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Iconic pop punk band Bowling for Soup are preparing to headline their biggest gig ever at Wembley this weekend (December 13), and Express.co.uk sat down with frontman Jaret Reddick ahead of the big day. Famed for hits like 1985, Girl All the Bad Guys Want and High School Never Ends, the band have been around since 1994, though they’ve experienced a shifting line-up since then.
With Jaret as the only remaining founder – though he credits drummer Gary Wiseman as an “OG” member – the band got their start in Wichita Falls, Texas. But they’ve since recorded a series of live albums in the UK; where, Jaret says, the music fans are the “best in the world”.
Though I’ve been a fan for decades, the origin of the band’s name has always been somewhat of a mystery. Thankfully Jaret was happy to clear it up – explaining that for the longest time, they’d meant to rename the band to something less silly.
Jaret told Express.co.uk: “So Lance, our original drummer, didn’t cuss. But we listened to a lot of stand-up comedy back in the day, and Steve Martin had a bit where he’s working on a [fictional] TV show, it’s called Bowling for Sh**.
“So when we were playing our last show in our band before Bowling for Soup, Lance got on the mic and said, ‘Hey, come see our new band in a couple of months! It’s called Bowling for Soup.’ Because he wouldn’t say sh**! It just became this hilarious little funny thing.”
Jaret said: “It was always our intention to change it, but everything happened really fast for Bowling for Soup. We played our first show [a month on], and had an album out in three months. We were touring within six months of starting that band. So we just never got a chance to change it.”
As for what the name actually means? Jaret previously told VICE: “It did become very apparent that we are bowling to obtain soup because it is our job. And so soup being representative of food, money, those things.
“But if soup were ever in need, we would definitely be there for it.”
I also asked Jaret whether he gets bored of performing the hits – something that bands like Radiohead, Led Zeppelin and Beastie Boys have confessed to over the years. But for the BFS frontman, the hits are where it’s at.
He said: “In fact, those are my favourite ones to perform. Girl All the Bad Guys want is my favourite song to perform – there’s something about when I start that riff, and the audience gets it within the first three or four notes, and just that reaction…
“There’s a lot of bands out there that don’t like their hits, and I think a lot of those bands are those that had one standalone song that became a hit for them, but it doesn’t sound like the rest of their catalogue. Maybe it’s a cover song, whatever.
“But I’ve just never been one of those guys that doesn’t like the hits. You want to play songs that people want to dance and sing to.
“You can see the audience realise what song it is, and they start to look at one another, and they’re looking at you and they’re getting excited – and the smile is bigger than it has been all night long. When you start singing that first verse, you just want to see every mouth in there moving – it’s just a magical feeling.”
Bowling for Soup are performing at Wembley this weekend, and for a band that’s been performing in Britain for 25 years, Jaret didn’t shy away from the “cliché” of the fans being his favourite part.
He said: “I think the UK music fans are the best music fans in the world. I do mean it, because it’s such a part of your culture. You guys plan the whole year to take the family to festivals, and that is the coolest thing.
“Music is such a big part of your lives and families and culture. That’s my favourite thing – just the love of music. And obviously the love for Bowling for Soup doesn’t hurt!”
Next year, Bowling for Soup are heading on tour with folk punk band Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. Tickets are on sale now for the Bowl My Bones tour.
