Adventures with The Bouncing Souls

Musique - "Gone" by The Bouncing Souls

In 1999, I (finally) fell in love with The Bouncing Souls. I'm not sure what took me so long, but it wasn't until I heard "Bullying the Jukebox" repeatedly on KGRG that I fell. Unfortunately, this was after they had played Warped Tour in Seattle the year before. So I didn't see them live until 2001. Not sure if they didn't play Seattle in that time or what, but it was two long years until I laid eyes on them in person.

At that time, I was going to school in Oklahoma and Lord knows, the Warped Tour doesn't come through Oklahoma. So, I had to go to Kansas to see it. I saw the Souls' lead singer, Greg Attonito walking around the Sandstone Amphitheater and like a little stalker, I followed him around. Of course, I had not the balls to actually approach him and tell him how much I loved his band. Sadly, I missed the first ten minutes of the Souls' set because they went on earlier than they were scheduled to. :( But when I heard them play "Kate is Great", I almost cried I was so happy. Sigh.

I saw them once more while I lived in Oklahoma, but I had to go down to Dallas, TX to do so. No good bands ever come through Oklahoma. Srsly. Also, you can't get (legal) tattoos in Oklahoma. So, when I decided to get a Bouncing Souls tattoo (because by this time, they were my favorite band in the whole world), I had to drive down to Denton, TX to get it. I got it at a combination drive-thru liquor store and tattoo parlor. Awesome. I got the beautiful butterfly logo (but mine is obviously black ink, not white):

Fast forward to 2003 and The Bouncing Souls are playing two nights at Graceland in Seattle. My boyfriend at the time worked for Infinite Productions, the company putting on the Seattle Souls shows, so I got into both shows for free. The first night, he introduced me to Kate of "Kate is Great" fame!

I should also mention that at this time, the Souls' DVD, Do You Remember: 15 Years of The Bouncing Souls had come out and I had watched it several times. I felt like I knew these people. So to meet Kate was a huge, huge deal for me.

The next night, I was just chilling in the Graceland bar, having some beer and I look over and I see The Pete (the guitarist) looking at me. Not just casually looking, but looking looking. And it kept happening the whole night—every time I glanced at Pete, he was looking at me. I was too scared to go up and talk to him, but I was deliriously happy that for some reason, one of my favorite humans on the planet was looking at me. A little bit later, my boyfriend told me that Pete had told him that I reminded him of his wife, which explained the staring. And needless to say I was extremely flattered that someone as handsome as Pete could marry someone who kinda looks like me. :)

After that show, Pete and Kate invited me and my boyfriend to go to the Hurricane Cafe for drinks. Um, YEAH!! I sat next to Pete the whole night and he let me be fangirl and go off about how much I loved his band and how much they meant to me. I even got him to do some of the imitations the boys do of each other that were featured on the DVD ("Noooooooo!" "Yessssssss!"). I was in heaven. Pete was genuinely nice to me and it was so immensely cool to share pitchers of PBR with him and Kate and their friends. We hit it off so well that Pete had Kate put me and my boyfriend on their guest list for the Portland, OR show the next night. Um, YEAH!! Oh, and I totally got my picture taken with Pete! I look goofy as all hell in it, but you can tell by my maniacal smile that I am having the time of my fucking life.

The next night, my boyfriend and I drove down to Portland and showed up at the Crystal Ballroom, which is big and has a bouncy floor, which was fun. We got to watch the show from the side of the stage, which was much roomier than most sides of stages and we could actually see the whole band play. After the show, we went backstage to hang with the Souls. I showed Bryan (the bassist) my butterfly tattoo (since he was the artist) and he said he was jealous because he always wanted that tattoo, but he already had a butterfly on his back.

Greg was resting in a back room, so I didn't get to meet him, but I did get to meet Michael (the drummer) and hang out with him. Sadly, I didn't get a pic with him. :( In any case, I got to hang with Pete some more and at one point, he went out into the hall to smoke, so I went with him and bummed one of his American Spirits. Someone was playing Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day" really loud somewhere and we laughed about that. I know rock stars are just regular people like you and me, but it was really special just to hang out with Pete like that, like we were just regular, normal friends.

