The Bouncing Souls End 2011 With A Bingo Bang!

Bouncing Souls/ Blacktop Kids/ White Wives/Title Fight - The Stone Pony Asbury Park, NJ December27, 2011

By Phil Rainone with help from The Jersey Beat Crew

A packed club got to hear holiday favorites ranging from “The Dreidle Song” to “Merry Christmas Baby” without any moaning and groaning, even though it was two days after Christmas. “The wind was whippin’ down the boardwalk” (thanks Bruce) as the Black Top Kids took the stage as a mini Nor’ Easter (heavy rain and wind storm) was battering the Stone Pony’s front door.


Blacktop Kids


The Blacktop Kids hit the ground running with cuts from their new album “Right in the Street.” By the time they got to the second chorus from “Home for the Holidays,” any remnants of the holidays and the storm were long gone. With all eyes on the band they played their collective butts off, delivering their half-hour set with a vengeance. They were like a pure punk engine bulldozing their way through “Sweep the Leg,” “Combat Hearts,” and “We Ride Tonight,” seemingly throwing in the kitchen sink, and anything they could get their hands on, riff after riff after riff. After ticking off a mere thirty minutes of the clock, the band had the crowd wanting more, and primed for the next bands.

With brief intermissions dotted with Christmas songs, the bands took little more than fifteen minutes to breakdown and set up. The White Wives added an interesting mix of punk, overlaid with keyboards, trumpet (for a few songs), and an extra drum kit, which most of the musicians took turns throughout their set bashing, and making their high-energy show even hotter. Interesting idea on the band’s part!

All combined , musically and visually the White Wives gave you no reason other than to watch their brand of brash, bashing punk , overlaid with 60’s psychedelia. Closing with “Indian Summer,” the band held the crowd in their hands with their style of melodic, memorable and uninhibited punk. But make no mistake- this is a hardcore band that works as hard as they play, blending genres into a unique hybrid style all their own.

Title Fight readily lived up to their name. They could easily be a closer with their upbeat energy and seemingly endless musical catalog. The fierce muscular drumming found a way to maintain its reserve while kicking up a subtle storm. During their brief, thirty minute set they had pretty much everyone that was anywhere near the stage moshing, crowd surfing, and in general, having a great time!

With the type of anticipation like waking up on Christmas morning, ready to open the presents Santa left, the crowd greeted the Bouncing Souls with waves of “Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole!” (Sadly, from what Tim - one of our Jersey Beat crew who was there for all four nights told me, they never got to play the crowd favorite. The set lists for all four nights of this year’s Home for the Holidays shows were randomly generated by a “bingo” machine that spit out song titles to an emcee, who then wrote then on a big board for the band and crowd to see.)

This is the Bouncing Souls’ fifth year returning to The Stone Pony for their run of holiday shows. The band, which originally hails from Basking Ridge, started more than 20 years ago before getting noticed at basement shows in New Brunswick. After this run of shows, the Souls are off to Colorado to record their new studio album (they played a few new songs every night) with Bill Stevenson (Black Flag/Descendents).

“SHAKE THOSE BALLS UP!!” as my Mom, who was an avid Bingo player, use to say. “The Caller” as they say in Bingo halls, was Pete Peterson, a local tattoo artist who at times held the crowd in breathless anticipation as he waited for the balls to co-mingle in the machine before one popped up on the machine’s pedestal. He would then write the song on a small, white place card about 2’x2’ holding it up for the band to see, than the crowd. He got really good at it by about the third song, keeping the band’s mojo and the crowd’s energy in tandem for the rest of the set.

First song, first night - “The Gold Song” - put the crowd into a tizzy (moshing, crowd surfing, and all-out pandemonium). “Single Successful Guy” and “Hopeless Romantic” were the one-two punch that sent the crowd over the edge. About 400 of the faithful responded in unison to lead singer Greg Attonito’s call-and-response to “I’m a hopeless romantic,” at the top of their lungs shouting, “YOU’RE JUST HOPELESS!!”

Then, a cool surprise to everyone was “Infidel,” which Greg had said that it was a new song of about ten that they had been working on, and which will be a part of their new album which is coming out later this year. “Infidel” had a punk pulse that seemed to have mostly everyone singing along to towards the end of the song. Potent, political, and what should be a new Bouncing Souls classic.

“Anchors Aweigh,” and “I Like Your Mom” were both greeted with a rousing cheer, and on ”I like Your Mom,” which was a two minute and change punk anthem, the hardcore fans (Steve, Kayla, Tim, & Josh included) were gap-mouthed and smiling from ear to ear, almost unbelieving that they played the twenty-something hilarious punk tune. They even dipped into Greg’s solo album for a song that brought smiles to everyone’s face. The Bouncing Souls left no stone unturned. They also covered The Kinks (which Tim feels is THE original punk band, as far as he’s concerned). “Better Things” surpassed the studio version (which was hard to beat), as the band kicked out the jams bringing a rather mid-tempo rocker into punk’s Neanderthalic arena

About halfway through the Souls set, which lasted almost two hours, I was amazed at how easily the band slid from one song to the next with hardly a glitch. Now, here’s a band that’s been burnin’ down the road for over twenty years, with a large catalog of songs that would take like two or three weeks to practice; but as Pete “The Caller” (my first job was selling cigarettes at Bingo when I was about 12 - how punk is that?), was cranking out the balls, the band was spot-on, song-to-song tight.

For “Pizza Song” they brought out an accordion and trumpet player (I didn’t get their names) who not only enhanced the song but gave it a hotter flavor and old-school feel. Reaching deeper into their musical cannon, Pete “The Caller” scribbled on the board, “Johnny X” which brought smiles all around! As drummer Michael McDermott bulldozed his way through it (he is an amazing drummer), Bryan Kienlen held down an infectious bass line, guitarist “The Pete” Steinkopf buzz sawed though the decades-old punk song, a wide circle pit opened on the dance floor, and stayed there for “Private Radio” and “You’re so Rad.” The latter song served as the closer, which turned out to be a fitting tribute to the band and their loyal fans (Tim’s first punk show about 15 years ago was The Bouncing Souls and Anti-Flag at the old skate park about 100 yards from The Pony).

After about ten minutes they were back on stage and again, along with the crowd, they didn’t know what to expect to play next. As Pete “The Caller” scribbled on the board for a few seconds, then held the sign up to the band and then the crowd to see, the Souls launched into “East Coast Fuck You,” as their fans joyously yelled that catch line with maddening dedication! Following that was another new song “Baptized,” which even though it was the first time it was being played in front of a crowd, a huge most pit opened in front of the band.- It was like the song was already road-worthy.

The last song of the night “True Believers” lit the fuse that rocked the club!-Absolute mayhem! The Bouncing Souls once again outdid themselves, and pretty much left everyone soaking wet, and deliriously happy as the made their way out the doors into what was left of the Nor’ Easter. By the looks on The Crew’s faces, it doesn’t get much better than this!!