Bouncing Souls

For nearly forty years, The Bouncing Souls have been one of the most deeply beloved forces in punk rock. Few bands have shaped the genre more profoundly, and their influence can be heard in bands like The Gaslight Anthem, My Chemical Romance, The Menzingers and many more––but their audience never stopped growing. To this day, adults and teenagers are discovering The Bouncing Souls completely on their own. That sort of connection can’t be faked; nor can it be found solely coasting off the waves of nostalgia.

That same enduring spirit can be heard across Born To Be, their new album produced by Grammy Award-winner Will Yip (Turnstile, Title Fight), out June 26––just a day before their annual Stoked For The Summer fest in Asbury Park, NJ. Throughout, the Souls stare in the face of disillusionment, grief, and the hard-held belief that people are always worth showing up for. It’s an album about staying human and connected in a world designed to strip both away.

Out today, album opener “The Light” acts as one of Born To Be’s clearest mission statements. Inspired in part by a drive vocalist Greg Attonito takes driving to his child’s school each day––one where they descend from sunlit skies into a blanket of fog––the song makes an anthem out of the idea that the light never actually goes anywhere; it’s just “filtered through this foggy night.”

That idea carries throughout, and informs its hyper-realistic solar eclipse artwork, too. Bassist Bryan Kienlen’s comic-style art has been central to the Bouncing Souls’ identity since their earliest releases but this time, he embraced something more symbolic, not-so-subtly hinting at our current world plunged deep into its own shadow.

Connection and community have always been at the heart of The Bouncing Souls, and it’s clear from their live performances to the way they actually make music together, all these years later. Each member––Attonito, Kienlen, guitarist Pete Steinkopf and drummer George Rebelo––actively contributes to the songwriting, and their collective POV gives Born To Be its depth. Greg’s experience may spark an idea for one song, while Pete’s could complete another; Bryan’s words deepen the emotional heart of each moment, and George has a unique ability for bringing in the exact right ideas at the exact right time. Naturally, the music never feels like just one storyteller, but instead the sound of a band still fully enthralled with the process of creating something together.

Musically, these punk lifers still got it. Born To Be feels connected to everything the Souls have created over the years, while still pushing expectations. Lyrically, they write like people who’ve been through enough to know what really matters. They’re not interested in performative nostalgia when there’s still so much left to say. More than anything, Born To Be is a reminder of what The Bouncing Souls have always been about: building something bigger than themselves. In a world and society that constantly tries to divide, they’re still making the sort of music that brings people from all over the world together.