In Tempe, I met up with the guys Eve 6 as the came out of hibernation for Innings Festival, 2026. This one gig stood alone in a blank calendar from October to April, and although rehearsal time came at a premium, the band sounded as good as ever. Entering year 31 of the bands storied careers, Eve 6 continue to impress anyone with ears. Max Collins (bass), Jon Siebels (guitar), and Ben Hilzinger (drums) took some time after their slot to discuss their early days playing gigs at small cafes all the way to a racetrack.

Logan Melia: This is my first time seeing you guys it was an absolute blast you’ve been on my list for a while This set, this environment, a little baseball combination, is this a unique environment? Have you played anything similar to like this guy before? 

Max Collins: I’m trying to think if we’ve ever played anything baseball. 

Jon Siebels: I don’t know. We did something. We did some NASCAR thing years ago. 

Max: We played in Rochester in that baseball field. 

Jon: Oh, yeah. But I think that was just in the field though. I don’t know if that was like a theme. 

Ben Hilzinger: That’s true. Oh, so this is a theme? 

Max: Yeah, this is a theme. This is the kickoff of spring training. 

Logan: Well, for Friday, Sox Cubs. Sox be from like 11 to 1, I think. So we’re off to a good start here. Did some research, on you guys and you played some really cool gigs way back in the day. Cobalt Cafe and Coo’s Cafe. Does that sound familiar? Back in LA, do you remember anything from those days? 

Jon: I remember Coo’s Cafe. 

Max: Yeah, I remember when that Jason guy pepper sprayed our friends. 

Logan: What happened there? 

Max: We were like in high school and people started moshing and he got like afraid, I think. 

Jon: For us, like for the band?

Max: I don’t know. And yeah, he pepper sprayed. 

Logan: Do you have any venues that you’ve loved playing since any any standouts in your mind?

Ben: I actually like the Middle East, the downstairs. It’s the downstairs, the bigger club of two venues in Boston. And it’s almost like there’s a ramp next to the stage and some people are kind of… It smells like poo. Yeah, it smells very bad. They have good, what is it? 

Jon: Indian food. 

Max: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really good food. But it smells like this, but it’s always like a very punk venue. It’s cool. 

Logan: Nice. Are you guys big foodies on tour? Are you checking out local spots in the city as you go? 

Jon: It sort of depends I guess uh we don’t do a lot of like long tours now we’re doing really like stuff like like this like one-off stuff yeah so we just stay by the hotel yeah you know and just eat like the airport yeah. 

Logan: That’s what life’s all about right there is eating junk food and sitting in a hotel. When you’re sitting in a hotel what’s on the TV are we are we talking Pawn Stars, Cash Cab, Family Guy? 

Ben: No TV ever in a hotel yeah I never really watch TV in a hotel TV always is turned off 

Jon: Yeah if anything I’ll watch it like a show on on my iPad or something. yeah I never actually turn on a hotel room TV really well

Ben: I definitely doom scroll and focus on my phone I love the Forensic Files is is definitely on HLN Network absolutely it’s just like an old school like half an hour who done it stuff. 

Logan: If you’re in and out, you get the answer within a half hour, which I don’t like those long docuseries that are four two hour things. I want to know who did it now. When you guys are on the road, are you writing at all or are you just like there to do the show? Or does inspiration strike? 

Max: I mean, the way that we do things now, when we’re doing shows, we’re there to do the show and writing is a different thing that we do when we’re back in our respective homes. ‘Sweet Pea’ starts with… Jon, ‘Sweet Pea’, makes like tracks and beginnings of songs, basically, and then we get together and lyrics and stuff, and then plays all of them. But yeah, so that’s all happening when we’re not traveling. 

Ben: I guess we’ve always sort of been that way. 

Logan: Really? It’s two very separate things. 

Jon: Sometimes like if you have like a new song or whatever, like sometimes we’ll play something at soundcheck or whatever, but we’re not really working on it. 

Logan: What is the first thing you guys play when you pick up your instruments? Either alone, as a group, what’s the first thing? 

Max: I mean, for me, if I’m picking up a guitar before a show, I’m playing, what’s it called? 

Jon: Little Red Light. 

Max: Little Red Light by Fountains of Wayne. That’s been my warmup song for probably, I don’t even know how many years now. 

Logan: Really? What about some good warmup for you? Is it just getting the wheels turned? 

Max: It’s a really nice place. It’s in E. It’s, yeah, it’s just, it’s a great song. I don’t know, it gets my, it moves, and it moves my voice from kind of a low range to kind of a higher range. It’s a good warm-ups. 

Jon: Oh yeah, what about the rest of you guys? I think Tom Petty riffs just always naturally come out when I pick up a guitar. 

Ben: Yeah, I guess for me it depends on if I’m doing a… show like this, I’m just trying to figure out that kit because usually we fly with no kit, so I have to learn the kit. So I’m doing just like six stroke rolls to kind of see where I’m at with everything. But if it’s like an actual, like my kit, probably Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin, that kind of shuffle. Because you can dictate, I know where I’m at. If my shuffle feels good, then it’s going to be a good day.

Logan: What do you do if it’s a bad day? What do you feel off and you got to show that night? Do you do anything to correct yourself? 

Max: Red Bull. Two to three Red Bulls. And large ones, not like the baby ones. 

Logan: Tallboy Red Bulls. 

Max: Well, I want to keep it a buck here. If it’s a large Red Bull, I’m going to do, if it’s like the really big one, I’m going to do like maybe one and a half. But if it’s a small Red Bull, I’m doing three. But today I only did one Red Bull before the show. 

Jon: Because the freeze dried espresso. 

Max: But we also had freeze dried espresso right before that. So I was going to say, I had a good show on one Red Bull, and so maybe I don’t need three anymore, but I didn’t weigh. You don’t freeze dried. I didn’t weigh the conclusions. 

Jon: Let’s not be rash. Yeah, it could be a one off. 

Ben: This is actually like some baseball player stuff. Like, yeah, like if they like, you know, pitcher like wins a game, he won’t like change his hat or like won’t shave or whatever. 

Jon: “He thinks flies are lucky”

Logan: We’re talking numbers real here, real quick here. I saw in an old interview, you said, ‘we were too young to be calculated’, in referring to your very early years. Do you guys feel as though you have a calculation for these shows now, or do you still fly by the seat of your pants a little bit? Do you think there’s a bit of an equation now?

Max: No, I think when we’re like making music, together, it’s just very much about that moment, moving ourselves in that moment and not, I don’t know, I guess when I think of the word calculated as it relates to like making music, I think of, oh, we want to try to make this to have this outcome or something like that. Like we know what the outcome is going to be. 

Jon: And I think for shows, it’s like we’ve been playing some of these songs for so long that there’s just little things that naturally evolve, but we don’t ever sit down and be like ‘hey, you should say this at the point of the set, or anything like that’. It’s just sort of evolved over the years. 

Logan: How does the rehearsal process look like going up for one-off here?

Max: A what?

Logan: A rehearsal process? You got me, you got me. Do you guys get together beforehand, or do you guys just say, Hey, we’ve been playing these songs for a good long time? 

Jon: No, not much. 

Max: We don’t rehearse. We don’t need to rehearse. I mean, there’s on occasion, Ben is a working drummer, he plays with other artists sometimes, so if we need to bring in, if he’s on a tour, we need to bring in someone we’ll do a rehearsal but I mean we’ve all been playing these songs for a long time now they’re it’s just

Jon: Yeah we did yeah we did like a anniversary tour uh in 2018 so like we were playing the full record so a lot of songs that we’ve like basically never played yeah so we rehearsed like for two days for that. 

