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Bigger Than You Think! Tour, Chicago 2025. View the full gallery here. |
Nothing and everything has changed in the nearly 10 years since Jess Bowen semi-jokingly offered to drum for 3OH!3 during their 2016 Warped Tour run. A few weeks out on the road with the music duo turned into some East Coast dates on a Good Charlotte tour, another Warped Tour appearance for every 2018 show and two overseas performances at Air Force bases. After a handful of years, they reunited for the Bigger Than You Think! Tour alongside Simple Plan, Bowling For Soup and LØLØ.
3OH!3 still prefers just one full day of rehearsal, but Bowen was given the setlist well in advance to run through on her own time. Although it can be muscle memory to play these songs, she admits that she still gets nervous. It had been quite some time since she last played them, so walking into rehearsal as prepared as possible was incredibly important to her.
The setlist started with a song off their second album, Want. “PunkBitch” includes nearly two minutes at the end of the track that Bowen describes as the most challenging.
“It’s two minutes, maybe, of me playing these 16th notes on the hat and it’s fast so by the end of that I’m dead,” she said. “Thank god it’s first in the set so that I get that out of the way. The whole set is very high energy, so I’m definitely tired by the end of the show.”
3OH!3’s latest single, “Slushie”, was just as well-received as their biggest hits, but “Don’t Trust Me” was on an entirely different level. Bowen’s favorite part of the set was hearing the crowd respond to, “I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fucking scared of him” by screaming it back as loud as they could. It was a great moment of nostalgia that a certain generation seems to chase the older they get.
“It takes me back too,” she said. “We’re all here at a Simple Plan concert. We’re all still screaming “I’m Just A Kid” so clearly we don’t want to grow up.”
Playing each night of the Bigger Than You Think! Tour had her thinking back to her high school days, where she listened to bands like Simple Plan and Bowling for Soup on repeat while dreaming about touring with them. Now they are her peers and friends, making these moments everything she dreamed about and more.
When Bowen first played for 3OH!3, it was her introduction to the electronic drum pad. It was a popular alternative at the time to sample any percussion setup using the pad, but these days it is simpler to work them into the backing track. She sees the pros and cons of electronic drum pads, as not using one eliminates the chances of something potentially not working, however she has been toying with the idea of using one as The Summer Set tour their new album, Meet Me At The Record Store.
One song in particular, “Gloria”, samples one of Bowen’s favorite songs. “She Drives Me Crazy” by Fine Young Cannibals has a distinct sound created by taking the head off of a snare drum and using a wooden ruler as a drumstick. Engineer David Z worked his magic for the final sound heard on the track, and Bowen knew it would make a great addition to layer on top of her drum parts.
The singles leading up to the release of Meet Me At The Record Store ranged from what felt most like The Summer Set’s sound to the ones they were most looking forward to having fans hear.
“The album is very eclectic,” Bowen said. “There’s a little bit of everything on there, but as far as our band and what we feel like represents us the best, as the first opening song, ‘I Don’t Wanna Party' is just a jam.”
The way the song came together holds a special place in her heart, and it was the song they were most excited about releasing. The same holds true for their second single, “ADIDIAS”. The moment the demo started to form, they knew it was going to be a single.
Getting their fans involved in the lead-up to the album release was crucial, so they decided to up their social media game. Catching onto trends and coming up with a cohesive brand led them to release a ballad, “What I’m Made Of”, as well as poll their audience to see which single would be released next. Spoiler alert: it was a tie between the two choices, “Flowers” or “Algorithm & Blues”… and they were going to release both anyway.
Seeing Jess Bowen pop up behind the drum kit of any band is the equivalent of hitting the jackpot. These songs are just as nostalgic for her as they are for the audience. It is a guarantee that each song is played to its full potential, and will get the crowd hyped for whatever happens next.