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chaoticrebels · 2 years

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Name: Ryker Kaiden Phoenix

Nickname: Ry

Alias: The Bad Boy

Birthday: April 1

Age: 21+

Sexuality: Bisexual, Biromantic

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Species: Human

Powers: None

Occupation: Video Game Designer, Gamer, Comic Book Artist

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 165 lbs

Eye Color: Green

Hair color: Brunette

Piercings: None

Tattoos: A few

Scars: None

Faceclaim: Hero-Fiennes Tiffin

Biography

After a long and difficult labor, one that was beginning to look very grim for the mother and the baby, Mateo and Noelani Phoenix welcomed a beautiful baby boy named Ryker Kaiden Phoenix on April 1st in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After the doctors ran a few tests on the newborn, it turned out everything was fine and he was healthy baby. Honestly he was the most precious thing in the world and they couldn’t ask for more, they were completely happy and everything was perfect according to them. And then something went horribly wrong with Noelani, which they had to rush Mateo out of the room. It took hours for the doctors to fix the problem, they lost her a couple of times but they got her back and saved her life. The only thing was that Noelani couldn’t have anymore kids due to the complications, both of them was disappointed for a bit but at least they had Ryker and they were all okay, so they were grateful for their blessings they’ve received. Over the next few days they spent in the hospital, their family would drop in to see their newest member. Once they were finally able to leave the hospital and go home, they threw a welcoming party for Ryker. All their friends and family had shown up, it was one of the happiest times in their lives.

Ryker was the light of his parents life, especially since he was their one and only. Their world revolved around him, they did everything to make sure he was happy and healthy. They loved him more than anything in the universe and he loved them more than the universe, they were a happy little family and they promised nothing was ever gonna change. However when Ryker was two tragedy struck; one night when his father was away looking for a house in Boise since they would be moving there soon, their house was broken into. The stranger ended up being his mother’s ex boyfriend who had turned out to be stalking her, he claimed that Ryker was his biological kid and that they were going to be a family. When his mother kept protesting with the strange male and trying to get him to safety, the man killed her right in front of Ryker. After that he quickly took the kid and disappeared to Vancouver, Canada.

For the next few years, Ryker had been living with the stranger who he assumed was his father. The male would say some weird things that the child was to young to understand, mostly about the things he’s done in the past or what he wanted for the future. Ryker would just continue about his day as nothing was wrong, after the confessions the male would make he would ask Ryker if he loved him and of course Ryker didn’t know any better and says of course I love you daddy. The kid was happy for most parts, except when he was having nightmares of his mother being shot. Ry was four when he was finally reunited with his biological father, the strange was caught and arrested after someone recognized him while they were shopping. At first it was hard to adjust to the fact the stranger wasn’t his father, that Mateo was. He would cry for hours on end that he wanted his daddy and he wanted to go home, it broke his father’s heart and he was sure it broke his mother’s heart as well. But eventually he accepted that this was the truth, with a little help from therapy.

When Ryker was five, his father had moved them to Boise, Idaho. He couldn’t stand being in Canada anymore, too many bad memories lately. Plus he had already brought a house in Boise when he discovered his worst nightmare, he was about to sell it when he had gotten the news his baby boy was alive and had been found. After that news there was no way he was gonna sell it, he was gonna take his kid and flee to it once he was able to. At first Ry was unsure of the move but eventually he came to accept it, he still had to attend some therapy for the trauma he suffered but he was getting better. He missed his mother a lot though but he was glad he got to be with his real father again, his father and the rest of his family members would tell him stories of his mother so he’d remember her but it still wasn’t the same.

At the age of six, his father started dating someone which he didn’t know what to think about it. A part of him was upset because of it but the other part of him was confused, he had so many questions. And even though his father answered each one of his questions, he was still confused but that was probably because he was still young. Especially to why his daddy was dating another daddy, but he just left it alone since his daddy looked happy. When he was seven they ended up selling the house in Boise to move to Washington to be closer to Asher, he didn’t mind it much since that meant he got to spend more time with Rhys, though he wasn’t the biggest fan of Phoenix. Shortly after they’ve moved to Seattle it didn’t take long for his father to get engaged to his boyfriend, it happened at the strike of midnight on New Years day so instead of a kiss, he got a marriage proposal. It didn’t take long after that for them to move in with Asher, Rhys, and Phoenix, it was hectic at first but they eventually got used to it and by the end of July, he officially had a stepfather, a stepbrother, and a stepsister.

