The Most Important Audience

Gary loves playing and recording music.

The shows provide energy and remain one of the primary reasons Bowling For Soup continues.

But the thing Gary enjoys most about the band is the family and friendship surrounding it.

Some of the best moments happen while everyone is sitting on the bus, backstage, at a bar or on a beach.

The band has joked countless times:

“This show is getting in the way of us hanging out.”

That sense of family extends to the audience. Gary hopes Bowling For Soup fans understand that the community surrounding the band is real.

There are people within it who care about them, even when they have never met.

Life can be a fun ride.

Sometimes a person simply has to let it be one.

Gary’s favorite Bowling For Soup memories involve his children becoming part of that world.

When Tyler was younger, and now when Mia attends hometown shows, they have joined their father onstage and stood beside him while he played. Tyler would sometimes pick up drumsticks and play. Afterward, the kids joined the band for photographs and experienced the excitement surrounding a show from the inside.

Those moments helped them understand what their father does.

More importantly, they helped them understand why Dad has to be gone so much.

The balance between touring and parenting has never been easy, but Gary knows exactly which role matters most to him.

Being a father.