'The Greatest Tour Ever': Bowling For Soup & Frank Turner Open Up About Their Upcoming Co-Headline Run

Mary Varvaris

As the 'Bowl My Bones' co-headline tour approaches, Bowling For Soup's Jaret Reddick and Frank Turner look back on past Australian tours, discuss camaraderie, and tease new material.

Bowling For Soup and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls(Credit: Jodi Cunningham, Per Schorn)

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls

American pop-punk icons Bowling For Soup and English folk-punk troubadour Frank Turner – touring with his band, The Sleeping Souls – are heading to Australia this May for an epic co-headline run. Or, as Turner puts it, “The greatest tour of all time… Ever.”

While fans of both bands might believe it’s an unusual pairing, Bowling For Soup frontman Jaret Reddick and Frank Turner disagree.

Longtime friends who share a mutual appreciation of each other’s work, listeners of both witnessed their natural chemistry when, during the COVID-19-enforced lockdowns, the two singers hosted a one-time chat on Instagram Live. It went so well that they did it once a week for a year.

“It just went really well. I mean, I say really badly, depending on how you want to describe it, because whatever it was we were supposed to be talking about, we didn’t get anywhere close to getting around to talking about it,” Turner tells The Music with a chuckle. Instead, the singers would “natter away” for an hour.

“I think it alerted a lot of people to the fact that we’re friends and that we get along well,” he adds, “And, you know, it’s a funny thing, like some people are curious as to what the sort of crossover between the two bands is, or, you know, say it’s a weird pairing or whatever, which I disagree with instantly.

“I think we have a lot more in common than you might think, at first glance, including things like I’ve said this before, Jaret, but we’re both kind of survivors, you know, I think we’re both bands that have been around for a long time.”

Noting that while the pair have been around for a while, but not in a “U2… top of the tree kind of way,” Turner credits persistence in continuing their own sound and carving their own paths for their longevity.

“Related to that, I think neither of us is especially cool, even within our respective scenes,” he quips. “And I think that’s something that we both take some pride in, you know, we’re not super name-drop bands, do you know what I mean?

“But I also think that we have a similar approach to our live shows as well, which is that like, I don’t want to dismiss the art that either of us make, but sort of, to some degree, kind of regardless of whatever the emotional content you’re trying to get across, you’re also trying to make people have a good time and get moving and enjoy their day.

“That’s the primary directive of our show, and I think that’s something that we both try and do in our own ways.”

Reddick concurs, “I think why this is going to be so great is, like you said, because the shows are different.

“I mean, they’re [Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls] very high energy; we’re very high energy. They’re very sort of old school in the like, they’re going song [after song], and we tend to sometimes never even make it through a whole song [laughs].

“So, it’s going to be exciting for everybody to see how it goes. And it’s exciting that we’re actually getting to have an Australian band – Talk Heavy – with us on the road as well.

“I’m really glad that that worked out, that we were able to figure that out and take those guys around. I’m really excited to just reconnect with Australia. Like, we’ve been trying to get back since we left, and so I’m glad it’s finally here.”

What kind of energy will fans of both – or one of the bands – witness on this tour? Is there a possibility of Frank Turner covering 1989, or Bowling For Soup putting their own spin on I Still Believe? Turner and Reddick are tight-lipped, refusing to give away any spoilers of moments unique to the tour. But the former cheekily says he has “some ideas.”

Meanwhile, Reddick highlights the “camaraderie” of a tour like this one, calling back to his memories on the Warped Tour circuit.

“One of the things that I love the most about being in a band is the camaraderie,” he shares. “You know, it’s the reason why Warped Tour was such a good thing for so many summers, for so many of our bands. I love those kinds of tours that you guys do over there in Australia [like Good Things Festival], where you do multiple locations with the same tour.

“So, you actually get to be friends with bands that maybe you wouldn’t have met before. It’s like, we’re good buddies with 311 now [laughs]. And it’s like, ‘What? That makes zero sense!’ But it’s awesome. That’s my favourite thing about touring in itself: that camaraderie.

“I like to think that things can happen on stage during each other’s shows and enjoying each other. Whether or not it’s something that we come up with, or whether or not it’s something that just happens, I think we’re all open to it.”

Reddick and Turner have been looking back on their respective histories in different ways of late. Bowling For Soup have put out two albums that contain covers and the band’s re-recorded songs, Songs People Actually Liked Vol. 1 and 2, but is Vol. 3 on the way?

He chuckles, “I think we’re already getting to that point to do the next 10 years or something like that, because we stopped at, what, 2009 on Songs People Actually Liked Vol. 2. So, we’ve got, what, 16 years to work with! There's definitely been a lot of songs there. I think that would be fun!”

Opening up about the Songs People Actually Liked concept, Reddick informs Turner, “So, our Greatest Hits, Frank, are called Songs People Actually Liked.

“Basically, what had happened was that Sony went and made a Greatest Hits without consulting us and put songs on there that we were just like, ‘Why is this on here? This makes no sense.’ As a response to that, we just went and re-recorded our songs and made those albums. So, yeah, Vol. 3, maybe in a year or two, I think it’ll make sense.”

Speaking of re-recording their own songs, how about recording a sequel song to High School Never Ends—but with 2026 references? Reddick admits that he considered updating the middle lyric section, where he describes Reese Witherspoon as the Prom Queen, Bill Gates as Captain of the Chess Team, Jack Black as the Class Clown, and Brad Pitt as the Quarterback.

