left the army, and is currently working full time to spread awareness against the war. "It makes perfect sense," says Attonito. "He had to go there and come back and tell everyone what was goin' on."