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Reel Big Fish

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Reel Big Fish
Origin	Orange County, California, United States
Genre(s)	Ska punk Third wave ska
Years active	1992–present
Label(s)	Mojo, Jive, Rock Ridge Music
Website	http://www.reel-big-fish.com/
Members
Aaron Barrett Scott Klopfenstein Derek Gibbs Dan Regan Ryland Steen John Christianson
Former members
Ben Guzman Zach Gilltrap Lisa Smith Robert Quimby Adam Polakoff Andrew Gonzales Grant Barry Tavis Werts Carlos de la Garza Tyler Jones Justin Ferreira Matt Wong

Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band, best known for the 1997 hit "Sell Out." The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s, during the third wave of ska. Since the band's founding in 1992 and their demo In the Good Old Days..., the only original member remaining is Aaron Barrett.

1 Career
2 Members
- 2.1 Former members (listed in order of departure)
- 2.2 Band members by discography
3 Discography
- 3.1 Studio albums
- 3.2 Live album
4 Band members' other projects
5 Reel Big Fish in popular culture
6 Footnotes
7 External links

Career

The band's debut album, Everything Sucks, was an underground hit and led to a deal with Mojo Records. The album Turn the Radio Off established the band in the ska punk scene, and they began touring throughout the United States. After the single "Sell Out" began breaking into the mainstream, including MTV, the album made an appearance on the charts. However, the ska revival was short-lived, and their 1998 album Why Do They Rock So Hard? did not lead the band into the mainstream. In 1998, the band appeared in the movie BASEketball, performing in the stands to pump up the crowd. Why Do They Rock So Hard? was the last album for three members of the band. Trombonist Grant Barry and trumpet player Tavis Werts were either fired or left the band voluntarily, depending on the source. Drummer Andrew Gonzales left the band to spend more time with his family. Reel Big Fish then had a rotating cast of drummers and trumpeteers over the next six years. In 2002 the band fared much better on the rock charts, particularly because of the single "Where Have You Been?", which did not prominently feature the horn section. Former Suburban Rhythm drummer Carlos de la Garza played drums and ex-Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A. Tyler Jones tracked trumpet for two songs on Cheer Up! (because Werts had already done the majority of recording before his departure). De la Garza's last concert with Reel Big Fish was on June 20, 2003 at the House of Blues in Anaheim. That concert was later released as the DVD The Show Must Go Off!. Jones played live in Reel Big Fish for some further time before being fired by Barrett for his excessive drinking. He was replaced by former Forces Of Evil trumpet player John Christianson. On April 5, 2005, Reel Big Fish released their fourth album on Mojo Records; We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy. Justin Ferreira (who replaced De La Garza) was on drums for the recording but left before the albums release to join the Orange County band Takota (Island Records) and subsequently is listed as an additional muscian on the CD. He was replaced by Ryland Steen. Aaron Barrett has stated that We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy was "the third record in a trilogy" that began with Turn the Radio Off. "The first one was about being in a band and trying to make it. Then Why Do We Rock So Hard? was like, 'we've made it, we're rock stars'. Cheer Up we made because we had to make it. But We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy is about us being old and jaded now."^[1] While on tour in early 2006, Reel Big Fish received a call from Jive Records, informing them that they had been dropped from the label, much to the band's delight. The band formed their own label and released a 3-disc live performance CD/DVD set, Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album. This package became available on July 18, 2006 on the Internet and in retail stores on August 22. Jive later released a Reel Big Fish greatest hits album, Greatest Hit...And More, because they owned the rights to all previous songs. The band did not make any money from the album, and have spoken out against it. In 2006, the band made an agreement with independent comic book publisher The Vicious Circle Project to create and publish a comic book anthology series about the band. It has yet to appear. On February 20, 2007, the band released Duet All Night Long, which is a split EP with Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer. It features six cover songs (three from each band), with the vocalist of each band performing in the other band's songs (except in the case of Scott Klopfenstein singing in the song, "Say Say Say".) Reel Big Fish announced on their MySpace profile that they would be playing a summer tour in 2007 with Less Than Jake as their headlining partner along with support from Streetlight Manifesto and Against All Authority. Reel Big Fish released their first studio album since leaving Jive Records; Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps For Free worldwide on July 10, 2007, on the Rock Ridge Music record label. On June 26, 2007 shortly before its release the band announced in a Myspace blog that Matt Wong was leaving the band to spend more time with his wife and newborn child. He was replaced by Derek Gibbs who played bass in Jeffries Fan Club and Aaron Barrett's now defunct side project, The Forces Of Evil. Since Matt Wong was very popular with fans, some are skeptical of the new bassist's ability but the band has stated that Derek is "Matt Wong Approved" and fans have nothing to worry about. They decided since the Shout It Loud tour was "their best" they will be continuing the tour without Less Than Jake in Australia this December, Europe in January and February, and the United States in the early spring. In late July of 2007 the FishMarket, the Reel Big Fish's online merchandise store, was shut down along with their merchandise sales company. This led to hundred of orders to be delayed or canceled. There has been no talk of whether or not a new online merchandise store will open. On December 19, 2007 it was said that they would play Warped Tour '08 ^[2]

