Less Than Jake have been providing the quintessential ska punk sound for a long time and there’s something so comforting in their appearances, like old school friends who appear to crash on your sofa every few years. They aren’t aiming to shatter boundaries any more in their role as Bowling For Soup’s support, just to “rile everybody up.” ‘All My Beat Friends Are Metalheads’ comes with a call to flip our hands into horns and a word perfect singalong punctuated with inflatable dancers follows. They shout out to Nandos and Cardiff (“the diff”), and the whiplash tempo changes of ‘Plastic Cup Politics’ inspires as much skanking as the limited elbow space of the pit will allow. ‘Gainesville Rock City’ is their final power statement, and there’s just something so pure and satisfying about finishing with a chance to dance our frustrations out of our system. 

“Who wants to have the best night of the their lives?” Bowling For Soup’s frontman Jaret Reddick calls after their animated intro song. “Well, that won’t happen tonight. How about we have a fucking outstanding night instead?” He wholeheartedly leans into the band’s reputation as losers with frequent self-deprecating jokes. Their humour, as a whole, is gentle and silly. ‘My Wena’ is performed with cartoon hotdogs behind them, as if you didn’t guess what the song is about, and they stop halfway through ‘Punk Rock 101’ for a photo opportunity.

It’d take an exceptionally cold punk purist not to be won over by their antics and, to top it off, most of the setlist is fast, slick and really well executed. ‘Two-Seater’ (“A lesson in love and love lost; a valuable lesson that you should never vandalise your ex gf’s car”) is a perfect blend of game graphics and petty crime with a skipping beat and adorable vocals, a satisfying fade between a drifting bridge and even a proper harmony or two. It slots in perfectly with ‘Life After Lisa’s thrashy sitcom soundtrack vibes. ‘High School Never Ends’ has aged well and lights up the room with heartwarming rock star call-outs and callbacks.

About halfway through the show, the cartoon backdrops are switched off. Reddick stands alone under a spotlight without his usual silly grin. “I want to talk about mental health,” he says, a sudden sad note in his voice. In 2013, he reveals, he’d intended to quit the band after their UK tour. “I’m a depressed, anxious individual,” he confesses, “I still battle with it every single day.” The vocalist raises his head. “No one here is alone and no one is immune!” And then, like a sobering lightning bolt, the atmosphere transforms. ‘Turbulence’ is a reassurance, a hug, a message plainly spoken and the whole area bursts with life, raising our phones like diamonds. For three minutes, they are a punk rock band, and an impressive one at that. “Sing with me,” asks Reddick softly and we do, our voices soaring with hope. As the lights fade out, he bites his lip and just for a moment his eyes lower.

Then the window closes and we’re back to normal, or at least the version of it we expect at a Bowling For Soup show, with squeaky voice karaoke competitions and jokes about vaginas. ‘The Bitch Song’ receives an outpouring of love and fist bumps, and, of course, ‘Girl All The Bad Guys Want’ is a punch of energy. The pit inflates into a fulfilling singalong with whole bodies pushed into the lyrics. The band sit down on plastic stairs, as if waiting at a bus stop, watching us cheer for the encore. The delayed gratification of the banter before ‘1985’ pays off and they leave us with a rock number that absolutely works for them, rich with retro chord changes. 

We’re no closer to working out if Bowling For Soup are ‘for real’ or not, but we can be certain that they are genuinely very talented at what they do. The band have found their niche as accessible comic rockers, humble and self aware, and they are loved for it. Perhaps, with the courage to be more honest like they showed they can be tonight, they could finally get the respect they clearly deserve. 

KATE ALLVEY

The song is taken from their most recent album, 2016’s ‘Drunk Dynasty’.

Next month they will be going on a UK tour where they will be playing their 2002 fourth album ‘Drunk Enough to Dance’ in full along with some other fan favourites. They will be joined by The Aquabats and Army of Freshmen, who will be performing their 2006 third album ‘Under the Radar’ in full to coincide with their twentieth anniversary as a band.

FEBRUARY
09 GLASGOW O2 Academy
10 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
11 SHEFFIELD O2 Academy
12 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
13 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy
14 NORWICH UEA
15 MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
16 CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena
17 LONDON O2 Brixton Academy

The band will be playing their 2002 fourth album ‘Drunk Enough to Dance’ in full along with some other fan favourites. Their latest album is their 2016 tenth album ‘Drunk Dynasty’.

As for The Aquabats, this will be their first UK tour in five years. Their last record was their 2011 fifth album ‘Hi-Five Soup! on Fearless Records.

Cali pop punks Army of Freshmen meanwhile will be performing their 2006 third album ‘Under the Radar’ in full to coincide with their twentieth anniversary as a band. Their last record was 2013’s ‘Happy to Be Alive’ on Arkive Records.