“That was one where I actually considered changing the middle part… but the more that I entertained the idea, the more I was like, ‘You know what, those references still make sense!’” he exclaims. After all, Brad Pitt is still the Quarterback.

Reddick continues, “There’s a reason why I don’t do it, and that is because so many people re-do it on TikTok. I don’t want to mess that up. I love all the remakes of it, and if I remake it, it seems like there’s sort of no reason for them to do it. So as of right now, I don’t have any plans to redo.”

@bigtugg
high school never ends nah nah naaaa #highschool #ti84 #rant #scams #fyp #yearbook #guidencecounselor
♬ Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller

Meanwhile, Frank Turner is revisiting the old tunes on his current Campfire Punkrock Twenty Tour, playing his debut EP in sets that include plenty of other fan favourites. Will Australian fans hear some of those songs, too?

“I always maintain that a gentleman never reveals his setlist in advance,” he teases. “I’m not gonna make promises. That expression is a great get-out-of-jail-free clause as well [laughs], because if you forget to play something, you’re just like, ‘I was never planning on playing it anyway.’

“I’m still proud of those songs, and there’s still one or two of them that are in pretty heavy rotation anyway. So, probably, but I’m not going to promise.”

Returning to his earliest EP, which turns 20 next month, has been a hell of a trip for Turner.

“I’m definitely at that point in the album cycle where my last studio record was a couple of years ago now, and I’m super proud of it and everything, and the next one is still brewing,” he shares. “So, now I’m at a point—I know that Jaret may throw his head back and laugh at this—but my 20-year anniversaries are starting to roll around.”

Reflecting on Campfire Punkrock, he adds, “It’s kind of mad, because when I put that EP out, I didn’t know if I’d ever make an album, do you know what I mean? I thought, ‘Let’s just try this, and maybe I’ll get six months to a year of playing shows out of this.’ And 20 years later, still talking about it.

“There are two songs on that first EP that I just never, ever play, and it’s the EP tour. So, I sat down and started practising them, and my partner was like, ‘What was that?’ She’s seen me live enough times that she knows the hits, as it were. And I was just like, ‘That’s a very old song.’”

Both Bowling For Soup and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls recently spent time in Australia.

The pair performed at the 2024 edition of Good Things Festival, travelling to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane alongside Korn, Mastodon, The Living End, and many others. Plus, they played a handful of sideshows.

Even with their most recent Australian shows barely in the rearview mirror and frequent visits, Reddick and Turner affirm that their forthcoming tour still stands out and feels different.

“For us, it’s really exciting because we actually haven’t been over to do proper shows on a tour in quite a while,” Reddick shares. “We were just kind of trying to make our mark over there and all that.

“So, since then, we’ve been back for a few festivals, most recently Good Things, and the reaction was amazing. And then I got to see Frank play as well, and the reaction, the energy that they had was just so amazing. I am really looking forward to these shows. I think there are going to be some wild nights, and we’re definitely going to make some memories.”

Turner adds that the forthcoming tour is one both bands “have always wanted to do.”

“I think it's going to be the greatest tour of all time… Ever,” he says. “It’s going to be good. We’ve been over many times; the last time was Good Things.

“Good Things is fun, but it sort of feels like it’s not quite a proper tour in a funny way, do you know what I mean? We’re doing the full slate this time around, which is cool. And we get to hang out with Bowling For Soup and Jaret and his band and his crew and all of my boys and girls. I’m really stoked for it!”

Reddick and Turner have consistently visited Australia with their respective bands and have plenty of memories to share. Looking back on previous tours, Reddick shares love for the Australian people.

“We’ve just really hit it off with the audience there, and people are so sweet,” he says. “And honestly, just appreciative that you’re there, you know? I think Australians understand the effort that it takes for us to get there.”

He continues, “It’s costly, and the travel is awful [laughs]. It takes some effort in a lot of different areas. But when you get there, you feel so appreciated for doing that. And that’s a big thing, to get off an aeroplane after 26 hours or whatever, and you just feel so welcome. It’s a nice breath of fresh air.”

Turner has fond memories of his first-ever Australian show, which took place at Brisbane institution The Zoo in early 2010.

“Before coming to Australia, I’d been touring with my friend Chuck Ragan [of Hot Water Music fame] quite a lot, and he would constantly regale me with stories about how Australia was the promised land of touring,” he recalls.

Turner continues, “He kept telling me, and I eventually reached a point where I was like, ‘Well, fucking prove it!’ And he did, and off we went.

“My first-ever show in Australia was at The Zoo in Brisbane, and I was extremely jet-lagged, and I was kind of drunk/hungover because I’d been on a plane with Ben Nichols from Lucero, which I wouldn’t recommend [laughs].

“I got to the venue, we did soundcheck, and I was spaced out as anything. I went to get some food, and I walked around the corner, and the first person I ever met outside a show in Australia had the lyrics to one of my songs tattooed all down his arm. And I was just like, ‘What the fuck, dude? Like, where’s the hidden camera?’ Right from before my very first show, it felt like a really special place for me.”

Bowling For Soup & Frank Turner’s ‘Bowl My Bones’ co-headline tour heads to Australia in May. Tickets are now available on the Destroy All Lines website.

Destroy All Lines Presents