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.
The Boy on the Hill
Pridebowl Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Telling his son to be quiet
There's a war on the risin'
That'll make you fight against you rights
There's a boy on the hill
Brought up on a farm
Trying to prove to the world
We do animals harm
Some are robbers and others they just hate
There's a kid on the corner. He's pushin' dope
And the man down the street is longing to murder the Pope
There's a militant vegan
Setting fire to a truck
If you're not gonna eat it
You might as well destroy it
There's a world ok worries
Right out your front door
And a bucket of please eve we can't ignore
There's so many billions of people with faith in beliefs
To some it's worth nothing and others worth fighting for
But it's not a war where we have no choice
As thought it may sound you are your own choice
You go your way And I'll go mine
Just keep to yourself
And we we'll all be fine
There's a boy the horizon asking his father why
There's so many billions of people with faith in beliefs
To some it's worth nothing and others worth fighting for
But it's a war and we have no choice!
The lyrics to Pridebowl's song The Boy on the Hill present a bleak picture of the world we live in. The singer describes different people and their actions, ranging from a father telling his son to be quiet because of an upcoming war, to a boy on a hill trying to prove the harm we do to animals. We see a glimpse of the extent of chaos and violence permeating society, from people committing murders and rapes, to others wanting to kill the Pope. The singer seems to be troubled by the different belief systems and faiths that lead people to think and act in such radically different ways, with some driven to fight for what they believe in, and others dismissing it as worth nothing.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a man on the horizon
A man can be seen in the distance
Telling his son to be quiet
The man is instructing his child to stay silent
There's a war on the risin'
Conflict is brewing and becoming more intense
That'll make you fight against your rights
The imminent war threatens to strip people of their freedoms
There's a boy on the hill
A young male is situated on a mound of earth
Brought up on a farm
Raised in an agricultural setting
Trying to prove to the world
Attempting to demonstrate to others
We do animals harm
Humans inflict pain and suffering on non-human creatures
Some people murder some people rape
Certain individuals commit acts of homicide or sexual assault
Some are robbers and others they just hate
Some are thieves while others harbor animosity towards certain groups of people
There's a kid on the corner. He's pushin' dope
A young person is standing on the street corner selling drugs
And the man down the street is longing to murder the Pope
An individual who lives nearby desires to assassinate the head of the Catholic Church
There's a militant vegan
Someone who is aggressively committed to not consuming animal products
Setting fire to a truck
Burning a vehicle
If you're not gonna eat it
If you choose not to ingest animal products
You might as well destroy it
You may as well damage or ruin the food item
There's a world ok worries
There exists an array of concerns and anxieties
Right out your front door
These difficulties are present in proximity to where you reside
And a bucket of please eve we can't ignore
There is an abundance of pleas for assistance that should not be disregarded
There's so many billions of people with faith in beliefs
Numerous individuals possess strong convictions
To some it's worth nothing and others worth fighting for
Some people regard these beliefs as insignificant, whereas others are willing to engage in combat over them
But it's not a war where we have no choice
Despite being a conflict, we still have agency and the ability to make decisions
As thought it may sound you are your own choice
While it may seem unlikely, you possess autonomy over your own life
You go your way And I'll go mine
We will proceed in our own directions
Just keep to yourself
Remain solitary and avoid interfering with others
And we we'll all be fine
If we don't disturb anyone else, everything will be alright
There's a boy the horizon asking his father why
A youngster in the distance is inquiring of his dad the reasoning behind something
But it's a war and we have no choice!
Despite appearing bitter, the battle is imposed upon us and we must respond
Contributed by Kennedy H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.