After that he grew closer to Phoenix, but he was practically inseparable from Rhys. However when they weren’t with their friends, the three of them could always be seen together doing something. It was like that til Phoenix turned sixteen, then she started spending more time with her new best friends; Jasper and Leilani but mostly Jasper than with them. And when she couldn’t hang with them or with any other friend, she’d hang with them. Not that he minded it so much, he had Rhys and his other friends so he was fine with Nix ditching them. The boys just focused on either going hiking, camping, sailing, fishing, ice skating, swimming, or they focusing on gaming, comic books or going to the movies. Either way the boys where never bored with Phoenix around, they always found a way to entertain themselves. Even if it was just playing make believe.

When Ryker turned twelve, his father announced that Asher and him would be getting a divorced. He shouldn’t have been surprised to see it coming though, especially since they fought a lot now a days. The news left him devastated because that meant he’d being losing another parents and his siblings, most importantly his best friend. But Phoenix made him feel a bit better when she told them they’d still be about to be best friends and see each other, which was true it wasn’t as if they were leaving the state, were they? He asked his father about it and lucky the plan was for them to stay in Seattle, which made him feel a bit better since what Phoenix said was true. At least until he was thirteen and his father informed him that they were moving to Salt Lake City, Utah. That definitely devastated him once again because he was leaving Rhys and this time he didn’t know if he’d ever see him again, he definitely wasn’t a fan of his father right now but he stilled loved him no matter what.

Once Ry got settled into Salt Lake City, he spent most of his free time in his room either playing video games or reading comic books. He was still upset with his father for moving him away from his best friend, his father tried to get him to do other things, like go out and meet new friends but he refused. Once school started however he made quite a bit of friends, which made his father happy since now he wasn’t locked up in his room all the time. When he turned fourteen, his father started dating a woman named Adalyn. From the first moment Ryker met her, he didn’t like her because something felt extremely off about her. He voiced his concerns to his father but Mateo just told him to give her a chance, he was reluctant at first but he decided to give her a chance for him since his father’s happiness was all that matter to him.

By the age of fifteen, Ryker still didn’t like her. Especially since every time he was around her, he felt extremely uncomfortable. He started spending more time with his friends than he did at home when she was around, he was hoping that this relationship didn’t last long because surely it wasn’t just his mind messing with him. One night when he had gotten home, his father asked him how he felt if Adalyn moved in. He completely froze for a bit before he protested, he told his father that he felt uncomfortable around her. He said okay he understood that he wouldn’t ask her to move in, Ryker was relieved and he thought that was it. But a week later he woken up to find out she stayed the night, he simply groaned and went back to bed in hopes that it was just a bad dream. When he woke again and left his room to go get food, he was cornered in the hall way by Adalyn. He blinked in confusion before he tried to get passed her, however she wasn’t budging. She told him that his father left for the day and it was just her and him, that they needed to discuss this uncomfortable feeling he has around her. His eyes widened at her words, at the realization his father told her that he was uncomfortable around her. How could he do something like that to him, he told that to him in private. He had never felt more betrayed than he did right then and there, but if he knew it would make things so much worst from then on out, then he would have never had said anything from the beginning.

After that day, Ryker started rebelling pretty hard. Trying his hardest to not go home, especially after Adalyn moved in. He didn’t want to be in the same house as her, let alone the same room as her. He especially didn’t want to risk the chance of being left alone with her, he hated her guts even more now than before but he had to pretend to actually be okay with her for his father’s sake. A couple of months after he turned sixteen, his father proposed to Adalyn. He nearly died from a panic attack it brought on, his father was starting to become concerned about his current behavior and started questioning him about it but Adalyn told him that he was just being a normal teenager who didn’t want to share someone’s attention. Then she had the nerve to look at him as if she wanted him to agree, he felt completely sick but he agreed then stormed off. He ended up grounded after that and was forced to stay home, which meant he was alone for her for sometime which was a living hell.

