Kienlen more calmly ask again, giving Willkie,
The Bouncing Souls tour manager a glare.
“Eating I think!” Willkie belatedly responds
after he swallows the last bite of his Twinkie.
“He’ll be here in a minute.” He adds. “I just
want to do this!” Kienlen screams, slamming
down his skateboard so hard I think that he
broke it into two pieces. He is an angry thirty-
something who gives Eminem wanna-bes a
run for their money in the hostility
department, but what can you expect? He’s
from New Jersey, right? The evil bastard that
spawned The Bouncing Souls, the “thing” that
Kienlen means is the Nyght Scene photo
shoot. While Kienlen easily does ollies in the
back parking lot of the State Theatre in
between signing autographs and taking
pictures with fans who have discovered the
Souls hanging out, Attontino is mowing down
some Vegan grub, a lifestyle change that he
made a few years ago, something that is
probably easily found on every corner in his
home of Los Angeles.
Over the years the band has spread out.
Steinkopf still lives in Jersey, Kienlen lives just
over the bridge in Manhattan, McDermott
calls Philadelphia home, and all the way on the
west coast Attonito lives in Los Angeles, a
long way from Jersey. You can say what you
like about New Jersey. You can say that it’s
dirty, and crime ridden; you can even call it
New York’s inbred brother or Philadelphia’s
ugly sister, because no matter which way you
look at it, when someone says the Garden
State I sure don’t think of New Jersey. One
you thing you can say about Jersey, however,
is that they have great fucking music! Perfect
examples are Glen Danzig to his Misfits, to
Newark native Gerard Way and My Chemical
Romance, not to mention bands like
Thursday, Senses Fail and Saves the Day that
just churn out great music year after year, it
must be something in that septic water that all
those crazy kids are drinking from below the
bridge that joins Jersey with it’s hotter more
desirable sister New York. Sometime after
Bruce “the Boss” Springsteen and the
borderline midget Glen Danzig started his
Misfits, but before the
The Bouncing Souls tour manager a glare.
“Eating I think!” Willkie belatedly responds
after he swallows the last bite of his Twinkie.
“He’ll be here in a minute.” He adds. “I just
want to do this!” Kienlen screams, slamming
down his skateboard so hard I think that he
broke it into two pieces. He is an angry thirty-
something who gives Eminem wanna-bes a
run for their money in the hostility
department, but what can you expect? He’s
from New Jersey, right? The evil bastard that
spawned The Bouncing Souls, the “thing” that
Kienlen means is the Nyght Scene photo
shoot. While Kienlen easily does ollies in the
back parking lot of the State Theatre in
between signing autographs and taking
pictures with fans who have discovered the
Souls hanging out, Attontino is mowing down
some Vegan grub, a lifestyle change that he
made a few years ago, something that is
probably easily found on every corner in his
home of Los Angeles.
Over the years the band has spread out.
Steinkopf still lives in Jersey, Kienlen lives just
over the bridge in Manhattan, McDermott
calls Philadelphia home, and all the way on the
west coast Attonito lives in Los Angeles, a
long way from Jersey. You can say what you
like about New Jersey. You can say that it’s
dirty, and crime ridden; you can even call it
New York’s inbred brother or Philadelphia’s
ugly sister, because no matter which way you
look at it, when someone says the Garden
State I sure don’t think of New Jersey. One
you thing you can say about Jersey, however,
is that they have great fucking music! Perfect
examples are Glen Danzig to his Misfits, to
Newark native Gerard Way and My Chemical
Romance, not to mention bands like
Thursday, Senses Fail and Saves the Day that
just churn out great music year after year, it
must be something in that septic water that all
those crazy kids are drinking from below the
bridge that joins Jersey with it’s hotter more
desirable sister New York. Sometime after
Bruce “the Boss” Springsteen and the
borderline midget Glen Danzig started his
Misfits, but before the
Comic Book geek Gerard Way joined up
forces with his little brother Mikey Way to
take over the world with My Chemical
Romance, The Bouncing Souls penciled
themselves in right before the MTV take over,
and the alternative rock explosion of the
nineties. The Souls were putting Jersey and
Asbury Park on the map all over again.
