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Q&A: Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick

Jaret Reddick, singer/songwriter/guitarist of pop punk band Bowling for Soup, talked to The Daily Cougar prior to coming back to his home state of Texas for a few shows in early May.

The Daily Cougar: How does it feel to be back in Texas?

Reddick: Well, we aren’t back quite yet, but we will be next week. We are in Delaware today but definitely excited to be back in Texas and doing a hometown show and Austin show and Houston show — always a good time to plug for the home state crowd.

TDC: You guys get more air time in the UK than here for some reason. Does that really affect you guys that much here?

Reddick: Not really, I mean the radio was an important part of who we were several years ago, but as of now we have our fan base and you sort of get yourself out there in other ways, like the Internet. You know it is what it is, and you just try to keep yourself out there and in front of people.

TDC: When I heard you guys for the first time it was the intro to (the Japanese anime TV series) “Knights of the Zodiac.” (BFS covered “I Ran (So Far Away)” by ’80s group A Flock of Seagulls, which was used as the intro to the series.)

Reddick: Oh yeah! We didn’t even realize we were on that show! I just found out about that recently. That just goes to show you how well I pay attention.

TDC: You guys have done a lot of things, like that cover of “I Ran (So Far Away)” and then a ’90s mix. With it being 2012 are you guys going to be doing an early 2000s mix?

Reddick: Well, we will think of something, actually I think we did. We did a cover of “Hit me Baby One More Time” for the movie “Freaky Friday,” so we are keeping it real all decades.

TDC: Well, you guys look like you are having fun. For your videos do you guys come up with the idea for humor or does it come spontaneously?

Reddick: No, for the videos we do a lot of planning and babysit it from start to finish. It’s a whole process, but we do have a lot of fun in nearly everything we do. That is the one aspect that we really like.

TDC: Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Reddick: I don’t really know, I like pretty much everything but I guess my guilty pleasure would be I like a lot of the pop stuff. Like I could listen to the band, “One Direction,” without wanting to throw up and that surprises people.

TDC: Since we are a college a paper, what did you listen to in your college days?

Reddick: Uhm, I guess at that point, I was just really getting into punk rock. I was really late to the party, and I was just discovering The Ramones and The Descendants and early Green Day. That is sort of where the idea for Bowling for Soup started.

TDC: With you guys being together for so long do you get tired of each other?

Reddick: Not really, we are still best friends, which is why I think we have been able to keep it together for 18 years. We definitely know when to press each other’s buttons and when to leave each other alone, when to get up in somebody’s face and tell them something. We have a pretty remarkable dynamic that other bands who tour with us are pretty surprised about. We have been going strong for 18 years and still having fun.

TDC: Is it still as fun even though you did your own release for your latest album?

Reddick: It wasn’t really harder, it’s just different. We have been self-supporting and self-sufficient pretty much our whole career anyway. The label has been sort of a source for distribution and obviously fun to make things happen. Luckily it was a successful album for us and we are looking forward to doing it again next year I think.

TDC: On this album you did a cover of “Stacy’s Mom” (by Fountains of Wayne). What is your favorite cover of one of your song?

Reddick: The band Allstar Weekend does a cover of “1985” that is really good and play it at all of their shows. There is also a UK band that does some songs really well. It’s always cool to hear somebody else’s take on something that you do.

TDC: You have collaborated with a lot of band for vocals and lyrics but now who would you like to work with?

Reddick: I think it would be fun to work with Billy Joel Armstrong or David Grohl, you know somebody like that, that I listen to everyday. I think that would be a lot of fun. Those are my top two living  — dead, probably John Lennon.

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