On Dec 24th, his father officially married the witch and thus she became officially his new stepmother. Which she preferred him to call her mommy, and that lead him to attempt to ended his suffering on Dec 26th. Unfortunately he didn’t succeed, which only caused more problems at home. But he found a bit of sunshine after that when he started dating one of the sweetest girls he met, he was happy for most parts, hell he was happy enough to start designing his own comic books. He was content that he didn’t care his home life was a living mess, he just blocked everything else out. That was until everything fell apart six months after he turned seventeen, he was going to propose to his then girlfriend but it turned out she ended her life before he got the chance. It nearly killed him and it would have if his father didn’t surprise him with Rhys, the male was the one person he needed right now - well minus his biological mom but that wasn't gonna happen. The moment that they were alone, Ryker ended up breaking down and telling Rhys everything that has been going one since he moved away. If he was being honest, the male was the only person he trusted to fully open up to.

After that Ryker would always end up staying at Rhys dorm, it was as if he lived there and he practically did. But unfortunately since he was still a minor he was made to go home, it was miserable but he had became so numb to everything he was just pushing through on auto-pilot til he was about eighteen years old. Once he was eighteen, Ry officially moved in with Rhys and there was nothing his father could do about it. He still loved his father but his relationship with him wasn’t as strong as before, maybe one day he would work on fixing their bond but right then and there he couldn’t care to.

Eventually Ryker decided to go to college to become a video game designer, he enrolled and attended University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the brunette was at college, Rhys found them a place to live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Which surprised him because he’d thought the male would want to be close to his father and sister, but the other male made it clear that he wasn’t going to leave him alone til the bitch was gone for good. Ry definitely appreciated it, honestly Rhys was definitely the last good thing he had left in this world and he wasn’t about to let anything or anyone ruin that for him.

Once the brunette finished college and moved back to Utah, he started his career as a video game designer, as well as a comic book artist. Though after everything that’s gone done in his life, he isn’t the same person he was before. He has trust issues and he is closed off to most people, the person he is closest to is Rhys and he’d die to protect him. He'd die to protect anyone he has became super close to, however it will take a lot for him to trust someone enough to open up about his past. On his twenty first birthday, he made a special trip to Seattle, WA to get tattoos done by Rhys's older sister Phoenix. He ended up getting different tattoos for different reasons, but his first ever tattoo he had gotten done was dedicated to his mother.

#☯ 。゜ ⠀ ☆ ⠀ 。゜ ⠀ ★ 𝙁𝙄𝙇𝙀𝘿 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍 ﹕Ryker

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twistedstxrs · 2 years

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Name: Ryker Kaiden Phoenix

Nickname: Ry

Alias: The Bad Boy

Birthday: April 1

Age: 21+

Sexuality: Bisexual, Biromantic

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Species: Human

Powers: None

Occupation: Video Gamer Designer, Comic Book Artist

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 165 lbs

Eye Color: Green

Hair color: Brunette

Piercings: None

Tattoos: A few

Scars: None

Faceclaim: Hero-Fiennes Tiffin

Biography

#♚↬Ryker↫♚

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artistportfoliomagazine · 2 years

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Featured Artist | Lisa Roggenbuck

Lisa Roggenbuck Boise, ID lisaroggenbuck.com @lisaroggenbuck Lisa Roggenbuck is an Idaho based painter, filmmaker, performance artist, and educator. She was born in Boise, Idaho, where she grew up and received her MFA in 2020 from Boise State University. Roggenbuck began her career as a tattoo artist in 2001, which ignited her interest in how bodies are influenced by social ideas and how one…

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creion · 5 years

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sick i might actually get the tattoo i wanted AND from a tattoo artist that i know & trust rather than going to a new artist that i Dont Know

#look...#not all tattoo artists are Good....#theres this guy in boise and he like...#hes Goode #he didnt do my last tattoo but like #his Place or whatever is the one place that i Trust #also i think idaho is one of those places where not all tattoo artists have to be sanitary #but hes like sanitary af #to my knowledge #and my last tattoo? came out great #and hasnt faded much

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juliusandfriends · 5 years

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full name. Julius Marie Laneyah Ryce Lloyd pronunciation. Jool-ee-us Muh-ree Lah-ney-uh Riis Loyd nicknames. Jules, Juli titles. The Artist height. 5′0

age. 23

zodiac. Taurus

languages. English, Russian, French

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour. Dyed blue, Naturally red eye colour. changes from blue to grey skin tone. Pale body type. Near-dangerously thin, with a thicker lower half accent. A slight-girlish american accent dominant hand. Right handed posture. Slouchy scars. Self-harm scars on his arms, thighs, neck and over left eye

Tattoos. none

most noticeable features. Neck scars, missing eye, freckles and natural hair colour

“CHILDHOOD.”

place of birth. unknown hometown. Boise, Idaho birth weight / height. Unknown manner of birth. Hospital. first words. “ Hi! “ siblings. Breenan, Jordan and Mickey Lloyd parents. Mother: Rona Lloyd Father: Gary Lloyd parental involvement. Julius’ mother was most of his support as a child, with his father often being at work and either sleeping or abusive when he wasn’t.

