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MUSIC | ALBUQUERQUE

After 30 years in the spotlight, Bowling for Soup has ‘stayed who we are’

Lead singer Jaret Reddick talks staying true to the band's roots after 30 years

Bowling for Soup will perform at the First Financial Credit Union Amphitheater on Wednesday, Aug. 5, with 3OH!3 and Simple Plan.
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Bowling for Soup

With 3OH!3 and Simple Plan

WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5

WHERE: First Financial Credit Union Amphitheater, 5601 University Blvd. SE

HOW MUCH: Tickets start at $56.50 at ticketmaster.com

How would you describe Bowling for Soup?

If you ask lead singer Jaret Reddick, after three decades, they are still just Bowling for Soup.

“We’ve just stayed who we are,” Reddick said. “We haven’t tried to change direction. We haven’t tried to sound different or talk about different things.”

Reddick said there is a line in a song coming out next year that says, “What you see is what you get,” which he thinks describes the band. He said people see Bowling for Soup as peers.

People can see Bowling for Soup’s passion, he said. The band seems like people you’d meet on the street who just happen to play music.

“People see it as being real,” Reddick said. “You know, like we’re not untouchable.”

Bowling for Soup will open for Simple Plan at First Financial Credit Union Amphitheater on Wednesday, Aug. 5, with 3OH!3. The band’s planned setlist is short and “pretty much just the hits and a lot of fun.”

Bowling for Soup and Simple Plan are no strangers to touring together. Reddick said they used to call Simple Plan their little brothers, and the bands have been on the road together off and on since 2002.

He said having the bands together makes sense because they had songs on the radio at the same time and played radio shows together.

“It’s just a good relationship between the two bands,” Reddick said. “But also, it’s a good night for the fans.”

Bowling for Soup is well-known for its hits “1985” “High School Never Ends” and their cover of “Stacy’s Mom.” One of Reddick’s favorites to perform is “Girl All the Bad Guys Want.” He loves playing the opening riff and seeing the audience lose their minds.

Bowling for Soup is known for recording the theme song for Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb,” and Reddick has a recurring guest role as Danny, lead singer of Love Handel, a band in the show.

He said that when he was first approached to record the theme song, he was worried the show wouldn’t get off the ground.

However, “Phineas and Ferb” became a Disney fan favorite. He knew the show had made it when he saw the characters appearing on merchandise.

“You know, you’re on the biggest show in the world when you’ve got mac ’n’ cheese and Band-Aids,” he said.

After a 10-year break, “Phineas and Ferb” returned with new episodes in 2025. When Reddick heard the news, he was afraid the theme would change. So, when the show creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh reached out to him to rerecord a line in the song, he was relieved.

“I was like, ‘Oh, guys, thank you so much. I really was so worried you were going to change the theme and/or get somebody else to do it,’” he said, “and they were like, ‘We would never do that. This is classic, like you’re the theme song.’”

From “Phineas and Ferb” to their deep cuts, Reddick said he thinks Bowling for Soup’s music gives fans an escape from the heaviness of life.

Someone can put on a Bowling for Soup record and relate to the lyrics about “relationships and stuff like that,” but in a humorous way, he said. In the early days of the band, people told Reddick that Bowling for Soup’s music was all that cheered their kids up.

“I don’t know if it’s, you know, the beat, or … if it’s that I sound like a Muppet,” Reddick said.

Reddick said the band, which formed in 1994, has been blessed that its music has appealed to people of all ages — they’re a band that parents and kids agree on, he said.

“We’re sort of that band where I hear from parents, and they go, ‘Man, I had really not a lot in common with my kid, and then we heard Bowling for Soup, and now we go to pop punk shows all the time,’” Reddick said. “I’m like, that is my favorite thing to hear in the world. I love it so much.”

Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow for the ϼ. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.