Logan: Two long days.

Jon: A skinny 2 days. Yeah, it was forty-eight whole hours. 

Max: Yeah, that’s the thing. I’m using the word conspiracy incorrectly. But it’s um okay I don’t think I don’t think bands need to rehearse really I mean especially if you have a soundcheck yeah you want to run a new song or something like that run it a soundcheck why would you need to go and the thing is too is if you show up knowing your own personal material it just takes one little run through and we’re like cool a lot of people show up and just assuming rehearsals just like where you learn the song yeah and then it’s apparently that’s the British way you heard that no I forget who was telling me that like yeah that in in the UK when you go in no one’s expecting you to have learned the songs you like learn all the shit in rehearsal. 

Ben: Interesting I mean I do like that way better because right now in America I have there’s so many days of learning songs that are not paid for yeah sometimes people tell you like a like a few days worth of day that’s a good point that’s probably why yeah yeah it’s like I’m not on the clock learning these songs but now I do it just because it’s so a good gig so scarce so I’ll say yes to whatever you all yeah I’ll work for a week for free just learning songs yeah absolutely yeah it’s the industry 

Eve 6 were alive at Innings Festival, hitting five tracks from their self titled record. The crowd was loving this 3-piece outfit as they threw everything they had at the wall for this one-off gig. The California rockers will be hitting the south with Fastball this April for a handful of gigs, you can find tickets here. Their latest record “Dream Fist” is out now and you can follow Eve 6 for future updates.

The post Interview: Eve 6 at Innings Festival appeared first on KRUI Radio.

We all regret things, even some things we didn’t do ourselves. I spoke with Canadian indie-rockers Peach Pit ahead of their set at Innings Festival on February 20th as they shared stories of favorite gigs they’ve seen, video games they’ve been enjoying, and card games that have gone wrong.

Logan Melia: Okay, rock and roll. So guys, how are we doing? I mean, first gig in a little bit, right? 

Neil Smith: Yeah, we were just talking about that today. It’s our first one in a couple months, so we’re a little nervous. 

Peter Wilton: Bit rusty 

Logan: Really, bit rusty?

Neil: Well, we rehearsed, but yeah. 

Logan: What does the rehearsal process look like? Are you guys just getting together once, multiple points? 

Neil: Oh, dude, we only can do it once. Honestly, we like playing our songs in our rehearsal room by ourselves is like torture. Yeah, I hate it so much. It gives me like the feeling of like when you’re in high school and you have to do like a project or like or homework and you don’t want to do it. 

MIkey Pascuzzi: When you do it the night before it’s due. 

Neil: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we run the set. We run the set. 

Chris Vanderkooy: Yeah, we’ll argue for the first half about what the set should be. Yeah, then go for lunch and then run the set twice. 

Peter: But yeah, any part of those, the set always ends up being pretty similar. 

Neil: Yeah, yeah. Some songs like have to kind of be later in the set. You can’t like blow your load super early with popular ones right away. 

Logan: What’s the setlist looking like? Are we doing a lot of stuff off Magpie? 

Neil: No, we’re doing two songs off Magpie. 

Chris: Two songs off from two to three. 

Neil: Yeah, we mostly have to always do most songs off of Being So Normal, our first one, just because it’s the most popular one. 

Chris: That’s what we tell ourselves. 

Neil: No, it is true, though. 

Chris: But those songs also have the most energy, I think. A lot of the time, compared to the new ones, we love those recordings on the new albums. Yeah, the old stuff, it just goes over well live to people who have never heard of these before, too. So if we’re trying to draw new people in, that’s the good stuff to do. 

Logan: I saw you guys in May of last year in Chicago.

Neil: That was so fun. It’s a cool spot.

Logan: It’s such a beautiful venue right on the lake right there. You guys open with that little combo with Warpigs there. How’d that come to be? Because when I think about you guys, with all do respect, I don’t think about Black Sabbath. 

Neil: I think it was yours or Dougle’s or yeah, we basically for the past, for the past like 7 years, we’ve been opening our show with a bit of a cover. So we’ve done, we did a Led Zeppelin song. We did Slayer. Slayer. 

Chris: Yeah, and the Slayer was really fun because we had just kind of put out our most folky album and people were coming out to the shows and it was just like post-pandemic. And then we would just drop into Slayer and we could see the visible confusion on the crowd’s faces. And so ever since then, we were like, this is so much fun to come out like this and do something a little unexpected. So yeah, it’s something we’re kind of always striving to do and look for another cover. 

Logan: Is there anything unexpected coming today that I should prepare myself for? 

Neil: Uhhh… no.

Chris: No, we wrote a little instrumental to start off our first. 

Neil: Oh, that’s true, yeah, for sure. We’re going to open with the Arc Raiders theme song. 

Logan: That’s really sick. 

Neil: Yeah, we just walk out to it.

Logan: Are you guys Indiana Jones fans?

Peter: Oh, no. Oh, OK. Sorry. It’s confusing. There’s a new video game out, kind of like Fortnite kind of style vibe. It’s called Arc Raiders, which sounds like Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

Logan: That’s where my mind is. 

Peter: But I actually have a huge hit. 

Mikey: Yeah, I love it. 

Peter: That was my favorite movies as a kid ever. 

Chris: Actually, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 

Peter: Oh, yeah. We should open with John Williams. 

Logan: Fortnite… You guys play any video games recently? You guys hopping on anything? 

Neil: I guess Fortnite a little bit. 

Chris: We were in Fortnite for a while. 

Neil: Mikey’s been playing, what have you been playing?

Mikey: Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei. It’s like the samurai game. 

Neil: They’re a big God of War guys. 

Mikey: Oh yeah, the God of War. I played that a couple years ago. 

Neil: I flew down here with my PlayStation actually. Yeah, I put it in my carry-on bags. More than half of your bag. Yeah, half of it is closed and the other half of the suitcase is my PlayStation. So I can play Arc Raiders. 

Logan: Did you guys see the Simpsons season of Fortnite? 

Neil: Actually, I did. That was pretty awesome. 

Peter: We hoped on together. 

Neil: Did you guys get the Homer? 

Peter: Yeah, you kind of had to, right? 

Chris: No, I never figured out how to do the scans. 

Neil: You just put your credit card in and then you get it. 

Chris: One time when we were really into Fortnite, Neil like bought me a skin on Fortnite for my birthday, but I just logged on. I didn’t realize someone had sent me anything. I was just like, ‘they just gave me a free skin I’m the Mandalorian now’ And I like texted him being excited and he was like, that was neat. 

Logan: But you know, it’s a little gestures like that. 

Chris: Oh yeah, totally. 

Neil: It’s a great gift actually, a skin. 

Chris: A Fortnite skin? 

Neil: You wouldn’t buy it for yourself. 

Chris: No, yeah, exactly. 

Logan: Neil, I saw in an interview, you said that you are kind of a jokester guy at all. You write the quote I had written down, “I come up with the jokes for the show”. 

Neil: Oh, yeah, for that onstage show. Offstage show tho…

Chris: Mikey comes up with them. 

Logan: Now, I know you guys are Canadian. Norm Macdonald. Do you have any favorite Norm moments, any jokes? 

Chris: We can’t say them on air. 