ADULT LIFE

occupation. Part time at McDonalds current residence. Unknown close friends. Too many for him to name relationship status. Taken (Married in one universe) financial status. N/A driver’s license. None criminal record. Murder vices. (Wasn’t exactly sure of the def) Self destructive tendencies “for the sake of his art”, doing drugs

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation. Bisexual romantic orientation. Panromantic preferred emotional role. submissive | dominant | switch | unsure preferred sexual role. submissive | dominant | switch (more leaning into being dominant) | sex repulsed libido. average turn on’s. People touching his thighs, other things he prefers not to talk about turn off’s. Unknown as of right now

love language. Cuddles, Hand-holding Relationship tendencies. Julius has the tendency to become extremely clingy and want to be around his partner at all times.

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song. Avenged Sevenfold - The art of Subconcious Illusion hobbies to pass the time. Drawing, or making art in general, playing video games, spending time with his family, Visiting his real family’s graves mental illnesses. Manic Bipolar, Depression, Anxiety. physical illnesses. N/A left or right brained. Right brained fears. Spiders and being forgotten, among many others self-confidence level. Fluctuates from so low it’s barely even there to high vulnerabilities. Being yelled at

Tagged: @wrongarmofthelaw

Tagging: @blcdexpuppetmcster, @lydia-at-the-diner, @aaaaimscared

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keychangc · 5 years

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FULL NAME. marcus casey dunham. MEANING. marcus: possible relation to the latin mas (manly) or from the greek malakoz (soft, tender). casey: brave, vigilant. dunham: hill + homestead. NICKNAME. marc, mc, mars, dunny, switch. GENDER. trans man. HEIGHT. 5′8. AGE. 28. ZODIAC. cancer. SPOKEN LANGUAGES. english + some french.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR. dark blond. EYE COLOR. caramel brown. SKIN TONE. fair. BODY TYPE. mesomorph. ACCENT. midwestern-american. VOICE. example. DOMINANT HAND. right. POSTURE. SCARS. inverted t top surgery scars. an assortment of aged scars from childhood roughhousing and play. a faint vertical scar on the left side of his lower lip given to him when he’d tried to stop a bar fight. a thin scar across his right palm from a snapped guitar string.

TATTOOS. none yet. MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). his bright smile.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH. boise, idaho. HOMETOWN. los angeles, california. BIRTH WEIGHT. on the high side of average. BIRTH HEIGHT. average. MANNER OF BIRTH. cesarean section. FIRST WORDS. bye-bye. SIBLINGS. n/a. PARENTS. mother, karen dupree; father, gregory dunham. PARENT INVOLVEMENT. rocky relationship with late mother; strong relationship with father.

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION. musician, performer, bartender. CURRENT RESIDENCE. a fixer-upper of a studio apartment near the heart of the city CLOSE FRIENDS. tao song, asmee gil, RELATIONSHIP STATUS. “it’s complicated.” FINANCIAL STATUS. scraping by. DRIVER’S LICENSE. current. CRIMINAL RECORD. n/a. VICES. alcohol.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. pansexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION. panromantic. PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch LIBIDO. mid-high. TURN ON’S. confidence, artistic ability (in many forms), formal attire, certain colognes and perfumes. TURN OFF’S. poor hygiene, bigotry, mind games, emotional unavailability, condescension and belittlement. LOVE LANGUAGE. words of affirmation. RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. slow to open up entirely; guarded; overly generous with trusted individuals.

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥��𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. time forgets, yiruma. HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. listening to or playing music, spending time with friends and family, watching or playing baseball, jogging. LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. right. PHOBIAS. acrophobia, tokophobia. SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL. constantly in flux, but typically fairly high.

tagged by: i stole this from the dash forever ago rip tagging: @ghostconjured, @apochestriia, @mouseminded, @websaved, @lackspraise, @lcgcndxry (luis!), @fxrechild + anyone wearing shorts

#• character study.

