Jaret Reddick talks about playing festivals, comedians and inflatables

T in the Park 2008

Friday 11th to Sunday 13th July 2008
Balado, nr Kinross. Scotland, KY13 0NJ, Scotland MAP
£160 w/e with camping, and £137 Sat/Sun without camping, day tickets £68.50

Daily capacity: 75,000

Jaret Reddick is the lead singer of comedy influenced pop-punk band Bowling for Soup from Texas. The band are playing Wireless Festival, Oxegen, GuilFest, and T In The Park. eFestivals phoned up Jaret for a quick interview about their festival appearances this summer.

What are you up to at the moment?
I'm actually driving across Dallas right now, I'm having a day with my extended family and just got back from China a couple days ago so still trying to get over the jet lag and all that.

What were you in China for?
We were actually doing a tour over there of Japan, Australia, and then we went over to Beijing, China and did a show there for a radio station. We were gone for three weeks so we are pretty tired.

What was it like over there? Is it different?
It was amazing, Japan was crazy, Japan is quickly becoming another area outside the US and the UK were we are actually seeing a lot of success. The fan base is just getting crazy they were huge shows. Australia was our first tour there, we went over with Pennywise, Sum 41, and The Vandals, and we were actually the first of four which we haven't been the first band on a tour since I think the year 2000. It was fun for us because we got to play really early and then watch the bands for the rest of the night. That was a great show, and then we went over to Beijing, China is kind of a different world, but it was really cool to be there, it's our second trip to China. To be there with all the excitement of the Olympics building up, and that, we had a really great trip, really successful.

What festivals are you playing in the UK this year?
We are actually doing four - Wireless, Guilfest, Oxegen, and T in the Park.

What have you heard about each one?
Yeah, little bits and pieces about each one. Normally we find ourselves over there doing Reading, and Leeds or Download which are a lot of metal bands and a lot of rock bands and stuff like that. And I know that these festivals are leaning more towards pop and more classic bands, so it's pretty cool. I think that we pretty much fit into category, I think, it'll be neat because we'll be able to play in front of a bunch of people that have never seen us?

So does this mean, you'll change your set to fit in?
Nah, I think that's the great thing about our band, is you can sandwich us between anything in the world and we'll win over any crowd. So we're not going to change anything, or change the songs we're gonna ploay. A good thing about us is that a lot of people that might be going to these particular festivals might know four of five of our songs and don't even realise it. I think it will be cool to get there, I think that anytime we go over there we have a great time, and these shows will be another example of Bowling For Soup greatness.

I read somewhere that you don't actually pick your set beforehand?
That's correct yeah, we've been together almost fourteen years and we've never made a set list. So, we literally just walk out on stage and whatever happens, happens.

Jaret Reddick

What's been the best festival you've played so far over the years?
Man, that's hard because we have played a lot. I think the first time we played Reading and Leeds it being sort of our very first festival ever, I believe that was 2001, was pretty overwhelming because we didn't even know that anyone in the UK knew who we were, so that was really cool. We were in one of the small tents and there were people as far as you could see outside the flaps of the tent. So that was a good one and last year when we did Download on the predominantly metal day and just seeing everybody singing every word to every song, and so many people were there as early in the day as we played it was definitely one of those moments you never forget.

Which one track must everyone listen to before they come and see you?
Well everybody always asks what our signature song is and you know our biggest hit was '1985' but I would suggest 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want' I think that's more of our signature song and the song that made things really start to go for us.

You had a giant inflatable sheep at Download anything inflatable planned for this year?
Ha ha, I dunno, you know what I've actually been thinking about that quite a bit, because the giant inflatable were sort of a joke based on our appearance two year's before at the Download festival, and we just wanted to take it to the next level. I've actually started thinking about that so we'll see, we'll see what happens, I love surprises!

People bring weird stuff to festivals, what should fans bring to see you?
Well we see the inflatable sheep in the UK every time we play even at our theatre shows or whatever, you know, that's a common thing. So, I think we should challenge the reader to be as creative as possible with what they bring that's inflatable for the BFS show.

What made you decide to be a singer?
I stumbled into being a singer for the band by accident because I was the drummer for the band that I was in and we couldn't find a singer and no one would write songs and we were a cover band. So there I was playing drums and so I started singing, just at practice, until we could find somebody else. But we could never find anybody that we all thought was better than me. Then I bought a guitar, because I wanted to start writing songs and then the next thing you know I was kind of doing both of those jobs and I haven't played drums in years and years now. So, I don't think it's like riding a bike either so I think I'M pretty terrible. I can keep a beat but as far as doing anything that would impress anybody, not so much.

Who would be in your fantasy headliners of a festival?
I would say Green Day, Motley Crue, and gosh, I dunno who else I'd pick, let's say the Foo Fighters. That would be a pretty stellar line-up right there.

Who is the best band you've seen on the circuit with you?
Gosh, I dunno, again, doing this as long as have we been doing this, we have seen so many incredible bands. A lot of the bands that I think are amazing live are a lot of the bands that I don't listen to. Like, I saw Linkin Park at a festival once and they were really good and I'm not even a fan. But I think the best band that I've ever seen live is a band that I'm a fan of and it was Slipknot. I saw them at the first Reading and Leeds festival that we did years and years ago and it was the coolest best sounding show that I've ever been to in my life.

Do you get to see many bands when you're not touring?
Yeah I still go and see bands. My wife and I go to shows every once in a while when I'm home and if friends come to town we'll go and see them. I just went and saw Van Halen a couple of months ago here in Dallas. Yeah, I go to see shows every once in a while, it's not usually the first thing I want to do if I've been on the road for a while, usually I'd rather sit at home on the couch and watch TV. But, I still do enjoy going to see bands.

Jaret Reddick

Why the tattoo sleeve on your right arm, a Rubik's cube, a Fisher-Price Chatter Telephone, jacks, Operation's Cavity Sam, Mr. Potato Head?
They're all classic toys because I've always been a kid at heart and always liked to collect toys and things like that. I think it shows off the kid in me. I actually had my own toy store when I was in college, and I actually did that for a few years and then I decided that I'd grown up a little bit too early so I joined a rock band.

what's your favourite rock T-shirt?
My favourite rock T-shirt is my 'Danger, Danger' shirt with the Japanese writing on the back and in fact there's a funny story about that I actually have three of the same shirt. I wear them throughout a tour and people will be "Man, that T-shirt keeps coming back doesn't it!" And I just nod and smile, but little do they know that my suitcase is full of them.

So it's not that you don't wash it then?
If you see tonnes and tonnes of pictures of me in a Danger, Danger shirt it's not that I wear the same shirt all the time.

Your renown as a bit of a comedian, who's the funniest comic?
Oh gosh that's hard too. Right now the funniest guy around is Patten Oswalt, but I think my favourite comedian in the last probably in the last probably ten fifteen years was probably Mitch Hedberg he died a couple of year's ago. These are just our stand-up comedians that everybody should check them out online because they are something else.

So what's your best joke then?
I'm not really a joke kind of guy, I'm more of a bit comic. I like to just be in situations that aren't funny and make them funny. So, I think in order to get a joke out of me you actually have to sit with me... for about thirty seconds.

So will there be any comedy on stage when you're playing?
Yeah, it's impossible for me and the other guys not to. I think we actually enjoy being funny more than we enjoy playing. So I think there will be plenty of that this summer.

Thanks for your time Jaret.
Thank you, bye bye.

interview by: Scott Williams