Asbury Park is a seaside district on the Jersey
shore that came to popularity for its music
during the mid seventies being coined The
Jersey Shore sound. The Bouncing Souls may
be from Jersey, but one man represents
Jersey more than anyone can ever attempt to.
No, I’m not talking of Gerard Way or Glen
Danzig again. I’m talking about the “Boss.”
Bruce Springsteen. Chuckle if you want, but
Springsteen is the essence of Jersey . If you’
re recording in Asbury Park like the Souls did
you can’t help coming across a few of his
ghosts in the wee hours of the morning. You
can walk down the main drag in Asbury Park
and you can just feel “the Boss” there
breathing on the back of your neck. There’s
something to be said about the fact that people
still talk about “the Boss” with his legendary
shows at The Stone Pony and The Asbury
Convention Hall. Like Attontino, “The Boss”
may be far away from Jersey, living it up on
the west coast, but you know they say, “You
can take the boy out of Jersey, but you can
never take Jersey out of the boy.” They may
not realize it, but Jerseyites have a lot to thank
“the Boss” for considering that no one did
shows in Jersey before him, kids didn’t rent
out VFW halls or convention centers. Instead
they made the trek across the bridge to New
York. In more ways than one “the Boss”
paved the way for Jersey bands; he really
showed everyone how it was done. “We all
collectively have Born to Run [The
Springsteen song] in our heads and what it
means. I think the meaning of [Born to Run]
is about breaking out of the same old ways of
living and thinking.” Attontino comments. “It’
s like a torch, it’s like here’s the torch, I put
my fire into it and now it’s burning so now
you can do whatever you want with it. Being
forces with his little brother Mikey Way to
take over the world with My Chemical
Romance, The Bouncing Souls penciled
themselves in right before the MTV take over,
and the alternative rock explosion of the
nineties. The Souls were putting Jersey and
Asbury Park on the map all over again.
Asbury Park is a seaside district on the Jersey
shore that came to popularity for its music
during the mid seventies being coined The
Jersey Shore sound. The Bouncing Souls may
be from Jersey, but one man represents
Jersey more than anyone can ever attempt to.
No, I’m not talking of Gerard Way or Glen
Danzig again. I’m talking about the “Boss.”
Bruce Springsteen. Chuckle if you want, but
Springsteen is the essence of Jersey . If you’
re recording in Asbury Park like the Souls did
you can’t help coming across a few of his
ghosts in the wee hours of the morning. You
can walk down the main drag in Asbury Park
and you can just feel “the Boss” there
breathing on the back of your neck. There’s
something to be said about the fact that people
still talk about “the Boss” with his legendary
shows at The Stone Pony and The Asbury
Convention Hall. Like Attontino, “The Boss”
may be far away from Jersey, living it up on
the west coast, but you know they say, “You
can take the boy out of Jersey, but you can
never take Jersey out of the boy.” They may
not realize it, but Jerseyites have a lot to thank
“the Boss” for considering that no one did
shows in Jersey before him, kids didn’t rent
out VFW halls or convention centers. Instead
they made the trek across the bridge to New
York. In more ways than one “the Boss”
paved the way for Jersey bands; he really
showed everyone how it was done. “We all
collectively have Born to Run [The
Springsteen song] in our heads and what it
means. I think the meaning of [Born to Run]
is about breaking out of the same old ways of
living and thinking.” Attontino comments. “It’
s like a torch, it’s like here’s the torch, I put
my fire into it and now it’s burning so now
you can do whatever you want with it. Being
Pete Steinkopf
Michael McDermott
Being from New Jersey and
having that experience in Asbury
Park … you could feel it. That
torch is burning in there
somewhere, fucking run with it.”
having that experience in Asbury
Park … you could feel it. That
torch is burning in there
somewhere, fucking run with it.”