Members

Aaron Barrett - Vocals, Guitar
Dan Regan - Trombone, Vocals
Derek Gibbs - Bass
Scott Klopfenstein - Vocals, Trumpet, Guitar, Keyboards
John Christianson - Trumpet, Vocals
Ryland Steen - Drums

Former members (listed in order of departure)

Ben Guzman - Vocals (1994 - 1995)
Zach Gilltrap - Keyboards/Synthesizer
Lisa Smith - Guitar
Eric Vismantes - Trumpet
Stephan Reed - Saxophone
Robert Quimby - Trombone (1994 - 1995)
Adam Polakoff - Saxophone (1994 - 1995)
Grant Barry - Trombone (1995 - 1998)
Andrew Gonzales - Drums (1992 - 1999)
Tavis Werts - Trumpet (1995 - 2001)
Carlos de la Garza - Drums (1999 - 2003)
Tyler Jones - Trumpet (1998 - 2004)
Justin Ferreira - Drums (2003-2005)
Matt Wong - Bass, Vocals (1992 - 2007)

Band members by discography

Member	Instrument	Replaced...	Everything Sucks	Turn the Radio Off	Why Do They Rock So Hard?	Cheer Up!	We're Not Happy...	Our Live Album...	Monkeys/Chimps	Replaced By...	Notes
Aaron Barrett	Guitar, Lead Vocals		X	X	X	X	X	X	X		Only remaining founding member.
~~Matt Wong~~	Bass		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	Derek Gibbs	Founding member. Retired to spend time with his family.
Derek Gibbs	Bass	Matt Wong									Was also a member of The Forces of Evil.
~~Tavis Werts~~	Trumpet, Fuglehorn		X	X	X	X				Tyler Jones	Fired during Cheer Up sessions.
~~Tyler Jones~~	Trumpet	Tavis Werts				X				John Christianson	Fired after Cheer Up tour.
John Christianson	Trumpet	Tyler Jones					X	X	X		Was also a member of The Forces of Evil.
~~Adam Polakoff~~			X							Scott Klopfenstein	Only Sax player in history of the band.
Scott Klopfenstein	Trumpet, Guitar, Vocals, Keyboard	Adam Polakoff		X	X	X	X	X	X
Dan Regan	Trombone		X	X	X	X	X	X	X		Only horn player to appear on every album.
~~Robert Quimby~~	Trombone		X							Grant Barry
~~Grant Barry~~	Trombone	Robert Quimby		X	X					Not replaced.	Fired after an incident where Barry hit a security guard in 1999.
~~Andrew Gonzales~~	Drums		X	X	X					Carlos de la Garza	Founding member. Retired to spend time with his family
~~Carlos de la Garza~~	Drums	Andrew Gonzales				X				Justin Ferreira	Retired to spend time with his family
~~Justin Ferreira~~	Drums						X			Ryland Steen	Fired before album's release
Ryland Steen	Drums	Justin Ferreira						X	X		Also toured on We're Not Happy tour

Discography

Main article: Reel Big Fish discography

Studio albums

Everything Sucks - 1995, re-released 2000, Piss-Off Records
Turn the Radio Off - August 13, 1996, Mojo Records/Jive Records#57 US
Why Do They Rock So Hard? - October 20, 1998, Mojo Records/Jive Records#67 US
Cheer Up! - June 25, 2002, Mojo Records/Jive Records#115 US
We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy - April 5, 2005, Mojo Records/Jive Records#155 US
Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free - July 10, 2007, Rock Ridge Music#106 US #190 UK

Live album

Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album (Sold with You're All In This Together DVD) - August 22, 2006, Rock Ridge Music

Band members' other projects

Scott Klopfenstein and Dan Regan were also members of The Littlest Man Band.
Aaron Barrett, Derek Gibbs and John Christianson were also members of The Forces of Evil, along with former members of Jeffries Fan Club and other Orange County ska musicians.
Before they were members of Reel Big Fish, Aaron Barrett, Scott Klopfenstein, and Grant Barry were members of a band called The Scholars.
Scott Klopfenstein was also a member of a ska band called the Nuckle Brothers.
Dan Regan has a techno project called Black Casper. Notably, he remixed Reel Big Fish's cover of "Talkin' Bout A Revolution", incorporating different sound bites, including Ali Tabatabaee from Reel Big Fish's live DVD, You're All In This Together.

Reel Big Fish in popular culture

The band appear in the film BASEketball performing "Beer" and "Take On Me". Included on the BASEketball DVD is their music video of the latter.
They are mentioned in the Kisschasy song, "Spray On Pants."
They are mentioned in the Vandals song, "Christian or Canadian."
They are the subject of the I Voted For Kodos song, "Wish I Was Aaron."
Reel Big Fish performed the song "Snap, Crackle, Punk, Pop" in late 2004 for a Rice Krispies commercial.
Their song "Don't Start a Band" can be heard in the song D.A.N.C.E. by Justice (although it is hard to hear). In the music video with the extended intro for the song, it is playing on a radio.
Aaron Barrett appears in the video for the Suburban Legends song "Come Back Home" for a few seconds where he is dressed as Elvis Presley
Reel Big Fish make a guest appearance on the internet cartoon series Waterman. Aaron Barrett is also a personal friend of creator of the series, Brian Waterman.