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perfectirishgifts · 3 years

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Sing Along Forever: The Bouncing Souls Enter Their Fifties And Fatherhood—Together

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/sing-along-forever-the-bouncing-souls-enter-their-fifties-and-fatherhood-together/

Sing Along Forever: The Bouncing Souls Enter Their Fifties And Fatherhood—Together

The Bouncing Souls, 2020—COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Bryan Kienlen and his wife, Nicole, have a new routine. When they first wake up, they give bottles to their babies, Cora and Layla. And before taking on their daily tasks, they dedicate quality time for cuddling, crawling and playing.

“All four of us have this really beautiful morning,” 51-year-old Kienlen says. “It’s how I start every day. It’s the coolest thing.”

Twenty years ago, The Bouncing Souls bassist often spent his golden hour stumbling home from a night of partying in New York City, groggy and regretful as commuters drank coffee and made their way to work.

Bryan Kienlen walks on the boardwalk with his family. New Jersey, November, 2020

But decades removed from his period of downtown debauchery, the domesticated punk has found stability and serenity through his 30-year musical journey, as a successful tattoo shop owner and as a family man. He says being a father and “giver” is the greatest thing he’s ever done.

“You find how rewarding it is,” Kienlen explains. “There’s such a stark difference from being a ‘band guy.’ When I was a young, single maniac writing songs and touring—I didn’t realize until I could see things from my current perspective—but I was more self-centered. Everything revolved around me. Now, that stage of my life is over and I’m here to serve and take care of my kids and my wife. And I’m so happy with that. It’s not all about me anymore, in a good way.”

A lot has changed for The Bouncing Souls, the cult-followed New Jersey punk band which formed when Kienlen, vocalist Greg Attonito and guitarist Pete Steinkopf were high schoolers in Basking Ridge, NJ.

In the 90s, the band lived in chaos at a series of “punk houses,” each complete with a revolving door of ill-behaved 20-somethings, drunks and miscreants.

The Bouncing Souls, 2001 (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns)

Today, Kienlen and Steinkopf have settled down in New Jersey, whereas Attonito set up shop in small-town Idaho. And miraculously—as all three musicians have entered their fifties—they’ve all, almost simultaneously, become fathers.

But much has stayed the same, too. Last year, the band celebrated its 30th anniversary by touring North America and England, performing songs from the guys’ 10 full-length albums and newest EP Crucial Moments. Three of the four original members remain, save for the role of drummer. George Rebelo, from popular Florida rock band Hot Water Music, joined in 2013.

And 2020, with its own unique set of circumstances, has encouraged the Souls to appreciate the past while embracing the new in both their musical and personal lives.

In October, the band released Volume 2, a record of reimagined songs ranging from the group’s newest single, appropriately titled “World on Fire,” back to fan-favorite “Gone,” from the 2001 album How I Spent My Summer Vacation. And on Saturday, December 12, the band will be hosting a livestream performance of the album in a digital concert called Live at Studio 4.

While the group didn’t expect an internet broadcast to replace its annual Asbury Park Home For The Holidays residency, Volume 2 itself was born under precarious timing.

Bouncing Souls, Live At Studio 4, Saturday December 12, 8PM ET

Recorded in March during two one-week sessions in Philadelphia, the band completed the record just as America was blindsided by COVID-19. As time passed in the studio, the threat of the oncoming pandemic quickly went from negligible to worrisome.

“When we first went in the studio, I’d just heard the murmurings of coronavirus,” 50-year-old Steinkopf says. “I was like, ‘What the f*** is that?’”

“The second week was more intense,” 50-year-old Attonito adds. “The restaurant above the studio closed on our last day. The crazy thing about it was, we were having such a positive experience. We were joking about how we were spontaneously creating from our old songs that we love and the world simultaneously was cinching in with dark gloom. Those last couple of days, we didn’t want to leave our bubble of happiness. We knew we were walking into this chaos of the unknown.”

The Bouncing Souls with producer Will Yip, March 2020, Philadelphia

“Even the week that things were getting really weird, we were hyper-focused and trying to stay off our phones,” Steinkopf says. “But every now and then, someone would be like, ‘Did you see this!?’ What the f*** is happening?!’”

Despite the impending doom, the Souls found the studio sessions to be fruitful. The band was able to recompose classic tracks, breathing new and unexpected life into staples and providing previously underappreciated songs with a second chance.

