Jaret Reddick is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Pop-Punk band Bowling For Soup. The group has been turning out tongue and cheek hits like “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” and “1985” since the early 2000’s. On April 22nd the band released their 11th studio album titled “Pop Drunk Snot Bread”. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Jaret recently about the album, what it was like working with WWE Superstar Alexa Bliss and how he balances both performance and production roles.
Adam Lawton: Can you give us background info on the new album “Pop Drunk Snot Bread”?
Jaret Reddick: Our last studio album came in 2016 which is crazy that it’s been that long. We did do a greatest hits and a couple live records between now and then, but it’s been a while since we went into the studio. Honestly are plan was never really to release or make a record now. When quarantine hit this album ended up becoming a reaction to not being together with everyone. We thought the best and safest way for us to all get together was to create our own bubble and make this record. In August of 2020 we took a tour bus to the Pocono Mountains and stayed in an Air B and B which was only about a mile from the studio we were recording in. This album came out of all that. There is a lot of reflection in this material which I feel has to do largely with how it was all conceived.
AL: The album’s first single “Alexa Bliss” was released in 2020. Can you tell us about that?
JR: “Alexa Bliss” was originally intended as a bonus track for our second greatest hits album which is still not out. When the new record came to be, we felt this song fit the vibe of that well. It’s funny because this song existed long before there were any talks of a new album.
AL: Alexa also appears in the video for the song. How did that relationship come to be?
JR: My son is a big wrestling fan. I was a fan in the 80’s but I wasn’t really up to date with any of the new stuff. I didn’t know anything about her, but I had been sent some photos of her wearing a Bowling For Soup shirt. I told my son about the photos and he told me that I should send her a message. I ended up sending a message and she replied and from there we became good friends. When we were talking, I told her she needed a pop-punk song as most of the other wrestlers have these cock-rock type songs which is great as it fits the brand. I didn’t write the song with intentions of it being her walk out song. It’s just a tribute to her being a cool individual and great character on the show. She’s a great friend.
AL: Was it difficult working with the WWE to make all this happen?
JR: Alexa helped navigate those things quite a bite. This was something she really wanted to do. I would have never asked her to be in the video as much as she. That was all her. I was cool with just getting a look alike and have this be more of a dream for the kid. She loved the project so much that she walked it into Vince McMahon’s office and got me hooked up with all the right people. Whenever I would hit a snag, she would help me out. The WWE was very gracious and happy. There were a few rules with what we could and couldn’t have in the video but for the most part it was simple. WWE ended up sending out one of their digital media staff to film a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff which was cool.
AL: “Alexa Bliss” was the first of four singles you have released from the new album. How does the band go about selecting which songs will be released as singles?
JR: “Getting Old Sucks” was the next track we chose to release. We picked that one because the song is about us and I had already had the video made. I found this guy on Instagram by the name of Mike Roche whose daughter made these cool little puppets. I always wanted to do a puppet video for the band, and these were just perfect. I didn’t want the puppets to be so good that it wasn’t funny anymore. I do voice over work and some of those puppets are insanely good. That’s good for that type of platform but for it to work in this context where we are singing about getting old the beards had to be stringy and they had to bring some humor to this thing. Mike’s daughter nailed the puppets. I think at the time she was around 13. Her and her family ate up six weeks of their quarantine working on this project for us. They all appear in it and they knocked it out of the park. For the next single which was “Killin’ ‘Em With Kindness” it was getting close to the time of the album’s release before being pushed back a third time. The band has a character called “Super Rob” and he is featured in that video. We have a comic book centered around the character that is coming out as well. That video was made almost entirely by Rob and his brother. They shot most of it around where they live in the Pocono’s and then came out and shot some band footage where we are located. Our fourth and most recent single is titled “Brad Pitt”. We took more of a traditional route with that as we hired a director and then flew out to the location to shoot which was a lot of fun.
AL: Do you think big budget production Music Videos are making their way back around in popularity?
JR: I don’t think its that they are coming back around more as they have been around and never really left. The viewing platform has shifted. You used to see music videos on television now you watch them on YouTube. Every video released doesn’t need to be a professional quality video but there needs to be a visual representation of your music this day and age. Video is king! Its starting to get to be where places like Instagram which weren’t originally video based are now predominantly videos. I miss when you had different apps for different things like Vine was for mainly video and Instagram was just a quick snap of what you were doing in that moment. Those big budget videos only really disappeared for a couple years as you still have artists like Taylor Swift putting big budget material out and getting millions of hits.
AL: You mentioned that the album was pushed back three different times. When that keeps happening does it affect the bands mindset at all?
JR: Luckily for us we were on a major label for nine years. During those years we got used to these types of things as nothing ever happened on time. It’s always hurry up as there are deadlines which need to be made and then when you meet those you are told things are getting pushed back for some reason. For this record and for the first time since 2009 we let our managers and distribution company have some input on the release. The record just came out on the 22nd so we will have to see if it worked.
AL: Being that you also produced the record how do you go about balancing your production duties and your musician duties?
JR: From the beginning I have always co-produced our stuff. I think a lot of that comes from when you are working through the songs and arranging that’s all considered production. I take my songs in pretty much done. From the standpoint of when is it done? I am the worst. Once I have something recorded and I get it back and say that’s fine then I am good with it. Unless something completely horrible jumps out at me I tend not to want to make any changes. Thankfully I have been working with Linus of Hollywood for the last thirteen years as it takes having another person to help me with these types of decisions. He is the guy that decides if it needs more bass or treble. I am usually ready to move on to something else by that point.
AL: Now that the album is out what are the bands plans going forward.
JR: We just got back from the UK and I will be heading back there again soon to do some make up shows for an acoustic tour which never was able to happen because of the pandemic. Once we wrap those dates up, we will be mostly caught up except for one or two dates. This summer we will be out in the United States with Less Than Jake and then in October I will be heading to Hawaii for a solo show there.
For more info on Jaret and Bowling For Soup head over to www.bowlingforsoup.com and www.jaretreddick.com
