2006年VOA标准英语-Jaret Reddick: Punk Soup for the Soul

By Sophie Kanter
Washington, DC
28 July 2006
 
watch Bowling¹ for Soup report

Bowling for Soup
   
  
Bowling for Soup is one of the hottest new punk bands on the American music scene. The musicians met while attending Midwestern State University. They have released nine albums, the most recent being "A Hangover You Don't Deserve." They recently performed in Washington, D.C., where VOA's Larry London had a chance to talk with the band's lead singer, Jaret Reddick.

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One fan described the group. "They just rock out, you know, and their songs are true, at least the ones I've heard."

 
Jaret Reddick, lead singer 
  
Bowling for Soup has had great success, but lead singer Jaret Reddick says they had trouble getting noticed. "When "Drunk Enough to Dance" came out, you know, "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" went to rock radio, and rock radio absolutely ignored it for six months. And then this weird² thing happened, it turned December and this radio station in Indianapolis just started playing it, and relentlessly³ played it and played it and played it. And then, January 7, 2003, we were nominated for a Grammy for the song, and it just got wheels and wind from there. And we were in a different world then, you know?"

The Grammy nomination⁴ coincided with the birth of his daughter. He was in the delivery room with his wife when the nurse handed him the phone. Describing the event. "And my manager's like, 'Hey man, you got nominated for a Grammy.' And I'm like, 'All right, thanks man, see you later.' And I hung up. So my wife is like, 'Who would call us at a time like this?' And of course, I understand, I'm like, 'It's nothing, I guess we got nominated for a Grammy.' Of course the nurses are like, 'WHAT?!, we should talk about it, and who else is in the thing.' And I'm like, 'Let's focus, let's get this kid out of here!' "

Another hit,"1985," was written by Mitch Allen of SR-71. Jaret wanted to collaborate⁵ on the song, but Mitch had other plans. "So I was like, man, I'd love to work with you on it, and he was like, you know what, just take it, do with it what you want."

The band's name, "Bowling for Soup" is from a line used by American comedian⁶ Steve Martin.  Jaret says people often wonder if any of the band members like to bowl. "We all bowl badly," Jaret admits.

At 34 years old, Jaret has been with the band for seven years, released nine albums, and has two kids. He thought his life would take a different path, but music intervened.

"This was never supposed to happen. I mean, I have two college degrees, I'm supposed to be working in some office, and going home every night at five o' clock, and on the weekends, grilling⁷ with my neighbors and watching sports. But unfortunately for the world, here I am."

1 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

4 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

5 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

6 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

7 grilling   

v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• The minister faced a tough grilling at today's press conference. 部长在今天的记者招待会上受到了严厉的盘问。
• He's grilling out there in the midday sun. 他在外面让中午火辣辣的太阳炙烤着。 来自《简明英汉词典》