Neil: Norm is like, he’s just like my favorite person maybe ever. Like I’ve seen, there’s like no Norm MacDonald clip on the internet that I haven’t seen. I mean, just like, I don’t know. Everything is good. Like his interview shows are good. His jokes are amazing. I love the, I want to quote, I’m trying to think. 

Mikey: The Larry King bit where he’s like ‘I’m a deeply closet homosexual’. 

Neil: So what you’re saying is your gay? 

Chris: Do you know what a deeply closeted man is? A man who won’t admit he is gay. Yeah, I’m deeply closeted. 

Neil: I mean, he’s just, I mean, Norm, dude. I wish I could have seen him live. He’s the best. He’s the best of all time, for sure. 

Logan: Are there any acts either comedic or bands that you are lucky you saw live? Like, did you see like Tom Petty a year before he passed? 

Chris: Yeah, I was at Red Rocks visiting my uncle and I went and checked out the venue and I was like, oh, this is beautiful. Well, I wonder if anyone’s playing tonight. Tom Petty was playing with the Heartbreakers and it’s like, oh, sweet. Oh, there’s still tickets left. Uh, 80 bucks. I’ll see him another time. He died like six months later. 

Neil: This was also for context, you were like 20. Yeah. And so 80 bucks was like, I can’t afford that. 

Logan: I’m 20 right now. 

Neil: I don’t have a job. Yeah.

Chris: There was 80 bucks in 2014. 

Logan: Canadian or USD? 

Neil: USD so even worse.

Chris: Yeah, it was rough. But yeah, I mean, Neil got to see Paul McCartney in November. Oh, yeah, it was a bucket list one. 

Logan: I was like, yeah, I should have said hi. 

Neil: Were you there? Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Last day of the tour. 

Logan: No, it was the day before. 

Neil: I mean, whatever. Yeah, we flew in with our wives and went and saw him. We’ve been like, yeah, we were like, we have to see him? 

Chris: Yeah, he was great. 

Neil: Yeah. He was so good, right? 

Logan: Oh, my God. He’s how is he not good? He’s so old. And for him to, like, dance a little bit. 

Chris: Every time he walked up to the piano, I was like, he’s going to slip and fall. 

Neil: He’s didn’t take a sip of water. He didn’t take a drink. He played for three hours. 

Logan: It’s like no shade to Bob Dylan. Great artists, but I’m not sure if you guys have seen those live videos. He just kind of sits there behind a piano.

Neil: Yeah, those guys are weird because I don’t get it because they’re so loaded, they don’t have to do it with the money, but they still go on tour. And to be honest, if we have enough money to not go on tour, we’re 80, I’m not going to be going on tour with you guys. 

Chris: You’re going to miss us more than you think. 

Neil: No. 

Logan: Just with United Center, Springsteen just announcing new tour. Are you guys Springsteen fans at all? 

Neil: Yeah, sort of. I saw him a couple years ago. 

Chris: I love his album Nebraska more than anything else. 

Neil: I went and saw him. You’re a big fan. Yeah. Okay. I don’t want to shit on Springsteen though. I got free tickets to go see Springsteen and it was pretty good. It was like 3 hours long. He plays everything. But it’s just like the Springsteen arc of the show is like… They go to 11 and then they just like stay at 11 the whole entire time. Like every song is 1, 2, 3, 4, and then you’re like, oh my god. I’m not a huge Springsteen fan. It was, it was cool. I did learn some deep cuts that I listen to now. 

Logan: Hell yeah. What is on the playlist these days for you guys? Anything fun? Anything unexpected? 

Neil: Geese, dude. Nobody listens to that, man. Actually though, there’s like two Geese songs. They’re like my favorite song ever right now. 

Chris: Yeah, Jessica Pratt. I’ve been listening to a lot of her. She’s great, she kind of sounds like she should be playing for a great haul in Beowulf times. You know what I mean? She just sounds like an ancient singer-songwriter. 

Neil: What are you guys listening to? I haven’t been listening to that much music, to be honest. 

Mikey: I just throw on playlists and whatever’s on there. 

Neil: I guess I got some records recently. What did I buy? I bought so many albums at Toomes Records Store. Pat Kelly. He’s a reggae singer from Jamaica. That’s it. 

Chris: It was cool. There’s this band, The Districts, that we really love. 

Logan: Philadelphia, right? 

Chris: Philadelphia. So their lead singer started his own solo project called Super Infinity. And he kind of just dumped. A ton of songs out without making a big deal out of the release, and I think for that reason, I didn’t hear about it for a while, but now I’ve gone back and listened to this record it’s like 20 songs, some of my favorite songwriting ever, their production is amazing, his voice is incredible, so really good, really recommend, especially if you like The Districts. 

Logan: Yeah, it’s more research. Your album, I think it was From Two to Three, was originally named Fuckboy Blues. Can I get a confirm or deny on this?

Peter: That was You and Your Friend. You and Your Friend, which we wanted to call the album Fuckboy Blues. 

Neil: And then we have a song called Feeling Low in brackets, Fuckboy Blues. Okay, so basically what happened was it was our first album after being so normal. We wrote a song called Fuckboy Blues. We got on Columbia. And they basically just recommended that we don’t have a song with the word “fuck” in it because they wanted it to be the first single. They were like, yeah, this is going to be on the radio. And then it just, I don’t know. The song didn’t really go anywhere.

Chris: Yeah, it could have been huge. 

Chris: But yeah, yeah, we were going to call it “Fuckboy Blues” because Neil has “fuckboy” tattooed on his ass. 

Neil: Not by choice. Yeah, it’s true. I went to Asia, this was back when I was like 20, I went backpacking in Southeast Asia. Me and my friend were playing this card game called cribbage the whole time that we were away. And in crib, if you lose really bad by a certain amount of points, you get skunked. So we were playing like a game of skate with crib, where like every time you got skunked, you’d like write a letter. Anyway, long story short, I lost the bet. And the bet was that you had to get a tattoo on your ass that said skunk, which is kind of stupid, but whatever, we were young. And I came home and we were at band practice, and this was way back in the day. This is even before Mikey was in our band, we had a different guy named Tom. The guys were like, you’re getting your fucking tattoo tonight. Peter, he was doing a little stick and pokes at the time, he’s like, ‘we’re going to do the tattoo tonight. We’ll go to that party. You’re going to do it tonight’. And I was like, oh, shit okay, whatever. So then we go to the party and like, I lay down on the floor I yanked out my pants Peter gets all the needle ready and we have a bunch of friends there my sisters there and he’s like okay Neil like whatever you do like just like don’t, I don’t want you to look at it until it’s done and I didn’t I swear to God I didn’t even bat an eyelash at that because Peter’s like a really really you know Peter he’s a really really nice guy he’s not like a piece of shit.

Logan: Do you agree?

Neil: I would say you’re not a piece of shit.

Peter: I don’t think so.

Neil: So he’s doing the tattoo. I’m like, taking a little while or whatever, and at one point I was even like, damn this is taking a while. And then right, he’s like, I’m just about done. And right when he finished, everybody in the room burst out laughing. And I was like, ‘NOOOO’. And I ran into the bathroom and they, yeah, he touched me. 

Chris: He was, Neil was like livid. 

Neil: I was so angry. 

Chis: It was not good actually. 

Peter: No one ever like, here’s the thing. I wasn’t initially like, this isn’t a great idea. Everyone else was like, it’ll be funny. I think it was my idea. His sister was like, he’ll think it’s funny. And I was like, I didn’t know him that well at the time. So he did it and then Neil was so mad and I started crying.

