Huge Bouncing Souls DVD update posted!
November 25th, 2002
hello kids and heroes!
tommy rockum is back from the dead (or rather, back from sleeplessness)! sorry it's been so long since my last update, but the bouncing souls dvd mutated into some sort of half-dragon/half-republican creature that devoured my soul as well as ryan's. the burden of work absolutely pulverized us and
i am now writing to you from inside a special hospital devoted solely to those who have had to put together documentaries. (jem cohen and stacy peralta say hi, by the way.)
but all complaining aside, the dvd is mouth-wateringly close to completion. in fact, we thought we would already be done by now, so i ended up buying a plane ticket back to the east coast to visit the souls (and of course my family) for thanksgiving. unfortunately for poor ryan, we were NOT done by the time i had to leave, so, like the trooper he is, he's been working tirelessly to get the whole thing wrapped up while i've been partying like
an accountant for the past few days. i ask everyone reading this to hail ryan for his heroism and to raise a tall frosty one for him the next chance you get.
meanwhile, i've been uniting and reuniting with all the people who have been helping us with the dvd! during this past weekend of souls shows in pa and nj, i got to see a few of the people that we interviewed (pedro, wig, matty o'brien, and lamar vannoy) as well as people who have helped us out behind the scenes (josh from the website and jana b. crawford o'brien) and of course the souls, kate, and the rest of the true believers.
if you missed the shows this weekend, you really have nothing left to look forward to in life. an absolutely spectacular line up of bands, incredibly tight sets from the souls themselves, and some kickass new souls songs that you're all going to love love love. definitely some future classics in the making...
the weekend ended (for me, anyway) with a small show at stevens technical institute in hoboken, where the souls ripped up their set lists and then proceeded to rip through a series of rarely-performed songs. the crowd was small, the set was loose, and the stage was microscopic. a refreshing throwback to days past. when was the last time you heard the boys attempt "candy"? among the many highlights was when mike kicked over his brand-new drum kit at the end of the set! knowing that michael considers his drums to be his children, i was amazed at this display of rock-and-roll-style destruction, but after having played for almost an hour and a half straight, mike said that he thought it was the only way he would ever be able to leave
the stage!
and there was so much more. go! for the throat, the arsons, and worthless united tore the ass out of the second stage at krome (just the IDEA of a second stage is rad, let alone stacking it with three monster bands!). at the same show, pedro told the crowd a series of stories about when he used to live with the souls while everyone was waiting for the souls to take the stage. some of those stories will be on the dvd, some won't, but either way i think pedro should open for the band more often. madcap, the explosion, and one man army all forced me to fall in love with their music and their scalding stage presences. the explosion covered "bikeage" by the descendents, which is one of my favorite tunes, and matt from the explosion taught everyone that "thumbs up" is the new middle finger. oh, and at one point some dude hopped on stage and shared his nude self with the crowd. i can only hope that i'll see more shows like this in the future. i can't imagine a better vibe or a better time, so fans and bands, take up the challenge! (clothing optional!)
okay, you're all drooling now, right? well drool some more, because i haven't even begun to discuss the dvd yet! like i said, it's nearly done, but there's still some technical stuff to take care of. the band and a number of their friends have seen the nearly finished version of the documentary, and everyone has been giving us amazing feedback. people claim to have found it both highly hysterical and deeply touching at the same time, and to hear compliments like that has meant so much to ryan and i. we've shown it to fans and non-fans alike, and the feedback has been equally positive, so i guess it's safe to say that the documentary is something for everyone to check out! the band has been especially supportive and has made relatively few changes to our original cut. they continue to remind ryan and i that they absolutely love how it came out, and we continue to let
them.
what's in the documentary, you ask? well, pretty much everything! it's the entire 15-year history of the band, with some incredible never-before-seen footage of them at their early shows, on their early tours, in the studio, and being the wonderful clowns that they are. you'll see them at their worst and at their best, at their happiest and at their most depressed, and at their funkiest as well as their rockin-est.
but that's not all! there was SO MUCH great footage that we just couldn't squeeze it all into a single documentary. so you'll get over an HOUR of extra footage and deleted scenes. and that's just on disc one! that's right, it will be a DOUBLE DVD SET, and on the second disc you'll find FIFTY different live songs from a bunch of different performances. that adds up to almost 2 and a half hours of just live footage! the performances range from 1992 to 2002 and include songs that you've probably NEVER seen the souls play live. a series of covers, a few songs off of "greenball crew," and songs like "streetlight serenade" and "the break-up song," which make extremely rare appearances at their live shows. not to worry, though, you'll see plenty of fan favorites mixed in as well.
and as if that weren't enough! the dvd ALSO includes SIX MUSIC VIDEOS that the souls have made over the years, along with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of their video for "gone." you won't see these videos on mtv, and some of them you'll probably never see anywhere else, either, so buy a copy of the dvd and watch them over and over until your eyes melt. i command thee.
wow, i'm tired just typing all of this up. in the end, the dvd adds up to nearly 6 hours of footage in all, plus a series of very slick interactive menus. it's huge, dude. huge.
"but tommy, when will it be released!?!?" well, right now, we are scheduled for a february release. so keep your pants on and keep your holiday cash inside those same pants. when we know the exact release date, i'll post it here.
and if you're all very good and your report cards shape up a little, we will hopefully be posting a trailer for the documentary here on the site to encourage even further drooling. (thanks to reggie for getting a fire going under that frying pan!)
one final note before i finish this manuscript: a huge, heartfelt thanks to everyone who wrote in to offer their services as interns. in the end, we didn't end up using any of you, but only because the work we had left was stuff that would have been too complicated to delegate. so don't feel bad if you never got a call. we probably heard from about 80 people who were willing to dedicate time and effort to the cause, and it was a great feeling to know that the souls have such awesome fans and that people are truly excited about this dvd. thanks again, everyone. ryan and i will be at as many of the souls' upcoming california shows as humanly possible, so if you see us there please come on up and say hi!
well, it looks like we've made it to the end of the update. it's been a pleasant trip (for me, at least) and i hate to say goodbye, but you should probably stop surfing the internet and get back to work before your boss catches you. check back soon for further updates and that nifty little trailer i mentioned. if you have questions or comments, write to bouncingsoulsdvd@hotmail.com and let us know what's on your mind.
i love you all.
east coast! thumbs up!
tommy rockum
href='http://www.bouncingsouls.com' target='_blank'>Visit Bouncingsouls.com