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While Doomed Romance has been able to answer most questions over the years, we figured in some cases it is best to hear it from a man who lived it. Bryan Kienlen, bassist for the Bouncing Souls, helped us out on some questions in 2002. We'd like to thank Bryan for helping Doomed Romance and our FAQs (or as we like to call them, E.C.FAQs). The quoted responses are from Bryan.
"The Souls wrote the theme song for the TV show "American High". What was it called and where can I find it?" The song is called "Overnight". It was the first song written with Michael on drums. It is only available as a UK import for the single "Gone".
"The song '87 and the fact that on my jacket the year 1987 is used as such an emphasis. But the band started in 1989..." "1987 was the year that me [Bryan], Pete, Greg and Shal wrote our first original song together. (called "Braindead") While it wasn't really until around '89 that we moved into our first punkhouse together and started doing the band full-time (we still had to finish highschool!) we still count the year '87 as having some sort of signifigance. It was when I think something really clicked for us and set it all in motion."
Who is Lamar Vannoy and what is his relationship to the band? "The lyrics to the song "Lamar Vannoy" are a pretty accurate description of his character. He grew up in Bridgewater, NJ, right near our hometown. We met in the New Brunswick NJ days, he was part of another punk-house in town along with Rob Santello and the Sticks and Stones guys. Lamar is a brilliant writer (some of his writing appears inside the self-titled record) and we hope someday he'll put out a book or something. He currently lives in Highland Park, NJ and works in New Brunswick."
Who is Johnny X and what is his relationship to the band? "Johnny X is another graduate of the Sticks and Stones camp from New Brunswick. In fact he used to play guitar in Sticks and Stones. He is an awesome songwriter and artist. (He did the storyboards for "Celebrity Deathmatch" and now is a colorist for Cartoon Network, in addition to working on his own comic book). He wrote the song "The Ballad of Johnny X" lyrics and chords on an acoustic guitar and played it for us one day and we flipped, proceeded to hit the basement with Mr. X and turn it into the rocker song it is today. Johnny X (Mike Cavallero) lives here in the lower east side NYC with Rob Santello and continues to write and record new music in his apartment."
Who is Tim Chunks and what is his relationship to the band? "Tim Chunks is a NY Hardcore hero. He was the singer of the legendary band Token Entry, a mainstay in the CBGB's Sunday matinee days of the late 80's. and early 90's. He moved in with the Bouncing Souls at the (also legendary) 174 house in the 'Greenball Crew' days of the early 90's. He lent the Souls the money they needed to release their first CD, "The Greenball Crew e.p.", 7 songs worth of the boys basically learning their instruments and how to record and do it all themselves. Thus a new record label was born, "Chunksaah Records" named aftaah Timmy Chunksaah andaah making fun-aah of hisaah Queensaah accentaah. Timmy Chunks now lives in LA (doh!) with his lovely wife Sharryaah and new baby daughtaah, Netty-aah. He is Billy Joe of Green Day's guitaah-tech since about 1995. He always has a band or two going with his friends Awol and Johnny 2-Bags. Timmy Chunks loves his family, music, bad tattoos and Pepsi."
Whose face is on the Maniacal Laughter CD? "Lamar Vannoy"
Did you play in any other bands before the Bouncing Souls. "Not really. Bryan, Pete and Greg were in a band called "Brad Karma and the Absent-Minded Fruit Bats" in high school. Nothing was ever recorded though, although certain bits later became parts of Souls songs. Bryan was in an all-skinhead band for a few months that did all old hardcore covers, not very good though. Bryan had small windows of opportunity to play in Warzone around '87 and also Sick of it all around '90 but remained committed with his best friends instead."
Who is Kara Wethington and what is her relationship to the band? "Kara Wethington is a girl that we met in California back in the Maniacal Laughter days. She was coming to all the shows and we became friends and stayed in touch and hung out every time we were in L.A. She sang in a band then and also ended up putting out a couple of records under the name "Katalina". She has a great voice and we always talked about doing a song together. At first we joked about covering the Human League song "Don't You Want Me," but we ended up writing our own duet, "Wish Me Well" just to do with her. We actually played it live a couple of times in California with Kara. Last time we saw Kara was over the summer and she told me she was still singing and also taking acting classes. Kara is totally talented and beautiful and we wish her all the best of luck in everything she's doing now."
Who is Limey Shawn and what is his relationship to the band? "Limey Shawn is a friend of ours who works at Generation Records in NYC. In the summer of 1995 we asked him to come on tour with us as our tour manager. He's originally from Nottingham, England and he'd never traveled the US before, so he was really excited to come, even though neither him nor us knew what a tour manager was supposed to do. The poor bastard had no idea what he was getting into. (Of course neither did we!) We loaded into a used piece-of-shit van that we'd just bought with Shawn and Lamar Vannoy for a two-month tour. Unfortunately, on the second day of tour, the truck blew up and we were stranded in Lafayette, Indiana for a week while we waited for them to put in a new engine. All the rest of the details of that story are in the song "Here We Go" and are all true. We were drunk and broke with nowhere to go and Shawn would just break into the 'Here We Go' chant till we were all screaming it together and suddenly nothing mattered very much, we were all having the time of our lives. Hence, the song, hence the title. Shawn's is the voice at the beginning of the song, doing the chant over the phone. We called him from the studio while recording it, it was only fitting that he have that honor."
What do the Chinese characters on the Butterfly art signify? "The Chinese characters on the butterfly art translate as follows:
Where is the house that is pictured on the Green Ball Crew EP? The apartment was located at 174 Commercial Ave in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Is the Green Ball Crew EP available? No. The album probably will never see the light of day again. Original pressings go for as much as $100 on ebay. Several of the songs are included on "The Bad, The Worse, And The Out of Print", however.
What happened to Shal? Shal Khichi left the band in 2000. No explanation was given.
What songs have the Bouncing Souls covered live? Some include: Just Like Heaven (the Cure), White Wedding (Billy Idol) and Growin' Up (Bruce Springsteen).
What the hell is a Quick Chek? A Quick Chek is a convenience store in New jersey. The stores are not unlike 7-11, but Quick Cheks are less scuzzy.
Doomed Romance was started in 1997 as a way for punks to learn more about the Bouncing Souls. At the time of it's inception, there was only one other Bouncing Souls site and no official site. We faithfully bridged the gap for many years. The title derives from a 7" entitled "Tales of Doomed Romance", and it seemed like the perfect motto.