The Bouncing Souls completed an amazing series of shows recently in Hollywood. They played 8 albums, 2 albums each night, 4 nights in a row, in 4 different cities. That’s something like 106 songs. I mean, sure they have been around now 20 years. And sure they are on the road constantly. And sure, they are great at what they do. But keeping all those songs straight…its kind of an epic achievement even for the consummate professional.

I spent the day hanging out with bassist Bryan Kienlen and he filled me in on the challenges of this adventure. For example, on night number 4 they play the Gold Record, my personal favorite by the way (“The Pizza Song” has horns on it). They don’t normally travel with a horn player, let alone bringing one out for just one song on one night. So they reached out to their fans in each city and asked if anyone wanted to come up and play this one song with them. How incredible for the guys who responded. You never thought that trumpet you learned in high school would get you on stage at the Troubadour playing with a punk band did you?

And that’s just one of the super cool things that the Souls do for their fans. They are ultra personable, accessible and generous of both time and spirit. I’ve never seen them turn down a fan request, or hustle out the door after a gig. In fact there is a photo gallery on their website entirely devoted to fans who have a Bouncing Souls tattoo, and there are plenty of them.

Bryan spent the afternoon tattooing a few more fans at the opening of Perri Ink Cartel on Melrose. Followed by an intimate in-store performance at Soundcheck Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. Even though they were in town for 4 nights in a row, most of the crowd was there for all 4, each with a different opening band. I was fortunate enough to get to see Kevin Seconds (of 7 Seconds) play his acoustic set at the Saturday show. It was like a love letter to my teenage self.

This coming January the Bouncing Souls will head back into the studio to record their next punk rock opus of epic proportions. You can count on ChinaShop being there. Next time they come to town… we’ve got dibs.

Words by Barbie Brady