Chris: And I, in the moment was like, you know what, we shouldn’t have done this, it was very fucked up but this will be funny later. 

Neil: Yeah, it aged well

Logan: How many years ago was this?

Neil: 11 years ago. A long time ago

Chris: Yeah, we were very young ago. 

Neil: So anyway, I’m going to cover it up eventually. I still have ‘fuckboy’. I go to the local community center to go use the sauna a lot. And whenever I’m getting changed, I’m facing the lockers of people. They don’t see your junk, and I can just see someone looking at my ass. 

Chris: Yeah, totally. That was a really evil thing to do, but I think made us stronger. 

The greatest joy in life is learning isn’t it? We are all students of life. I think I learned a lot during these 13 minutes. For example, we learned that Neil Smith, lead singer of 2021 JUNO nominee for Breakthrough Group of the Year Peach Pit, has ‘fuckboy’ tattooed on his butt. Learning!

The Canadian quartet continues to be a constant in my ears with their latest release “Magpie: Expanded Edition“, and the rest of their charming discography. Their set at Innings Festival featured a dozen tracks spanning their decade making music and opened with that beautiful instrumental jam as promised. Peach Pit has only a select handful of festival dates on the calendar, including the recent announcement of Shaky Knees. If you can, catch this band. Their live shows are filled with ear worms and high energy. If you walk in not knowing any songs, you’ll walk out wanting to know. For future updates, can follow Peach Pit here.

The post Interview: Peach Pit on Tattoos, The Simpsons in Fortnite, and Norm MacDonald appeared first on KRUI Radio.

FRIDAY 

I caught Fat, Evil Children as the foremost band of this festival, playing the Right Field Stage at 12:15. I had done some research beforehand and really enjoyed their sound so this was a must see. Coming out of the LA, they have begun branching out of state with their latest release “Can’t Stop” on November 28^th, 2025. This six song EP holds a favorite of mine, “The Weight” which was released as a single a few weeks before the EP. Following up on the Right Field stage was Congress, The Band. Out of South Carolina, this was the farthest out west the 5 piece indie rock group had been. Named after Congress St in Charleston, and not the house of government, they will be hitting the road this March with fellow Innings Festival band Common People. You can find tickets here. 

While exploring the festival grounds I heard an all too familiar sound. Like a siren calling me to the sea, I heard the second track to Bruce Springsteen’s third album “Born to Run”. Springsteen is a magnet of sorts for me, and with nothing to break the attraction, I ended up at The Left Field Stage watching Jake Peavy jam out with his band to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”. Peavy was playing for my Chicago White Sox during a very formative time in my life. Watching the All-Star game in 2012, I never imagined I would hear him play “Franklin’s Tower” or The Boss. This is part of what makes Innings Festival so special, this was the only place you could find a childhood hero rocking out.  

Staying at Right Field for the time being, Peach Pit was up next. I had the opportunity to talk with the band before their set and discuss all things from The Simpsons in Fortnite to Norm MacDonald. That interview will be up soon on 89.7 KRUI. After a great interview, they came on stage with an instrumental jam into their self-titled song. Released in 2018 on the Sweet FA EP, “Peach Pit” is a tune that has been a staple in my playlists for years. It is Peach Pit at their best, with sincere lyrics that don’t beat you over the head with their feelings but decide to open the door and let you in if you choose. A dozen songs later, Peach Pit closed with fan favorite “Tommy’s Party”, painting the picture of a friendship that’s lost its flame in light of time and others taking priority. A mourning of something lost disguised as a slow jam where guitarist Chris Vanderkooy skates across the G Major Scale. A sound ending to one of my favorite sets of the weekend. Afterwards lead singer Neil Smith joined the crowd for pictures and high fives. Peach Pit has a handful of festival slots coming up this year. 

A album release party to remember, Mumford and Sons took the stage at 9:00pm on the night of their sixth studio album drop “Prizefighter”. Playing five tracks off the record, Marcus Mumford sprinted through seventeen songs spanning the band’s illustrious career. With his army of musicians behind him, the emphasis on the new record was warmly welcomed as this blues and rock inspired LP was made to be played for these huge crowds like this. Their 2025 record “RUSHMERE” wasn’t forgotten either as the two tracks were heard amongst the shuffle of their set. Marcus paid a compliment to the previous band on The Home Plate Stage, The Goo Goo Dolls, preaching “You get The Goo Goo Dolls night one and you’re fucked the rest of the weekend”. I concur Marcus, it’s difficult to follow up “Iris”. Mumford and Sons have just announced their “Prizefighter World Tour” including a stop at Hinterland in Iowa on August 1^st.  

SATURDAY 

I was elated to have finally caught The Backfires. The combination of New York indie and Britpop is featured heavy in this groups work, including 2022’s single “Blindsided”. The Backfires were quick to make fans as the dancing began almost immediately as they stepped on stage. They only have one more gig on the books so far in New York as they record a new album. You can follow their process on their Instagram.  

Right Field continued to be a place I found myself as Deer Tick was setting up. Something familiar hit my ears as the guys began playing “Bad to the Bone” as their soundcheck. I asked Deer Tick about their long and storied history with covers, including a handful of songs by mutual favorites The Pogues. You can hear all about it in my interview with Deer Tick that will be on 89.7 KRUI soon. Their set included a new song, “Mary Singletary”, from their upcoming record that will be released in June. During their set I had a thought, maybe it was that baseball was already involved, but their songs hold a very classic summer sound that feels reminiscent of CCR, The Eagles, and Dylan. Deer Tick have a handful of gigs in March around their home in the Northeast and just announced they will be playing returning to the midwest to play Summerfest in Milwaukee on Friday, June 19^th. 

At the left field stage, former pitcher and current entertainer, Ryan Dempster, continued his wonderful “Off The Mound” talk show. With a live band and a great selection of guests, Dempster is a natural at playing host to current and former baseball personalities. He entered the stage and did a quick monologue, joking how the Dodgers were so injury prone last year, one of their pitchers had to hit. I caught a lot of strays as a White Sox fan while at The Left Field Stage, on stage and off. Dempster, a long-time north sider, did not shy away from his bias to Wrigley. An olive branch was extended as one of his guests played for both sides of town. Jeff Samardzija spent six and a half season with the Cubs, and just a lonely singular year with the White Sox, was eager to talk both sports and music. Growing up a Sox fan, it was a dream to dawn the black and white pinstripes in 2015 even though baseball was not his original path. Samardzija was a two time All-American tight end and caught over 2,500 yards in three seasons for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Sharing stories of being a two-sport athlete and how youth sports have changed was interesting coming from a former professional athlete and current parents. He then spoke about meeting his wife at a Pink Floyd concert, as she was an employee to Roger Waters. After some light stalking and a few emails, Samardzija secured a date and the rest is history. It felt like watching a conversation with two old friends as Dempster created a relaxed environment and Samardzija putting his feet up. This was all wrapped together with a bow on top as the house band sounded spectacular as well.

I often hear from my seniors that there are no rock stars anymore. The spark has left the industry, guitar music is dead, and everything is made with computers now. Although computers may be scary to some, the rest could not be farther from the truth. Whenever you are in doubt, go see Cage the Elephant play a gig. Frontman Matt Schultz is a larger-than-life performer, flipping the lid off any containment he might have had. Alongside his brother Brad Schultz, drummer Jarod Champion, bassist Daniel Tichenor, and a batch of the strongest live musicians out there, Cage the Elephant was emphatic in their 19 song set. Matt Schultz mentioned that he may forget a few of the words during their performance, as they are in the process of making a new record. Their latest venture came in the form of 2024’s Neon Pill which they have toured extensively. With a new record on the way, there is a scarcity of gigs lined up for the Bowling Green natives. You can find any updates from the band here. 

