Print edition: 
The shelf life in rock is short these days. Disposable hits are often blips on the chart. Bands, much like many contemporary marriages, don't last forever.
Bowling for Soup is well aware how fragile rock unions are, but seems to have found a formula — part camaraderie, part having fun — that works for it.
Members of the Dallas-based band all got tattoos above their hearts recently to celebrate 15 years together and 10 albums, including the latest, "Sorry for Partyin'."
"We love our tattoo," leadman Jaret Reddick said while calling from Fort Lauderdale. "It's right above the left breast. You see a 10 and a 15.
"We really accomplished something. Not every band gets this far, but we made it to this point. We started out as a silly band, and that hasn't changed. We have fun with our songs. We're good at being goofy. Why change it if works?"
The band, which also includes guitarist Chris Burney, bassist Erik Chandler and drummer Gary Wiseman, consistently crafts amusing, well-constructed pop-rock.
"That's what we do," Reddick said. "We do what we love."
Count on Bowling for Soup to showcase tracks from its latest release when it performs Thursday at Hartman Arena for the Channel 96.3 Jingle Ball.
"We're having fun with the new stuff," Reddick said. "But we'll be digging deep, playing some of our older stuff."
Reddick has a knack for crafting catchy cuts that tickle the funny bone. In "1985," for example, the female protagonist, who yearns for her hair metal days, wonders "When did Motley Crue become classic rock?" Reddick and his bandmates still write songs that are as playful as their glam-metal paean.
"We don't know any other way to be," Reddick said. "We could never take ourselves too seriously, regardless of what happens to us."
Don't expect Bowling for Soup to slow down any time soon.
"We love what we do too much to take a break," Reddick said. "This is our passion. I'm just hoping we have at least another 15 years of this band in us. We said one thing since we formed, which is that we'll keep Bowling for Soup alive as long as it's fun, and it's been a great time so far."
If you go
bowling for soup
What: Channel 963 Jingle Ball concert, with headliners Sean Kingston and Cascada and including Jay Sean, We The Kings, Jessie James and Jason Castro
Where: Hartman Arena, 8151 N. Hartman Arena Drive
When: 6:30 p.m. Thu.
How much: Tickets $17 in advance, $21 day of show, at Hartman Arena box office, online at www.stage1tickets.com or by calling 888-755-2583. Information, 316-927-3999.
