Reel Big Fish: Difference between revisions

A ska band in the United States. Along with groups such as [[No Doubt]] and [[Sublime]] it is one of the big successes of the Orange County ska scene in [[The Nineties]]. The group began as a standard [[Hard Rock]] trio featuring Aaron Barrett on guitar and vocals, Matt "[[Full-Name Basis|Mattwong]]" Wong on bass and Andrew Gonzales on drums, before going through a fluctuating roster of additional guitarists, singers and - after the fledgling band switched from straightforward rock to [[Ska Punk]] - horn sections. By the time they got around to recording their first album, Reel Big Fish consisted of Barrett, Wong and Gonzales with Grant Barry and Dan Regan on trombones and Tavis Werts and Scott Klopfenstein on trumpets.

 

 

The memberhip appears to have settled for now, with Aaron as the remaining founding member along with Dan, John "Little Johnny Christmas" Christianson on trumpet, Ryland "the Rabbit" Steen on drums, Derek Gibbs on bass guitar and newcomer Matt Appleton (formerly of Goldfinger) on sax. While not as mainstream as they were ten years ago, they remain very popular and consistently awesome.

* [[Album Title Drop]]: Aaron has stated that he wanted each album to have a song with the same title as the album that preceded it, hence "Everything Sucks" on ''Turn The Radio Off''. It didn't quite work out, although a song called "Turn the Radio Off" shows up three albums later on ''We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy''.

* [[Anime Theme Song]]: They did "Rave-o-lution", the opening theme music for the English dub of ''[[Rave Master]]''.

* [[Artist Disillusionment]]: Judging from older interviews Aaron Barrett became a bit annoyed with the notoriety of "Sell Out" as well as the [[Executive Meddling]] that obliged the band to record the ''Cheer Up!'' album. Since leaving their label, he seems to have gotten better.

* [[Black Sheep Hit]]; "Sell Out". Aaron Barrett has referred to it as "the novelty song I wrote ten years ago" and believes that the song that's kept the group popular was "Beer" from the same album.

** Their 2009 cd, "Fame, Fortune and Fornication" is all covers

* [[Dissimile]]: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the meanest song I ever wrote." "You mean mean like [[Michael Jackson]]'s mean?" "When I wrote this song, I was in a bad mood, and it wouldn't stop." "You mean 'bad' like Michael Jackson's bad?" "No, I mean pissed off!" "Like Michael Jackson is pissed off?"

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Part of the reason they're so happy to be on an independent label now.

* [[Full-Name Basis]]: Aaron Barrett always referred to former bassist Matt Wong by his full name in concerts.

** "And now for this next song, which is, in fact, ''the same song''..."

** Not to mention "Party Down," with its multi-genre breakdowns. (ska, disco-ish, country, reggae, slow dance music, death metal, while the majority of the song is straight up rock n' roll but with a horn section.

{{quote| '''Aaron Barrett:'''"This is a song about a girl who left me for another girl. And it can happen to you, too, if you follow your hopes and dreams!" <br />

'''Scott Klopfenstein:''' "Don't quit believing!" }}

* [[Last-Note Nightmare]]: The hidden track "You're Gonna Die" at the end of ''We're Not Happy Til' You're Not Happy''.

* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: Crops up in a lot of their songs, although it's often [[Played for Laughs]].

* [[One of Us]]: Dan Regan and Derek Gibbs are ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' fans and Matt Wong enjoys ''[[City of Heroes]]''.

* [[Oh Crap]]: "Hate You", from ''Monkeys For Nothing and the Chimps for Free'', begins with Aaron saying in apprehension "Oh, shitfuck!"