Los Angeles local Lord Huron played a dreamy set as the blue lighting put him in this twilight-Esque setting, delivering a story time that a listener dreams of. Under the stars of the West, Ben Schneider put out a mix of new and old, with three songs off 2025’s “The Cosmic Selector: Vol 1” and four songs from a decades prior album “Strange Trails”. Lord Huron will embark on a lengthy tour this summer, including a stop in Waukee on July 19th. 

Twenty-One Pilots delivered a set full of new surprises at Innings Festival. Three live debuts and two covers is what Tempe was treated too, a shocker to any long time Twenty-One Pilot’s fans. Covers have eluded many fans for years, so hearing Milky Chance’s hit “Stolen Dance” intwined with the live debut of “One Way” was a shock to many. Near the end of the set, the stage went black and a static appeared on screen. Through the tech mist, rock and roll hero Jack White appeared on screen, adorned in red, black and white, to say “I’m Jack White and I give Tyler and Josh permission to do this song”. The static dissipated, and the stage became cloaked in red as the iconic “Seven Nation Army” riff began. This arrangement of The White Stripes classic was first introduced in Cleveland at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The third live appearance of this song was well worth the wait. This was a landmark set for the band, introducing “Center Mass” and “Drag Path” to a live audience, and preparing for a busy summer in Europe.  

SUNDAY 

Bowling For Soup took main stage on the final day of Innings Festival at 2:30. People were tired and the sun was beating down on the weekend snow birds, but the Texas natives brought the energy with their collection of hits and theme songs. This set included a cover of Stacy’s Mom by Fountain’s of Wayne, often mistaken as a Bowling For Soup song, this was originally by the New York rockers. Jaret Reddick and company played everything I wanted to hear as they begin another busy year in Australia, UK, and supporting Simple Plan once again this summer. I spoke with Reddick about their tour and future of the band, which you can find here. 

Right after Bowling For Soup, another trio was on fire, this time at the Right Field Stage. With an hour to play with, Eve 6 jumped throughout their famed discography. Rising to prominence in 1998 with their self-titled debut record, there was heavy representation from that outing with five songs played including “Inside Out”. Time traveling 26 years later, Eve 6 also played the song “Dream Fist” which shares the same name as the record it is on. Throughout the lively story of their career, they have continued to hold their own and produce catchy tunes. Eve 6 has three dates on the books so far for 2026, you can find tickets here. 

An unknown walking into this weekend was Switchfoot. These surfer dudes won me over with their swoopy hair and sprightly tunes. This is what festivals are all about, finding a new band and becoming a fan. The song that hooked me “Dark Horses“, and that was partially due to a touch of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” being tossed in. The San Diego natives didn’t shy away from a cover as the very next tune was The Beastie Boys “Sabatoge” blaring from bassist Tim Foreman, brother of frontman Jon Foreman. Switchfoot will hit the road this summer, with Fuel and Lit joining for select dates.

The Right Field Stage was closing out with a bang. The combination of Big Boi and Public Enemy was tantalizing to the point of believing either could have been the headliner for that day. Big Boi, who is one half of Outkast, did not shy away from his past with 10 of his 17 songs being callbacks to his days with André 3000. Although omitting their biggest hit, “Hey Ya!”, the classics like “B.O.B.” and “Ms. Jackson” got the crowd moving. Big Boi will be supporting Kid Cudi this summer on his “Rebel Rangers Tour“.

One of the most iconic rap duos of all time, Chuck D. and Flavor Flav did not fail as my anticipation for this performance was far from small. I had missed Public Enemy in 2024 at Riot Fest, and it began to haunt me as in my Music and Social Change class, we watched a documentary starring Chuck D. Not only was the salt already in the wound as “Copyright Criminals” was assigned viewing, but to hear that the professor assigning it was the executive producer hurt even more. My professor, Kembrew McLeod, helped make this documentary out of nothing, embarking on a journey highlighting the often unfair world of sampling in hip-hop. Chuck D was prominent and even played a slot on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in celebration of the documentary. All of this to say, Public Enemy’s bar was raised very high. The lights grew dim and then exploded as two men in matching tracksuits walked out, one with a boombox in hand. Not far behind them were tow para-military dressed men, dawned in a yellow and gray camo. The venerable Flavor Flav then appeared in a sparkly white tracksuit before introducing the crowd to “my partner in crime, my partner in rhyme, my partner in time, Chuck D”. This set did not stop, unless Public Enemy wanted to make their political standings clear, which they were not shy about. Chuck D attempted to play it a little more subtle with his distaste for the current administration while his other half spoke with more blunt remarks. The duo was not timorous or apprehensive, continuing to take shots at the Presidents involvement in the Epstein Files or his decision to remove a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. out of the Oval Office. This was “a major disrespect” said Flavor Flav to the Arizona audience as he reminded them that The Grand Canyon State was the first to recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday as a federal holiday. These statements did not come as a surprise to someone who has listened to Public Enemy’s songs, read any interviews and lyrics, or read the name of their group. Overall, an absolutely electric performance from the hip-hop veterans as I look forward to seeing them again sooner rather than later. The duo will be opening up for Guns N’ Roses for select dates on their North American Tour this summer.

To end the festival at Home Plate was Sublime and blink-182. February 22nd is a special day for Sublime, as it is Bradley Nowell’s birthday. The founding member of Sublime, and father to current singer Jakob, was just 28 at the time of his passing, with Jakob only 11 months old. As time continued to move, Jakob joined Sublime in 2023 to take over where his father left off. At Innings Festival, surrounded by two humungous inflatable “Lou Dog’s”, Jakob made sure his fathers legacy was not forgotten. A bombastic set celebrating the all too brief discography of the Long Beach band was a joy to hear in the warmth of the southwest. The set included a cover of “Scarlet Begonais” by The Grateful Dead, a cover that was originated by Bradley back in 1992. Sublime’s set felt like a celebration, and I was happy to be there for it. Sublime will be touring across Australia, Europe, and North America this year continuing the party. You can find tickets here.

This Must Be The Place was at Innings Festival, handing out free doses of Naloxone at their stand and around the festival. An incredibly important collaboration to supply people with the tools to avoid overdoses. They have given away hundreds of thousands of doses throughout their time at festivals, and it was really cool to see Innings Festival embrace and uplift this organization.

blink-182 closed down the festival with their self proclaimed “only gig of the year” for which they “only practiced twice for”. The ladder comment was amended to “one and a half times because Tom (DeLonge) wanted to beat traffic” said bassist Mark Hoppus. The San Diego pop punk pillars breezed through their 19 song set that included two plays of Travis Barker’s only lead vocal appearance “FUCK FACE”. An abrasive name, yes. An abrasive song, also yes. Quick and to the point, like much of blink-182’s discography. This set was a greatest hits collection that featured four tunes a piece from “Enema of the State”, “Untitled”, “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”, and their most recent outing “ONE MORE TIME”. The rest of the set was made of a scattering of tracks from other records like “California’s” “Bored to Death” and blink’s first hit “Damnit”. A personal highlight of a blink show is hearing what Mark will sing during the bridge of the “Dude Ranch” single, and we got a new one with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” sung. I have heard “No Scrubs” by TLC, “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan and a variety of others but this bridge was on theme. blink will go into hibernation for the time being as we await what is next for The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show.

