Confessions: Beau Bokan

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ARRESTED?

“There were a couple of times. One time, I was like 17 years old and it was over a girl. This dude, who was her ex-boyfriend, kept picking a fight with me, so I was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it!’ So I beat him up and the cops came and took us both to the station, and our parents had to come pick us up. So it wasn’t like, ‘You’re booked and you’re a criminal!’ It was like, ‘Alright, kid…’”

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER TIMES?

“My friends and I used to go sneak into a water park in Orange County called Wild Rivers, and one time there were 15 of us partying, and all of a sudden we saw someone driving up. We ran down this driveway and jumped into some bushes. I’m in this ditch, covered in leaves like I’m at war, thinking, ‘They’re never gonna find me!’ and they’re on a megaphone going, ‘Everyone come out of the bushes with your hands up! We’re gonna release the dogs!’ So I jump up, like, ‘You got me!’ and they ended up getting a bunch of us.”

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO GO STRAIGHT-EDGE?

“Just not wanting to smoke or do drugs, and listening to the information that I had as a kid. I got into music, found Minor Threat and realised that there was a whole fucking culture for it. It was like, ‘That’s me! I’m a punk and I’m straight-edge!’ so I started reading the lyrics and stuff like that.”

WHAT’S THE MOST RIDICULOUS TATTOO YOU HAVE?

“This tattoo right here – a skull with a crown on it. My old band was called Take The Crown, and we were on our first UK tour; Eighteen Visions brought us over and The Blackout were opening. The Blackout were like, ‘We’re from Merthyr Tydfil, we’re playing a show in our hometown, do you guys wanna come get a tattoo?’ We were like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ and the dude who was doing them, he thought he was an actual vampire. Not like Motionless In White; this dude thinks he’s 300 years old, he walks around town with a cane and a top hat, and he tattooed all of us. He was the coolest dude!”

WHAT’S THE BEST IMPULSE BUY YOU’VE EVER MADE?

“Oh, shit, I’ve done a lot of good impulse buys. I bought a BMX bike the other day. I was just running around in Target looking at socks and shit, and I was like, ‘I need a bike.’ So I ended up getting a bike, and then I started a bike gang.”

SORRY, YOU HAVE A BICYCLE BIKE GANG?

“Yeah, we’re called Lone Rangers Bike Squad. There’s us, some of the kids in Pvris, some of August Burns Red… Vic [Fuentes] from Pierce The Veil wants to be in it really bad, but we can’t just let anyone in, you know what I mean? So we’re like, ‘We’ve got your application and we will let you know.’ To be continued…”

WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST RUMOUR YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT YOURSELF?

“That I’ve killed somebody! It was a girlfriend, and her ex-boyfriend was super jealous of us, and she goes, ‘Hey, I gotta ask you something. Have you ever killed anyone? My ex said he heard rumours that you’ve killed somebody before, and that you’re really dangerous.’ I was just like, ‘Well, let’s let him think that. Don’t tell him ‘No.’ Ha ha ha!”

WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER SUFFERED?

“When I fell from the lighting truck, about 25 feet, onto both of my feet. I tried jumping into the crowd, and I guess they got scared or something, and I landed on my feet and just smashed them. I had to finish the tour off on crutches. I was holding onto the mic and just cringing for the whole set.”

WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING A FAN HAS EVER GIVEN YOU?

“Probably some razor blades in an envelope. That’s pretty weird. Actually, there was a whole summer where that was really popular.”

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE REALLY STARSTRUCK?

“When I met Kobe Bryant, the basketballer. He’s my idol, and I never thought I’d get to meet him, so it was so sick. I got to tell him how much of an inspiration he was, so now when I meet kids, I put myself in that situation. Not that I’m saying I’m Kobe Bryant!”

WHAT DO YOU WANT WRITTEN ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?

“‘That Was Fun.’ And then just my name.”

*TO THOSE LEFT BEHIND* IS OUT NOW VIA FEARLESS