After the show, the Souls were packing their shit up and my boyfriend and I had to head back to Seattle. As we were saying goodbye to Pete, he kissed me on my cheek. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Seriously. I still swoon every time I think about it. I'm doing it right now. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. <3 <3

I'm not sure if the Souls didn't come to Seattle between 2003 and 2006, or if I was just dumb and didn't go to any shows for three years, but the next time I saw them was in 2006. It was at the Graceland again, but now it was called El Corazon. It was a wonderful show because it was the tenth anniversary of Maniacal Laughter, so they played the entire album from start to finish—SO much awesome! I saw Pete again, but I wasn't sure if he remembered me and he was always talking to someone the whole night, so I didn't have the balls to approach him. Silly, silly amz.

I of course went to every Souls show I could go to after that, although I had to skip Bumbershoot 2010 because my dad brought back some nasty flu from Asia and I caught it. The doctor said if I went to Bumbershoot, I would be putting lots of people at risk, especially pregnant women and the elderly. So she guilted me into not going. And boy howdy, did I cry. All day. All night. I can't believe I missed my beloved Souls. :(

In 2011, Greg and his wife, Shanti, played a benefit show in Seattle. I got to talk to Greg and thank him for being in my favorite band ever. And he hugged me!!!!!! And I bought a piece of his art and we got this picture taken:

Gahhhhh! I'd finally met ALL members of The Bouncing Souls!! I could die happy! :D I neglected to mention in my earlier blog about that benefit show that I was feeling the magic of being in the presence of awesomeness, so I felt totally comfortable shouting things out to Greg and Shanti while they played. I requested "Joe Lies" and Greg said that was a good choice, but he wouldn't play it (maybe Shanti doesn't know how to play it?). At one point, they sang a love song and I shouted out "You guys are adorable!" and Greg said back "You're adorable!" :D :D :D

I saw the Souls when they opened for Bad Religion in 2011, but that was at such a huge club (Showbox SODO) that there was no chance of running into any of the guys and having more fangirl experiences. But it was still a good show.

And now it is 2012 and the Souls have come to Seattle again!!!!! Glory, hallelujah! Yesterday, I saw on Facebook that they were going to do an acoustic show at Silver Platters in Queen Anne before their Chop Suey show. I almost didn't go because none of my friends really like the Souls except for my sister and her husband, but they couldn't go. I didn't want to show up by myself; I thought I'd feel awkward. But I couldn't deny myself the opportunity to see them in person. So I totally went! And it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!! I was like a foot away from them!!!!!! Michael didn't play at all, but stood at the back of the small crowd and watched. Before the last song they played, Bryan said "This goes out to the pretty girl in the back with the white shirt and black sweater and glasses." (meaning Michael) :)

After the acoustic show, they were going to sign some stuff. Only a few people had actually brought stuff to sign, so most of the crowd went up to buy shit the band could sign. I stayed right where I was and handed them a piece of paper, saying "I didn't bring any merch to sign. Would you guys sign this?" And Greg said that they had posters and would I like one? Um, YEAH!! So he went to get them and I asked Pete and Bryan if I could get a pic with them while we waited for the posters and they said yes. I handed my phone to the person behind me in line and I put one arm on Pete's back (swoooon!!) and the other on Bryan's (swoooon!!) and smiled big. When the girl handed my phone back to me, I saw that Greg had gotten back and gotten into the pic!!

OMG. OMG. OMG. ZOMFG!!!!!!!!!!!! Sadly, McDermott wasn't in it, but that's okay. Maybe someday I'll get my pic with him.

Bryan and Greg signed my poster with only their initials and Pete made fun of them for that. But then he signed my poster with only "PS". He laughed and said, "I'm not going to keep doing that," and then turning to me, he said, "This is a one-of-a-kind!" I walked out of Silver Platters, floating on air. :D

Later on was the Chop Suey show and by this time, I was beyond pumped to go, even though I was by myself. I got to be fairly close to the stage for it all. Awesome! They played so many of my favorites and the new songs were much better live than they are on the album (isn't that always the case?), so now I love them more. I also had a couple of dorky moments before the Souls came on when I saw the back of Pete's guitar with the "THE PETE" stickers on it (minus one of the Es)—him putting similar stickers on another of his guitars was one of the special features on the Souls DVD. In another special feature on the DVD, Pete unwrapped his brand new Slash Marshall amp and the whole band made fun of the Slash signature on it and the snake print protective cover. Lo and behold, Pete still uses the Slash amp. I giggled when I saw it. :)

Today, I am exhausted and my ears are ringing (My ears are ringin' loud/But I can't hear a sound - "Single Successful Guy"), but it was SO worth it. I love, love, LOVE The Bouncing Souls!!!!!!!!! :D