Bands don’t shy away from the baseball theming, really embracing the uniqueness of this festival. Congress, The Band sporting matching customized baseball jerseys, and even last year The Killers opened their headlining set with “Centerfield” by John Fogerty. The wide selection of artists, and the distinctive feeling the wraps around Tempe Beach Park make it a yearly pilgrimage for many. Innings Festival is not only a kick off to Spring Training, but festival season, as the gears begin to spin for 2026. I for one, am very excited for whats to come. Extra Innings Festival will be held in the same location this coming weekend as it focuses on country music. This is just the beginning. Stay tuned to KRUI for my interviews with Peach Pit, Deer Tick, and Eve 6 and tune into Downey’s Hour Monday Nights 9:00-11:00PM for your latest festival news!

All photos courtesy of Innings Festival.

The post Innings Festival Recap appeared first on KRUI Radio.

FRIDAY 

HOME PLATE 

Tyler Ballgame 12:50-1:35

Newcomer Tyler Ballgame is right at home at Innings Festival, marking the start of a very busy spring ahead. Opening for St. Paul and the Broken Bones, The Head and the Heart, and a run of headlining gigs in Europe, there is no slowing down after the release of his debut record “For the First Time, Again”. He recently performed the title track live on CBS News Live Sessions. His influences are worn on his sleeve, hearing drops of Elvis and John Lennon throughout the record. 

Marcy Playground 2:30-3:15

In 1994, the figurehead for the grunge movement died and alt radio doesn’t skip a bit diving into the Green Day and The Offspring infused punk scene. But in the few days where people didn’t know what to play, Marcy Playground developed an infusion of post-grunge, and a touch of psychedelic at times that became a staple in the rotating cd readers as people drove.  

Goo Goo Dolls 6:35-7:50

Everyone loves “Iris”. Who doesn’t? But there is so much more to not only the record “Dizzy Up The Girl”, but the rest of the bands discography. Prioritizing analog recording styles and what began their careers, the band released “Chaos In Bloom” in 2023 and the EP “Summer Anthem” in 2025. Continuing their partnership with last summers touring buddies, Dashboard Confessionals, they will both hit this festival. The Goo Goo Dolls will tour Canada briefly in March. 

Mumford and Sons 9:00-10:30

Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwayne, and Ben Lovett have been a powerhouse the past year. In 2025, the trio that is known as Mumford and Sons has released their first record since 2018, “RUSHMERE” on March 28th, played 102 shows across the world, and recorded a new album “Prizefighter”, to release on the night they headline Innings Festival, February 20^th. The return of their classic vibrant folk rock on “RUSHMERE” has led way to a more grounded and calm track listing on the first three of “Prizefighter”. This new record has attracted the likes of Hozier, Chris Stapleton, Gracie Abrams, and more. Mumford and Sons will continue their domination in 2026, including a return to Iowa at Hinterland. With a mixture of never before heard songs and the hits that led them into stardom, it is a can’t miss set. 

RIGHT FIELD 

Congress The Band 1:40-2:25

Hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, this group of five is the youngest band at Innings Fest. A jumble of fun, the indie rock belted by lead singer William Bennet is a joy to hear. While not many songs are available to listen right now, their brief collection holds hooks that latch on, including a great cover of Amy Whinehouse’s “Valerie“. Congress The Band is an exciting group that will be a great start to the festival.

Peach Pit 5:30-6:30

As good as it gets, Peach Pit is going to be a highlight of the weekend. Flying south to the warmer weather, this group of Canadian indie-rockers have been a staple in my ear for a while now. They’re four for four on records after 2024’s “Magpie” continued their hot streak. With melodic riffs today that becomes tomorrows hums at work, Peach Pit is a can’t miss. 

SATURDAY 

HOME PLATE 

Catie Turner 12:30-1:35

First rising to prominence in 2018 during season sixteen of American Idol, the Pennsylvania born singer has had the knack for performance her whole life. Making it to the top 7 that year, it was just the beginning as Catie Turner has gone on to release a barrage of tracks throughout the years since. Heading this together was the split EP, “Comedy and Tragedy” in 2023 reflecting on the passing of her father. These emotionally charged tracks are heartfelt and confident in what they are saying about loss and love. Turner released “Hurt You Now”, a three song selection, this past week.

Cage the Elephant 6:35-7:50

You are in for an unbeatable live show when Cage the Elephant takes the stage. Hailing from the home of bluegrass, these fine Kentucky gentlemen emphasize the “blues” aspect in their slick riffs and beautiful guitar tone. Lead singer Matt Schultz has grown into one of the greatest frontmen alive by turning the stage into a playground, swinging around with no regard to the woodchips in his shoes and scraps on his knees. A must see in every sense of the word.

Twenty-One Pilots 9:00-10:30

Nearing the end of extensively touring their 2024 record “Clancy” “”, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun put out “Breach” just sixteen months later as they prepare to step away from their hectic schedule. Before they play their singular North American show on Saturday night, the duo are set to release a new single “Drag Path” on February 17th. Twenty-One Pilots will hit the road in Europe to tour “Clancy” this summer playing a variety of festivals across the continent.

RIGHT FIELD 

The Backfires 12:10-12:45

New York indie rockers The Backfires have been on my list for quite a while. Energetic and lively, I was first introduced to them in 2022 from their single “Blindsided”. Word spread to me about their great live shows and the anticipation has only grown. Releasing their first record “This Is Not An Exit” in January 2025, The Backfires have been a force touring this record including a headlining gig at The Bowery Ballroom and opening up for The Happy Fits.  

Deer Tick 1:40-2:25

The Rhode Island native John McCauley created a very unique sound in 2004. Since then, he has been joined by Christopher Dale Ryan, Dennis Michael Ryan, and Ian Patrick O’Neil to create what is known as Deer Tick. Dancing the fine line of folk, blues, rock, country, Americana, and any other genre you enjoy listening to, this versatile quartet has embarked on a journey that has given them an impressive resume. Their most recent venture, the 2024 EP “Contractual Obligations” leans into a rocking maturity that is a must listen.

Silversun Pickups 3:20-4:20

Entering year 26 of their careers, Silversun Pickups are still putting out phenomenal tracks. This can be most recently seen in their 2026 record “Tentahooks“. Lead single, “The Wreckage” creates an atmosphere reminiscent of their hits that gave the bug to all of their fans years ago. The 10 track record is their first in four years. Based out of LA, this band begins a busy year touring this brand new record.

SUNDAY

HOME PLATE 

Common People 12:50-1:35

From all over the country, these gentleman gathered to make music. Some from the west, east, and everywhere in the middle, Common People is a band of destiny. Starting out as all good bands do, just jamming with some friends. Nicky Winegardner, Cormac Cadden, Knorad Ulich, Asher Thompson, and Sam Belzer hit the record button one day, and the rest is history (with most still unwritten). Supporting fellow Innings Fest players on their upcoming tour, Congress The Band, Common People will hit the stage with their latest single “Rain” and a collection of their back catalogue.