FEBRUARY 2018
09 GLASGOW O2 Academy
10 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
11 SHEFFIELD O2 Academy
12 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
13 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy
14 NORWICH UEA
15 MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
16 CARDIFF Motorpoint Arena
17 LONDON O2 Brixton Academy

To enter, head to Punktastic’s Twitter or Facebook and either retweet or share the post to enter. The closing date is midnight on September 1, after which we’ll pick a winner at random. Usual restrictions apply.

Good luck!

For more on Jaret Reddick head to his website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Here’s Jaret Reddick himself on why Turbulence is such an important song in the history of Bowling For Soup: “Turbulence is one of those special songs that goes through life with me. The “bumps in the road” are different, depending on the roads…but I always have this one to come back to to remind me that life is awesome…even the fart joke guy needs a boost from time to time.”

‘Acoustic in a Freakin’ English Church’ is available now.

The release of Turbulence in it’s acoustic form comes just a few weeks before BFS frontman Jaret Reddick embarks on his first ever UK solo tour. The Heartache & Hilarity tour will see Jaret both performing songs, not just from Bowling For Soup but his other musical projects, People On Vacation and Jarinus, and also telling the stories behind the songs.

Jaret Reddick – Heartache & Hilarity UK tour
September 2017
13th – Glasgow – O2 ABC 2
14th – Leeds – Key Club
15th – Brighton – Concorde 2
16th – Bristol – Thekla
17th – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
18th – Wolverhampton – Slade Rooms
19th – Newcastle – Riverside
20th – Manchester – Gorilla
21st – London – Islington Assembly Hall

The song itself is taken from the band’s latest album, ‘Drunk Dynasty’, which was released last year on Brando.

They join the stacked line up that includes Enter Shikari, who will perform ‘Take To The Skies’ in full, Don Broco, Bowling For Soup, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, We The Kings, Cute Is What We Aim For, Beartooth, Tonight Alive, Against Me!, The Bronx, Goldfinger, Mad Caddies, The Movielife, Trophy Eyes, Like Pacific, Neck Deep, Citizen, Turnover, Deaf Havana, Frank Iero and The Patience, We Are The Ocean, The Maine, Crime In Stereo, Sorority Noise, Too Close To Touch, Seaway, WSTR, Boston Manor, and Stray From The Path  Set It Off, Memphis May Fire, I Prevail, Ice Nine Kills, Oceans Ate Alaska, Crossfaith, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Waterparks, With Confidence, Milk Teeth, Black Foxxes, Decade, Counterfeit., Fort Hope, SHVPES, Puppy,The Gospel Youth, Ocean Grove, Vukovi, Area 11, Sylar, Homebound, Casey, Makeout, and more.

The festival will take place at three dates across the May Bank Holiday weekend, and the dates for the event’s are below.

Slam Dunk Festival south has now sold out but tickets for the remaining dates are on sale now from the official Slam Dunk website.

May
27 BIRMINGHAM NEC
28 LEEDS City Centre
29 HATFIELD The Forum

The stacked line up includes Enter Shikari, who will perform ‘Take To The Skies’ in full, Don Broco, Bowling For Soup, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, We The Kings, Cute Is What We Aim For, Beartooth, Tonight Alive, Against Me!, The Bronx, Goldfinger, Mad Caddies, The Movielife, Trophy Eyes, Like Pacific, Neck Deep, Citizen, Turnover, Deaf Havana, Frank Iero and The Patience, We Are The Ocean, The Maine, Crime In Stereo, Sorority Noise, Too Close To Touch, Seaway, WSTR, Boston Manor, and Stray From The Path  Set It Off, Memphis May Fire, I Prevail, Ice Nine Kills, Oceans Ate Alaska, Crossfaith, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Waterparks, With Confidence, Milk Teeth, Black Foxxes, Decade, Counterfeit., Fort Hope, SHVPES, Puppy,The Gospel Youth, Ocean Grove, Vukovi, Area 11, Sylar, Homebound, Casey, Makeout, and more.

The festival will take place at three dates across the May Bank Holiday weekend, and the dates for the event’s are below.

Slam Dunk Festival south has now sold out but tickets for the remaining dates are on sale now from the official Slam Dunk website.

May
27 BIRMINGHAM NEC
28 LEEDS City Centre
29 HATFIELD The Forum

Having already announced Enter Shikari, who will perform ‘Take To The Skies’ in full, the festival will now include Don Broco, Bowling For Soup, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, We The Kings, and Cute Is What We Aim For. More acts will be added in the coming months.

Slam Dunk Festival will take across the May Bank Holiday weekend, which you can see the dates and venues for below. Tickets are on sale now from the official Slam Dunk website.

May
27 BIRMINGHAM NEC
28 LEEDS City Centre
29 HATFIELD The Forum