Biography

Known for their cheeky take on pop-punk and melodic alt-pop, Texas four-piece Bowling for Soup found mainstream success in the early 2000s with their breakout fourth album, Drunk Enough to Dance, which earned a Grammy nomination for its hooky pop culture-referencing single "Girl All the Bad Guys Want." Over the ensuing decade, the band continued to nurture a hardcore fan base, breaking the Billboard Top 40 with 2004's A Hangover You Don't Deserve and finding increased success in the U.K., where they became a touring mainstay. During the course of their career, Bowling for Soup have managed a fairly diverse and prolific output within their tuneful pop-punk confines, releasing three live albums (all recorded in the U.K.), two Christmas albums, a collection of movie and television themes, and an acoustic release -- they even wrote the theme song to the Disney cartoon Phineas and Ferb. After a decade with RCA's Jive Records, they launched their own Que-So imprint and turned to their fans to help fund albums like 2014's Lunch. Drunk. Love. and 2016's Drunk Dynasty. Bowling for Soup were formed in 1994 in Wichita Falls, Texas, featuring lead vocalist/guitarist Jaret Reddick, guitarist/vocalist Chris Burney, bassist Erik Chandler, and drummer Gary Wiseman. However, they didn't rise beyond local prominence until 1997, when a heavy touring schedule helped broaden their fan base and landed them opening spots for nationally prominent punk and ska bands. The following year, Bowling for Soup recorded a debut EP for the local FFROE label, titled Tell Me When to Whoa!; by this point, their base of operations had been moved to Denton, Texas, the site of the label's headquarters. Later in 1998, Bowling for Soup issued their first full-length album, Rock on Honorable Ones!!! Both it and its predecessor proved to be popular around the state (Honorable Ones sold over 10,000 copies alone), and the band ended up scoring a deal with Jive/Silvertone. For their 2000 major-label debut, Let's Do It for Johnny!, Bowling for Soup re-recorded some of the best songs from their indie records and added a few new tracks, including lead single "The Bitch Song" and a cover of Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69." Two years later, the band released Drunk Enough to Dance, and nabbed a Grammy nomination for the single "Girl All the Bad Guys Want." Hangover You Don't Deserve followed in 2004, and the band landed another hit single with "1985," which helped propel Hangover to number 37 on the Billboard 200. Bowling for Soup returned in 2005 with Goes to the Movies, on which they tackled various television and movie theme songs. The Great Burrito Extortion Case followed in the fall of 2006, spearheaded by the bouncy single "High School Never Ends," while Sorry for Partyin' -- the group's seventh studio effort -- arrived in late 2009. After rounding out the year with a holiday album, Merry Flippin' Christmas, Vol. 1, Bowling for Soup launched an acoustic tour in 2010 and began recording their 11th studio album later that summer. The resulting Fishin' for Woos was finished in three weeks and released in 2011; they also released a second holiday album, Merry Flippin' Christmas, Vol. 2, that year. In 2013 the bandmembers announced that, due to the toll the rigors of touring took on their personal lives, Bowling for Soup would no longer be touring in the U.K. after that year, which would find them returning to Europe one last time after the release of their 12th album, 2014's entirely fan-funded Lunch. Drunk. Love. In 2014, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, they released a greatest-hits album called Songs People Actually Liked, Vol. 1: The First 10 Years 1994-2003, which featured newly re-recorded versions of 17 songs along with one new track. Two years later, they again turned to their fans via PledgeMusic to help fund their next studio effort. Released in October 2016, Drunk Dynasty was Bowling for Soup's 13th studio album. In 2018, the band decided they'd give the U.K. one more go and returned overseas for their Get Happy Tour which included a February date at London's Brixton Academy. That show was released later in the year as Live from Brixton: Older, Fatter, Still the Greatest Ever! In January 2019, it was confirmed by the band that founding bassist Erik Chandler had left Bowling for Soup and was being replaced by Rob Felicetti. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi