PRIDEBOWL’s vocalist Aaron left for home on December 29:th. Just before PRIDEBOWL split up many labels received a demo-tape. Lost & Found Records from Germany was soon to take interest and promised a seven-inch of the PRIDEBOWL demo and scattered exposure. This never happened though and Lost and Found had once again proved that they can never be trusted.
Through Satanic Surfers (who Pridebowl had played with just before Christmas) a demo found its way to the Bad Taste headquarters where everyone was very impressed with this young quintet. In March Aaron was flown back to Sweden to start rehearsing and later on recording the first Pridebowl EP “Long-Distance” (btr 4).
The sound of PRIDEBOWL can be said to be speedy, melodic punk-rock with serious, explosive lyrics and catchy rhythms. PRIDEBOWL simply means to roll with your pride, no matter what tries to bring you down. Basically, ”keep your chin up, the bad never lasts as long as the good” and ”value yourself or no one else will.”
A number of compilations and surf/bodyboarding videos followed and in January –96 the band was back in the studio again. This time they recorded at Studio Underground (where Satanic Surfers and No Fun At All had previously recorded) and the 12 tracks were released as “Dripping of the Past” late February the same year. This was followed by a CD-single in March and a video of the title track, “The Soft Song” in May. The video was shot by Apollon Bild & Film who had previously made videos by Millencolin, Roxette and E-Type to name but a few.
In June/July PRIDEBOWL played nine shows in California with bands like Strung Out, Good Riddance, Diesel Boy, Home Grown and Falling Sickness. In September/October they’re toured Sweden with Adhesive followed by Europe in February together with labelmates Intensity and Astream. Before leaving on this tour though they once again went to Västerås to record their second full length, “Where You Put Your Trust”, an album that still stands out as one of the best Swedish punk releases ever! The sales of the album quickly exceeded “Drippings…” and it was also licensed to Shock Records in Australia.
In the last week of March the band embarked on the first (and only) Canadian tour. It was the third annual Sno Jam tour and Pridebowl played approx. a dozen amazing shows together with Snfu, Good Riddance, Satanic Surfers & Diesel Boy. People went crazy when Pridebowl played and Canada has ever since been one of Pridebowl’s strongest territories.
During the remainder of the spring Pridebowl played a few shows in Sweden on their own or supporting bigger bands such as the Misfits for example. Late June they went out on a one week tour, playing three shows in France, a skate festival in Italy and a couple of shows in Belgium. Summer ended with them performing at a festival in Emmaboda.
Henrik and Stefan quit the band shortly hereafter and Patrik and Mattias took their places. The first recording they did together was in September when six tracks where recorded at the studio in Varberg, Recordia. Three of these tracks ended up the Adhesive split “No Better, No Worse” released in November –97 and the other three are available on the final album “Yesterday’s End”.
In October they went on a full European tour together with Turtlehead and this was immediately followed by a tour of Asia and Australia in Nov/Dec! The first show was in Hong Kong and the band went from here up to Beijing where another couple of shows were played. After touring China (as the first foreign punk band ever) and basically risking their lives considering the contents of their lyrics, they played four shows in Japan and then flew over to Australia for the last two weeks on this tour. In Australia they played with Frenzal Rhomb which is one of the biggest punk bands around attracting up to 5 thousand (people) at their shows!! Needless to say, Pridebowl played some incredible shows!
They returned from Australia at the end of 1997 and when Aaron went to the US for a month in January, the other members more or less decided to put an end to the band. Things had gotten worse and worse between them during the different tours and they all felt (Aaron included) that they couldn’t go on anymore. Three final songs were recorded before Aaron went back to the U.S. for good and “Yesterday’s End” (containing mostly unreleased, but also some out of print material) was released late September this year and can be seen as the band’s farewell album to all their fans.
Shut up
Pridebowl Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cape Canaveral , in our space , the budget , with our money
We're so fucking tired of you , say you'll help
Proposition ? cause? , Say we're free , test our privacy
So what ya' gonna do
Test this , test that , test glue !!!!!
SHUT UP!!!!!
The lyrics to Pridebowl's song "Shut Up" express frustration with the government's intrusion on individual rights and freedoms. The opening lines condemn the military presence in civilian areas and references Cape Canaveral, a site for NASA rocket launches, being invaded by the government's military. The lyrics suggest that the government's use of taxpayer money for these actions is a point of contention for the singer, and for many people. The lyrics further attack the government's tendency to give lip service to freedoms and privacy while continuing to test and invade those areas of life.
The frustration and aggression expressed in the lyrics are further emphasized by the repeated phrase "shut up" towards the end of the song. This is perhaps speaking to the frustration and feeling of helplessness that some feel when it comes to government interference. The song taps into a feeling of powerlessness while also trying to inspire empowerment.
Line by Line Meaning
We're tired of your goddamn tests, the military on our people
We are fed up with the constant testing and military presence among our community.
Cape Canaveral, in our space, the budget, with our money
The government is spending our money on expensive space exploration programs like Cape Canaveral.
We're so fucking tired of you, say you'll help
We are exhausted of not receiving any assistance or support from those in power.
Proposition ? cause? , Say we're free, test our privacy
The government proposes legislation that harms our privacy but claims it is for our freedom.
So what ya' gonna do
What actions are you going to take to address our issues?
Test this, test that, test glue !!!!!
We are tired of being experimented on and tested like inanimate objects.
SHUT UP!!!!!
We want the government to stop talking and start taking meaningful action to address our concerns.
Contributed by Blake V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.