Bowling For Soup 2:30-3:15

“If you went to a Bowling for Soup show and the PA caught on fire and all of the microphones failed and somebody stole all the guitars, Jared Reddick could stand there without a microphone and entertain 2,000 people by himself for three hours. He could do it”. This is a quote from Brendan Brown of Wheatus about Bowling for Soup frontman Jaret Reddick. This is spot on too might I add,. A lively and happy show is a staple product of Bowling For Soup, leaving you with a smile on your face after some great pop punk tunes.  

blink-182 9:00-10:30

Innings Festival is lucky, they will play host to the singular show on the books for blink-182 as of now. The California pop punk trio has been out on the road quite a bit since reuniting in 2022, but look to be taking a step back this coming year. An opportunity to see this band and its original members is one that is too good to pass up. This retreat is in hopes of new music, as their 2023 record “One More Time…“, and its deluxe edition have entered the ancient age of three years old now. Hoping for a continuation of their “Missionary Impossible Tour” setlist, this is a great way to send the fest home.

RIGHT FIELD 

Artikal Sound System 1:40-2:25

A reggae vibe at the park is an ideal way to start the day as Artikal Sound System brings their southern Florida charm to Right Field. Entering year 14 of making music, Chris Montague and Fabian Acuña have dazzled across the country. This sound will be a nice compliment to Sublime playing later in the day, both sharing that reggae heart. A.S.S. most recent LP was 2025’s “Are You Smiling” in January quickly followed by their single “Orange Crush” in May. 

Big Boi 5:30-6:30

Sunday holds the hip hop artists as Big Boi will take the stage for the first time in what will be a busy 2026. One half to Outkast, Big Boi has been a staple in the world of rap, anchoring down as an influence to many of todays contemporaries. His music always seems to find a way to young peoples ears, including opening for Kid Cudi on his Rebel Rangers Tour this summer.  

Public Enemy 7:55-8:55

Chuck D and Flavor Flav’s hip hop duo burst onto the scene in 1985, blossoming out of New York with their strong political themes. Public Enemy is a force to be reckoned with.They rose to prominence in the 90’s, receiving four consecutive Bes Rap Performance by a Duo or Group from 90-93 for “Fight The Power” and records like “Fear of a Black Planet”. The pair have continued to make music throughout their 41 years, including 2025’s release “Black Sky Over The Projects: Apartment 2025”.  

LEFT FIELD STAGE

On top of the incredible musicians playing this festival, there is a baseball side to it. Leading the charge is former pitcher Ryan Dempster, who brings his “Off the Mound” talk show to the Left Field Stage each day of the festival. Pairing that with Jake Peavy’s All Star Jam on Friday, this is an absolute joy to have and something you can only find at Innings Festival. Celebrating the start of Spring Training is a glorious thing, and theres no better way to do it than listening to baseball players jam. There will also be meet and greet opportunities at Speed Pitch and Batting Cage with the likes of Brandon Crawford, Mark Grace, and more!

This combination of baseball and music is a match made in heaven. Enjoying the Arizona sun during the coldest months of the year, surrounded by the worlds finest bands and gold glove winners is a singular experience. Tickets for Innings Festival are almost all gone, with limited Friday and Sunday passes left that you can find here. Stay tuned for interviews and a recap and listen to Downey’s Hour Monday nights 9:00-11:00 PM!

The post Innings Festival Preview appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Logan Melia: Hi. How are you doing?  

Jaret Reddick: I’m doing great. How are you?  

Logan: I’m doing well. How’s the tour been? You’re out with Simple Plan, Lolo, and 3OH!3 right now, how’s that been?  

Jaret: Man, it’s, you know, in one way it’s like a family reunion because Simple Plan have been our little brothers since 2002, you know, when we first brought them to Texas and then took them to the UK and now they’re taking us all over the USA and so, yeah, it’s great. And then 3OH!3, we just love those guys so much and Lolo as well and so it’s just, it’s been a lot of fun and the crowds have been absolutely amazing, you know, kudos to Simple Plan for putting this thing together and taking us out and really, really bringing it.  

Logan: Yeah, they are, to you guys too, but incredible live bands. I mean, they are jumping all over the place, they’re a joy to see.  

Jaret: It’s a really, really energetic and fun night. I mean, and that’s, you know, that’s, again, kudos to them for picking the right bands because it’s, man, everybody is leaving with a big smile on their face and that’s what it’s all about.  

Logan: Yeah. Do you have any tours that you remember where you’re just like, God, this lineup was just, you know, if we could do that tour again, you know, is there anything that sticks out in your mind?  

Jaret: Yeah, I mean, there’s so many of them. You know, we’re pretty lucky in that for the most part, our entire career, we’ve hand selected who it is we tour with and, you know, we really haven’t supported many bands. It’s usually been our thing and, but the two co-headlines we did, one with Less Than Jake and one with Real Big Fish are definitely up there with this one as far as the best tours we’ve ever done.  

Logan: Are you a big ska guy? I mean, I wouldn’t say that I’m a big ska guy, but I mean, I love those bands as their music and people. I mean, you know, it’s really to me, it sort of fits in.  

Jaret: I don’t even think about it as ska, I think about those guys as being warped tour bands, you know, because that’s where we all grew up, you know, and seeing each other every summer and that’s where we got to be close and stuff. So it’s funny. It’s really until that I read it every once in a while, I’ll just be like, yeah, Less Than Jake just played our hometown of Dallas and I saw a bunch of posts about it and was like, the ska came to, I forget that they’re a ska band, you know, but yeah, they’re a rock band to me, you know, and, and they’re my buddies and they’re, I can’t think of any band that I like watching more than I do Less Than Jake. Maybe Bad Religion, but, but Less Than Jake being definitely one of my favorite live bands ever.  

Logan: Yeah. Now you mentioned Warped. You have an insanely busy year, you’re touring with Simple Plain, you’re doing a Warped or Bus Tour, you’re hitting Warped, Four Chords, Aftershock, you got a million things and then on top of it all, Wembley. 

Logan: It’s a huge year for you guys. 

Jaret: Huge year for us. I mean, and coming off of our biggest touring year ever and now, you know, doing some of these rock festivals for the first time and just really loving it and, and as I said, as you said, Warped Tour is back. So we have those three weekends and then, yeah, our biggest headlining show ever, Wembley Arena, December 13th and, you know, it’s looking like we’re going to sell it out. And that’s just one of those achievements that, you know, it’s, it’s much like, you know, I guess, you know, we’re sort of stacking those up, you know, we’re Grammy nominated, we just crossed a billion streams and now we’re going to headline Wembley Arena, you know, so it’s like, those are, those are like doctorates, you know, it’s, we’ll always have those things.  

Logan: You mentioned Grammys and the blue tuxes. I did some research that you guys won an award that didn’t win the Grammy, but you won the worst dressed that night from a fashion reporter. 

Jaret: We did, yep. From two actually we won it. We were named Joan Rivers “Worst Dressed” and People Magazines actually.  

Logan: Now in retrospect, would you wear the same, going back in time, would you wear the same blue tuxes? Because I personally think that they’re probably one of the best of the night, but would you have taken it up or would you have kept with the blue tuxes?  

Jaret: No, we would have done it again. I mean, we got so much press out of that, you know, I mean, Jimmy Kimmel even pointed us out on his show before we would ever, we’ve done him three times now, but you know, before we were ever even on there and he pointed out to our tuxes and so yeah, we got a, we got a lot of miles out of that. And also we looked so fun that Brad Paisley was there, he was at his first Grammys and he was, he was walking through and he was like, he was like, hey, I’m here by myself and you guys look fun. Can I just walk through this red carpet with you? And I’m like, yes, Brad Paisley, you sure can, you know, it’s super fun. Yeah, it’s super fun.  