Attonito was able to sing from a more mature and controlled vocal perspective—leaving the guttural belting for the next fast-paced punk record—allowing him to put a new spin on songs he’s chanted thousands of times.

Steinkopf was able to give a nod to the 80s tunes that inspire him, drawing energy from bands like The Cure, rather than focusing on a checklist of sing-a-longs and “woah-oh-ohs.”

The band was even able to squeeze in some silly instrumentation, using a “cheesy” 80s Casio keyboard and toy instruments on the song “Hopeless Romantic.” At Kienlen’s burning request, they even incorporated a french horn into “Favorite Everything.”

But as the recording sessions wrapped up, the band scrambled to make travel arrangements to get home to their families.

“Everybody said goodbye,” Kienlen says. “And the world was never the same.”

The guys returned to their homes in New Jersey, Idaho and Florida. They kept in touch, but were just as anxious as the rest of the country.

Steinkopf and Kienlen, Anchors Aweigh Tattoo Studio

Kienlen, like many other Americans, was forced to close his tattoo shop in Bradley Beach, NJ, Anchors Aweigh Tattoo Studio, for three months as the battle against COVID-19 took a stranglehold of the Northeast.

In the mountains 100 miles north of Boise, Attonito’s small resort town felt seemingly unchanged at the onset of the pandemic. But in the red state of Idaho, many remained resistant to masks, even as a surge of tourists in RVs flooded the area and caused a spike of positive cases.

Early on, Attonito felt depressed that band-life was on hold. Eventually, he started becoming conscious of mask-wearing in his dreams. And Steinkopf began to realize how much he missed the things he used to take for granted.

“Someone sent me a Souls show from a long time ago,” Steinkopf says. “I was watching it and I got real emo about it. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t go out and do as much these days, and now I’m like, ‘Man, I’m gonna go do everything when I can again!’”

But, in the meantime, the band adapted and found creative outlets to keep the spirit of the Souls alive. They started holding weekly Zoom meetings to catch up and launched the Can You Remember? podcast via Patreon, an endeavor they wouldn’t have pursued otherwise.

And along with their new projects, the guys are beginning to see a tentative semblance of “new normalcy.” Steinkopf is back producing in the studio again and Kienlen is booked up with tattoo appointments well into 2021.

While the band is glad to feel productive and are eager to return to live music, they recognize what a unique opportunity the pandemic has offered them as new fathers.

Kienlen and his wife adopted their first baby, Cora, as a newborn in December of last year.

Bryan Kienlen with his wife, Nicole, and daughter, Cora — December 2019

“At the time, I had one new baby, whom I hadn’t had the chance to bond with because we adopted,” Kienlen explains. “One day, you go from no baby to baby in your house, real fast. I still had touring through the end of the year and was booked out with [tattoo] appointments every other day that I wasn’t on tour. We never had a paternal leave or hardly a maternal leave, either. It was pretty difficult. When the lockdown happened it was a blessing for us because we got to stay home with her and truly bond every day.”

Then Kienlen went from having one baby to two babies just as quickly. In October, less than a year from Cora’s adoption, the couple was contacted with the opportunity to adopt a second child: a seven-month-old who they named Layla.

Kienlen and his daughter, Layla — October 2020

“We got that call on a Wednesday afternoon out of the blue,” he explains. “We picked her up that Friday. Talk about no time to plan! We scrambled to play catch-up a little. But I think we’re finally settling into a groove.”

While the couple were definitely hoping to adopt a second child so Cora would have a sibling, they were pleasantly surprised by the timing.

“We expected to wait a year or two,” Kienlen says. “That’s generally how long it takes. But I’m glad that it happened this way because they’re gonna be in the same grade. It couldn’t be better.”

Attonito and Steinkopf have also enjoyed their time home with their children. At the end of their conference call interview with Forbes, Attonito was adorably approached by his son, asking to say hello to “Uncie Pete.”

“If you’re gonna be locked down in a pandemic,” Attonito says. “You may as well be in a period where your child is under two or three years old, the most valuable moments to be with them all the time. In that sense, the timing is pretty good for all of us.”

Uncle Bryan & Lux — 2019

Fortuitous timing is just one example of the kindred connection between the members of The Bouncing Souls. Not only did they all enter their fifties together—Attonito and Steinkopf just days apart—but fatherhood, too.

