The Bouncing Souls are like an old friend. It’s funny; you go back to those records – even after perhaps not listening to them for a while, and once you press play, it feels like home… Anyone familiar with the Souls knows just what I’m talking about. Put on their first full-length, 1994’s ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Argyle’, and hear the opening song, the quirky but charming “I Like Your Mom” or the silly “These Are the Quotes from Our Favorite ‘80s Movies”, and you’re instantly transported back to the good old days… There’s just something about this band and their songs – they’re timeless, evoking emotions of your youth and when you first bought the records.

And when hearing their latest record, last year’s ‘Anchors Away’, it’s hard to imagine these guys have been at it for 15 years, as they still have so much energy and youthful vigor apparent throughout. Yet, their ever-growing experience as a result of playing for so long and their determination to get better with each album – to go in different directions and evolve – is quite apparent on every release, but perhaps never more so than on ‘Anchors Away’. This record showcases a somewhat darker side to the band, and a newfound maturity, one could say. The guys – vocalist Greg, guitarist The Pete, drummer Michael, and bassist Bryan, with whom I recently spoke – show a more profound, reflective side on songs like the emotive and somber “Night Train” (sung by Bryan), “Todd’s Song”, the contemplative “Kids and Heroes”, and the wistful title track. But as always, we get some fine anthems from the kings of the anthemic, sing-along punk rock song, as on the spirited opener “Apartment 5F”, the aptly-titled “Sing Along Forever”, “New Day” on which Greg warns, “Change is coming our way,” “I Get Lost”, the defiant “Born Free”, and the raucous “Highway Kings”.

And though the album came out last August, I still wanted Bryan to discuss it a bit. After all, it is the most “different”-sounding Souls record to date. Bryan is hesitant to say that ‘Anchors Away’ is a definite change from previous records, as I had stated, rightfully bringing up how each release is an evolution in some way or another, claiming, “I think our songwriting just keeps getting better, like anything, with experience,” and that “I see everything as an evolution…Anything other than change would be bullshit because life…certainly changes. It had been two years since ‘How I Spent My Summer Vacation’ and two years of experiences. The only thing that remains the same is us expressing ourselves kind of like venting or working things out in our heads by writing songs, but the elements contained in the songs are usually based on our personal experiences, which is something that’s always changing, as our life is.” Soon, however, he relents, revealing, “But like you said, this one is different I think, expecially than the records we’ve done because this is the first time that…a majority of the songs have like almost a dark feel to them – a darker feel to them. And it’s no fluke just WHY this is so: the bassist “went through really serious shit,” undergoing a harrowing break-up, leading him to “[descend] into my own sort of heart of darkness. And writing those songs was sort of my therapy. I was going through that and trying to keep it together, so there’s…some despair in there. Darkness.” Having written a majority of the songs, Bryan declares he’s “to blame” for the dark feel of the record. No, there’s no song pertaining to throwing toilets off of roofs here, folks.

In any case, I chime in that this innate darkness, however, is countered by a true sense of hope, and Bryan agrees. “The record all in all has a positive message. Even most of those songs end with some kind of hope. [They] talk about darkness, but then sort of brings it to some sort of realization, a gathering of some kind of strength to take the next step.” At this point, he ties in the artwork (which he was responsible for), thoughtfully saying, “The record cover’s a ship sailing off into the horizon, [which] is sort of symbolic of the end of things and that moment between the end of something and the infinite future, just like that spirit of total freedom that moving forward into anything you want, anything’s possible,” concluding, “But there’s a sadness to the goodbye, but it’s really a positive thing; it’s moving forward in life.”

Bryan’s extremely happy with this record, proclaiming it’s their best work yet, chalking it up to the fact that he, Pete, and Greg wrote their best songs “or did some of our deepest digging,” adding almost as a disclaimer, “The best songs, that’s subjective…Everyone’s gonna have their…favorite songs, songs that they’re gonna align with a moment in their life, songs that they’ll hold on to. But from our perspective, I think we keep getting better.” He’s also proud of the quality of the production of the record. He and Pete have taken over the producing reigns.

And though their songwriting has progressed throughout the years, their goals have not changed since the inception of the band. “You wanna be able to do what you want, and what we wanna do is hang out together and write songs…It’s always an immediate goal, something I don’t take for granted. I’m just happy with that.” The bassist adds, half-jokingly, “You wanna be able to get away with what we’re doing. We’re lucky enough that we have gotten away with it this long.” He sounds really thankful that he is part of the Souls and that they’re doing what they’ve always wanted to do and that they’re able to share their joy in writing music with other people. He adds that the philosophy he lives by is pretty much “[trying] to make the most of the moment,” concluding, “I always live by the theory I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so I try to live the most as possible…[and] that usually comes through in our lyrics. It kind of creeps through in a lot of songs.” A prime example from ‘Anchors Away’ is “New Day”, which boasts the opening lines: “People tell me they wake up every day/Wondering if they’ll be here tomorrow/I say live for today/‘Cause everything you have is just borrowed.”

This song also includes the phrase “Fight to live,” a theme often recurring in the Souls’ lyrics. Bryan discloses that it is a reference to the song of the same name off 1999’s ‘Hopeless Romantic’. If you’re not fighting to live, reasons Bryan, “You’re dying. You’re doing one or the other.”

The Bouncing Souls commence a three-week East Coast tour with Avail in April and then, after a brief break, will be playing on the Warped Tour for its entirety.