Interview: Greg Attonito (Bouncing Souls)

Over the past 20 years, Greg Attonito has been best known as the vocalist for New Brunswick, New Jersey punk rock band, Bouncing Souls. Nevertheless earlier this month, Attonito released his debut solo album, 'Natural Disaster.' A laid back, acoustic record that sees Attonito taking a honest and heartfelt approach.

Despite this solo release, Attonito continues to part of Bouncing Souls with the band currently playing four night residencies throughout the US. Next month, the four-piece will return to the UK for a four-night stand at London's Islington Academy, along with appearances at Blackpool's Rebellion Festival and the Hevy Festival in Kent.

Alter The Press! spoke to Attonito about how the solo album came together, Bouncing Souls' forthcoming UK shows and more.

Alter The Press: 'Natural Disaster' is your first solo release. How did it come together and why did you decide to make a solo record?
Greg Attonito: The idea of doing a solo record has been hanging around with me for at least ten years now. To put it simply: "I had to express something that I haven't expressed yet." I have made up a lot of excuses not to make the effort, so it was time to really do it. It was time for me to record and release some music that I was completely responsible for alone. Although I have had help with the instrumentation, recording and mixing, it is ultimately just me taking the responsibility for everything. I knew going into it, that getting honest in this process was not going to be easy but I finally faced what I had to face. I feel the satisfaction of tackling some of my and some good music has been created in the process.

ATP: How did you approach to the making of this record compared to a Bouncing Souls record?
GA: I did a lot of spontaneous creating while touring with the Souls. I used garage band in my motel room to get ideas down and work on them and re-work them. I took them home and recorded on my M-Box with Protools. So it was a more scaled back recording and writing process. I experimented with writing on the piano for a while, then ended up moving back to the guitar. I played with sounds as I went and I recorded in a few different places. The writing with the BS is a group dynamic and this was just me. That was the biggest difference.

ATP: Is there a story or meaning behind the title 'Natural Disaster'?
GA: My wife Shanti was helping me with the cover art, while I was finishing up the recording and mixing in Hawaii. I was playing around with titles and nothing was clicking until one night at ten'o clock the local tsunami siren started going off. We turned on the tv and watched all the intense and scary footage of the tsunami wave hitting Japan, and the wave was supposed to hit the islands at about 2:30am that night! It was pretty scary for a while there because no one knew how big it would be. When it arrived it was only about a 2-3 foot surge so it wasn't too bad. The next night I was back to trying to think of a record title and it just popped out of my mouth. The title; 'Natural Disaster' just fit perfectly with the artwork that we had been working on.

ATP: How has the feedback been to the record so far?
GA: It has been totally amazing. Some beautiful reviews have been written about it which has made me really happy. I appreciate the fact that people are embracing the music even though its not like Bouncing Souls music. I really couldn't have dreamed of better feedback actually.

ATP: Next month you're in the UK for a string of shows, including a four night residency at the 02 Islington Academy in London. Where did the ideas for the discography shows come from?
GA: The idea of doing our entire discography has been hanging around for years now too. We have never done it because it just seemed so daunting. So many songs! We finally got the guts up to commit to doing it for our Asbury Park Home for the Holiday shows last December. After a few intense re-learning sessions, we were ready to play them. It went great, so we figured we should do it in a few more cities. We spent the time to re-learn a bunch of songs so why not!

ATP: How have the preparations going for these shows?
GA: Good. We have been getting better and better at the songs each time we do it, so its been going well.

ATP: Have you had any problems trying to remember certain tracks?
GA: Yes, 'Deadbeats;' off of our first record is difficult for me. It's a spoken word thing, so it's not so easy to get it right every time. It's one of those things I did once and when I try to re-create it, it doesn't really work. So I have a cheat sheet and I do the best I can.

ATP: You're also playing Blackpool's Rebellion Festival and the Hevy Festival in Kent. What can we expect from these sets?
GA: These sets will most likely consist of BS favorites and a few oddballs. We can play all our songs now, so who knows?

ATP: Are there any bands from either festival you're hoping to check out?
GA: I haven't taken a look to see who's playing yet, but I always enjoy exploring around a festival to see what I discover.

ATP: These discography shows will finish in LA in November. What do you have planned afterward?
GA: We have begun writing some new songs so we will probably continue to write and record for some kind of release. We don't know what it will be and when it will be yet.

‘Natural Disaster’ by Greg Attonito is now on Chunksaah Records.

Greg Attonito on Facebook, and MySpace.

Words by Sean Reid