Around three years ago, Attonito and his wife, Shanti, welcomed their baby boy, Ever. A few months later, Steinkopf and his wife, Keira, birthed their son, Lux.

“Serendipitous is a good word,” Kienlen says. “It describes the entire existence of our band. None of us had brothers growing up. Maybe on some deep level we found each other and bonded into a family and stayed together for life as brothers.”

They’re already growing together as parents, too, both in their capacity to love and overcome their fears.

“You could say a million things about having a child,” Attonito says. “But it pushes your capacity to look outside yourself and take care of someone. It pushes you to those limits in a way that, I don’t think, you can possibly experience without having a child.”

Greg Attonito with his wife, Shanti, and son, Ever

He continues: “I’m so glad I waited until I was in my late forties. The idea of having a child terrified me to no end. I felt like I would never be there for them. I’d be on tour all the time, that would be the worst. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy one or the other. I’m so glad it worked out the way it did. The fact that we’re all sharing this at the same time has been super special.”

“I was always the most terrified to have a child,” Steinkopf agrees. “I don’t know if it was the people I was with, my relationships or just being a selfish young guy. I would’ve been a s*** dad [laughs]. At this point in my life it just felt totally right. You spend your whole life being introspective and learning about yourself, but as soon as you have a kid, that’s magnified by a thousand. You think about your past, how you don’t want to impose stuff on your kid. It’s heady, but your heart is so f***ing full all the time. The most frustrating day now is like the best day I’ve ever had.”

Shanti, Ever & Greg Attonito — Pete, Lux & Keira Steinkopf

And the punks are embracing full-blown adulthood with sarcastic charm. Steinkopf insists he’s never felt better, as he and the singer offer a collective tongue-in-cheek, “F*** you, I’m 50!”

It’s the same self-assured confidence that the band tapped into while reconstructing classic Souls songs. While many were picked fairly arbitrarily, the group did make an effort to develop tracks on the basis of lyrics they felt were overlooked.

Take “Argyle,” off the 1996 album Maniacal Laughter, which was written by Attonito, but admired by Kienlen for its words. While the singer calls it a personal song that was “definitely written from the perspective of a mid-20s-year-old person,” he’s glad his bassist pushed to include it.

Another throwback featured on Volume 2, “Say Anything,” dates back to the band’s 1997 self-titled record. The Bouncing Souls was released just as the band’s collective lifestyle of punk house squalor came to a close.

Attonito, 1995 (Photo Steve Eichner)

“It’s well romanticized because it had moments of glory and moments of pure annoyance,” Attonito says laughing. “There’s a motivation there that’s sort’ve unexplainable. Once you hit your forties, you’re like, ‘How did I hold up?’”

Steinkopf adds: “It’s just like chaos, but it was chaos in a way that we were so f***ing motivated to do everything. We were gonna print shirts. Do this, do that—all together. It was intoxicating.”

Looking back, Attonito sees the era as a wave of energy and focus that propelled the band into a lifetime of performing. The first decade of insanity and perseverance allowed for an actual career in music.

Bryan Kienlen (L), Greg Attonito (R) of The Bouncing Souls, 1995, Wetlands in New York City (Photo … [] by Steve Eichner)

While most of The Bouncing Souls may have taken a step back from the craziness in 1997, it took Kienlen a few more years. As all the members moved to New York, then moved on, their bassist remained and kept the “party” going the longest.

While recording Volume 2, he was able to revisit three songs he wrote during a tumultuous time, a rough patch that served as the blueprint to the band’s beloved 2003 release, Anchors Aweigh.

“Highway Kings,” “Kids and Heroes,” and “Simple Man,” all made the new record—and reignited feelings in the studio. They were also given a second chance musically.

“‘Simple Man’ was written in a pretty dark place for me,” Kienlen says. “It was a prayer to the universe for simplicity back in the middle of what was a bit of a storm in my personal life. To revisit some of those lyrics, I felt more like the returning conqueror. I’d survived. Now I can face these songs from a happier place.”

But when Kienlen first penned many of the songs to Anchors Aweigh, he wasn’t just experiencing love-life woes, but a “major life turn.”

“A whole reality was ending basically,” he says. “It wasn’t just a relationship, it was an entire reality that I had built around the relationship. It all just ended instantly and I was set free. But it was just me and my demons all of a sudden and no governing force.”