Logan: Now you mentioned Warped earlier and you said like, you know, your bands come up together and stuff like that and I mean, this is the first Warped in, what is it, seven years at this point? Is it a lot of familiar faces?  

Jaret: Yeah, it’s definitely, as I said, it’s like a, you know, like a high school reunion or summer camp reunion or, you know, family reunion or whatever, but it’s, yeah, it’s, I mean, it’s, you know, it’s not quite the same in that, you know, originally your Warped tour for however many years we did it, we were on it for about 15 years, I think. And you know, you’re on it the whole summer and so, you know, you’re, all the buses are parked together and you’re, you know, that’s where you, you’re all hanging out and stuff like that. It’s a little bit different since most of us have to fly in for the shows, you know, and so you see as many people as you can. It’s a little bit overwhelming, but it’s, you know, it’s great to see everybody.  

Logan: I saw Dan Povenmire made an appearance and like, you know, many kids my age, my introduction to Bowling for Soup was, you know, through Phineas and Ferb and everything. So how did bringing Dan out come to be?  

Jaret: That was cool. You know, he’s done that a few times. I can’t really remember the first time we did it. We did it at the Anaheim house. Oh no, I do remember.  

Logan: Is that When We Were Young? 

Jaret: When We Were Young.   

Logan: That’s right. 

Jaret: We did that the first time and he loved it, had so much fun. So then he and Swampy both came, oh, and Vincent, who plays Phineas, all came to our Anaheim House of Blues show last year and we did a little thing and then, but yeah, this one was really cool because Phineas and Ferb, it was the week of the day of the debut of the new episodes.  

Logan: The re-premiere. Yeah. 

Jaret: And so they did a whole exhibit, but like put together a whole installation at Warped Tour and people could walk through it and stuff. And so it just added to the show that Dan was able to come up in the jacket and do the voice and we shot love handle shirts out of the t-shirt cannon and my son was there who’s 19. He was able to do that. So it’s just a great day.  

Logan: That’s awesome. Yeah. I was about, I remember my older sister telling me, I was watching Phineas and Ferb with her and she’s like, they’re like an actual rock band, Love Handle. That’s how I fell down this rabbit hole and fell in love with you guys playing and it’s been very cool seeing that come to be with Dan on stage.  

Jaret: Yeah. And just generations and generations of people who love that show so much. And it’s certainly been a pleasure to be a part of it all this time.  

Logan: Now you’ve been still producing great music, like “Pop Drunk Snot Bread”, I love, you guys are still out cooking, “Don’t Mind If We Do” came out a few years ago. You had the release of “Fishing for Woo’s”. Those creative juices are still flowing, which you can’t say for a lot of bands that came up in the same era. What’s the secret to you guys still putting out good quality stuff?  

Jaret: Yeah, it’s just because we still enjoy ourselves and we never really tried to mess with the formula. We just do what we do and we didn’t try to change with the times or anything like that or evolve or copy any styles or trends or anything like that. We just stayed who we were. I think Bowling for Soup fans would agree that every once in a while you just need a little dose of Bowling for Soup to brighten your day. And we figured that out pretty early, that that was our thing and we really just stuck to that. And we still enjoy what we’re doing. We still love being around each other. So it’s been a blessing for sure.  

Logan: And you added “Turbulence” to the setlist I saw for this tour right now. How do you pick, because you play your hits, but how do you swap in those more deep cut type songs?  

Jaret: Yeah “Turbulence” was an interesting conversation actually. It’s really interesting that you would bring that up because we do that during our full set. It’s usually after I do a whole discussion, a quick two, three minutes about mental health because mental health is really something that is important to me and it’s something that I’ve had issues with in the past and I just really like to communicate that out into the world so that people know that A. it can really happen to anybody. But “Turbulence”, it was really just knowing the Simple Plan audience and knowing that they have those songs like “Perfect” and the “Unnamed Song” and those songs that are just really, really heartfelt. And it was like, you know what, this audience, even though we’re only up there 40 minutes, I think they’re really going to be able to take something away from, with the song Turbulence. And so, actually, it was Rob’s idea, I think, and then we just talked about it as a band and we were like, yeah, let’s just try it and see. And it’s really working. It’s a nice, nice little, we’re really, really in your face for like 30 minutes and then it’s a little breath of fresh air, then we’re in your face for another 10 and then we’re done.  

Logan: Yeah. Well, you mentioned a 40 minute set. Do you remember the longest set you’ve ever played?  

Jaret: Oh, yeah, sure. I mean, you know, yeah, we’ve played three hour shows, I mean, plenty of times and we were one of those bands, you know, when we were back in the bar days, like they would have to pull us off the stage. And our 20th anniversary show, I think, was two and a half hours. And they were literally like, it was a union crew, and our tour manager literally had to walk up on stage and be like, they are going to turn on the lights, you need to get off the stage. So, we don’t, I don’t really see us doing that anymore. We’ve gotten a little older and it gets hot up there, but yeah, I mean, we’ve played some long shows. 

Logan: Yeah. Getting old sucks, but you know, everybody’s doing it as you are.  
Jaret: It’s better than the alternative, right? 
 
Logan: Yeah. Okay. Final one. You got, you know, just a big anniversary tour, you’re opening up. What’s next on that? Are you guys writing, do you write on the road a lot, what’s coming up for Bowling for Soup?  

Jaret: Yeah, as you said, you know, we have this tour, we still got another three weeks left and then we’ll be home for a little bit and then we’re touring some dates in the south to get to Orlando Warped Tour. And we’re playing Epcot as well for two days. And then we got the Wembley Arena show and then in February we’ll be in the studio recording a new album. So, and between now and then we’re releasing “Hangover You Don’t Deserve Live” that we recorded in Manchester last year.  

Logan: I love live records, such a fan.  

Jaret: Thank you. Yeah, well, we’re excited about it. You know, it’s our, I think it’s our third or fourth live record. And so this one, it’s really, really cool because it’s the whole “Hangover You Don’t Deserve” album front to back and then some fun stuff at the end, but yeah, it’s just an exciting time for us. And then there’ll be more, we’ll be in Australia some next year, back to the UK again some next year and then a full US tour late in the summer and fall.  

Logan: That’s exciting stuff. Well, you can catch Bowling for Soup in Council Bluffs, Iowa on August 20th. I’m in Chicago right now, you guys are playing the 24th at Northerly, I’m very excited for that. It’s awesome. You got a good stretch. Well, thank you so much for spending time with me. 

Jaret: Thanks for having me. 

Logan: I really appreciate it. It means a lot.  

Jaret: Thanks brother.

To quote my interview with Brendan Brown of Wheatus, “if you went to a Bowling for Soup show and the PA caught on fire and all of the microphones failed and somebody stole all the guitars, Jared Reddick could stand there without a microphone and entertain 2,000 people by himself for three hours. He could do it”. I couldn’t agree more. The energy Bowling for Soup brings to the stage is contagious, making even tho most stagnant viewers give a little toe tap or head bounce. Bowling for Soup will play their biggest headlining gig at Wembley Arena on December 13th with support from Wheatus and Punk Rock Factory. A handful of US dates, including Innings Festival, have been announced as we await the new album and tour dates for later in 2026. You can keep up with the latest Bowling for Soup news here.

The post Interview: Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup appeared first on KRUI Radio.