The bassist describes it as the perfect storm of a single guy who’s going through changes with nothing but time and cash in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He went out and partied every night until the following day. He’d get going around 10:00PM, then leave bars and afterparties as the sun came up, feeling like a “ghoul.”

“It was the darkest I’ve ever felt,” Kienlen explains. “I was the most depressed I’ve ever felt in my life. Then, the following night it would just start again. Any happiness was produced by substances and all the other shallow crap that goes with that life. Night after night. You’d get so high and so happy, but not really. Not real happiness. When you heard that first bird chirping, that’s when you realized you f***ed up again.”

Bryan Kienlen of The Bouncing Souls plays before several thousand at the Vans Warped Tour, 2001, … [] Ventura, CA (Photo by Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times)

He continues: “And the things I was doing were definitely gonna get me killed. I was riding my motorcycle up the FDR [Parkway] going 120 miles per hour—that f***ing high—in the middle of the night with whoever on the back that I could’ve killed. It was just insane.”

Kienlen frequently hosted afterparties at his own apartment, too. As cliché as it sounds, he usually felt alone in a room full of people.

“All the good stuff was gone,” he explains. “All my friends were just fellow ghouls—nightlife people. I felt pretty alone. Being apart from Greg and Pete during this was also part of the despair that I was feeling. That’s when I wrote ‘Simple Man’—probably about six in the morning on a park bench. Just one of those nights.”

Bryan Kienlen, 2006 (Photo by John Shearer)

After 15 years of living in New York City, from squatting to a city-subsidized apartment in Alphabet City, Kienlen decided to abandon the F Train and return to New Jersey living.

He’d fallen out of love with his gentrifying neighborhood and was sick of his own behavior. He also mourned the loss of the Old New York punk scene he once so enjoyed. The days of brown-bagging beer on his BMX bike and bouncing from CBGBs to Coney Island High to The Continental were over.

For years, the Jersey-born transplant never imagined leaving New York City, but his Anchors Aweigh turning point was critical to an end-game he never imagined: a house, a wife, two kids, a dog and his own business. The album’s cover, as always designed by Kienlen, is symbolic: a ship sailing off into the dark distance, marking the end of a chapter.

In that regard, it’s suitable that so many tracks from the album populate the ranks of Volume 2. The band’s following release, The Gold Record, marked a new “golden” age for the Souls. The 2006 record also established that after years of noodling across the Hudson River, the band’s homebase would forever be the Jersey Shore.

Greg Attonito crowd surfs at Bamboozle Left, 2008, Irvine, CA (Photo by Noel Vasquez)

Despite Attonito’s choice to commute from the sticks—and a drummer change or two—the rest, as they say, is Jersey history. It may be generational, but there are few acts that evoke an association to New Jersey quite like The Bouncing Souls.

Bruce Springsteen requires no explanation. Bon Jovi isn’t far behind. The Misfits are, for some reason, inextricably connected to their hometown of Lodi. The New Brunswick boys in The Gaslight Anthem (with a co-sign from The Boss) have become hometown heroes. My Chemical Romance has immeasurably left its mark on the world, but somehow holds down its Garden State credibility.

But, for Gen X and Millennials, only The Bouncing Souls—with tracks as indicative as “East Coast, F*** You!” and the aptly-titled “So Jersey”—can conjure the feeling of the boardwalk under your feet, the smell of the Atlantic Ocean and the buzz of The Stone Pony.

The Bouncing Souls performs at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI, 2013 (Photo by Scott Legato)

In a year as uncertain as 2020, at least fans have the consistency and renewed spirit of The Bouncing Souls—31 years in—to distract them, if only for a few minutes.

“Call it naïve, but we committed to doing this for our whole lives,” Kienlen says. “I guess we took that commitment seriously. But we didn’t know what this meant, we didn’t have a picture in our head. I’m glad we made every decision from our hearts.”

Luckily, his bandmates are equally as enthused.

“It just gets better all the time,” Steinkopf says. “We have more fun as we get older. We’re in such a cool place. Turning 50 and feeling that way, I’m pretty f***ing stoked.”

Attonito adds: “Once you make it to 50, you can see the world and understand the value in having relationships that lasted this long—with each other and the audience. This is so incredible that we can do this. We love it. And because of the pandemic, when we get back, we’re all gonna appreciate things even more.”

Follow me on Twitter at @DerekUTG.