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Reel Big Fish

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Reel Big Fish <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:ReelBigFish2006promo.jpg
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Background information

<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Orange County, California, United States</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Ska
Reggae
Punk</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1992–present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Mojo, Jive, currently not on label</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">http://www.reelbigfish.com/</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Aaron Barrett
Scott Klopfenstein
Matt Wong
Dan Regan
Ryland Steen
John Christianson</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Former members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Ben Guzman
Robert Quimby
Adam Polakoff
Andrew Gonzales
Grant Barry
Tavis Werts
Carlos de la Garza
Tyler Jones
Justin Ferreira
Zach Freeman</td></tr>

Reel Big Fish is an American third wave ska band, best known for the 1997 hit "Sell Out." Reel Big Fish gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s, following the success of fellow ska/punk bands No Doubt and Sublime. Reel Big Fish's album "Turn the Radio Off," which featured "Sell Out," vastly outsold their subsequent releases, but the band has many other trademark songs like "Beer", "She Has a Girlfriend Now", "Good Thing", and "Everything Sucks" (to name a few). The band is also known for their numerous cover songs, which include a-Ha's "Take On Me," Lita Ford's "Kiss Me Deadly", Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution", The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry", and Social Distortion's "Story of My Life". In addition, Reel Big Fish enjoys playing live shows in which they perform one or more of their songs, usually "S.R." in many various styles, possibly for the effect of showing the versatility of the song, appealing to different musical interests, or displaying their talent in different styles. Their music is often comedic, with names like "She has a Girlfriend Now" and "Your Guts (I Hate 'Em)".

Reel Big Fish first signed to Mojo Records in 1996, which was then owned by Universal Records. Mojo was later sold to Jive Records. After several years of dissatisfaction, in 2006, Jive Records dropped Reel Big Fish from its roster, much to the band's delight. As an independent band, Reel Big Fish plans to pursue more projects, and has released its own live CD/ DVD set, and plans a split CD with their tour-mates Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer.

Contents

[edit] Members

[edit] Former members (listed in order of departure)

[edit] Band history

Their debut album, Everything Sucks, was an underground hit and led to a deal with Mojo Records, an indie label. Turn the Radio Off established the band in the underground music scene, and they began touring throughout the US. After the single "Sell Out" began breaking into the mainstream, including MTV, the album made an appearance on the charts. The ska revival was short-lived, however, and Why Do They Rock So Hard? (1998) did not lead the group to the mainstream.

Why Do They Rock So Hard? was the last album for three members of RBF: trombonist Grant Barry and trumpet player Tavis Werts were either fired or left the band voluntarily, depending on the source, while drummer Andrew Gonzales left the band to spend more time with family. Electing to replace only Werts and Gonzales, RBF opened the door for a rotating cast of drummers and trumpets over the next six years.

In 2000, an article by Stephen Thanabalan in PC Gaming magazine also listed them as having the status of best marketing and post single release after sales for the year due to exposure on a PC game soundtrack with their song, "Sell Out". That game, the fourth installment of EA Sports' successful soccer gaming franchise, FIFA 2000, seemed to put the band in the spotlight of the game's global audience given it was the early stages and second time soundtrack attributions in the series was used in tandem with a concerted plan of promotion of budding musical artists like Robbie Williams, or Fatboy Slim.

By 2002 the group released Cheer Up!, which fared much better on the rock charts, particularly because of the horn-less single "Where Have You Been". Former Suburban Rhythm drummer Carlos de la Garza helmed the drum kit, while Tyler Jones took over lead trumpet duties (Jones actually played only two tracks on Cheer Up, as Werts had already done the majority of recording before his departure). De la Garza would leave the band to pursue other career paths, with his last show on June 20, 2003 at the House of Blues in Anaheim. That show was later released on DVD (The Show Must Go Off). Jones was then fired in August 2004. [1] After a succession of fill-ins (at one point, Barrett claimed online that Werts and Barry had rejoined the band and left again without playing a single show), the band settled on John Christianson (a.k.a Johnny Christmas) on trumpet and Ryland Steen on drums. On April 5, 2005, Reel Big Fish released their fourth album on Mojo Records, titled We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy.

In early 2006, Reel Big Fish parted ways with Jive Records. They formed their own label, and were relieved to return to their DIY roots while straying away from the major labels. The band recently released a 3-disc live performance CD / DVD set entitled Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album. This package became available on July 18th, 2006 through the internet in places such as Rock Ridge Music and iTunes, and became available in retail stores on August 22nd.

[edit] Cover songs

Well-known for their cover songs, RBF have been known to cover such songs as the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" and "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" live. They have even recorded a cover version of "It's Not Easy" from the Disney film "Pete's Dragon" and the theme song to the Main Street Electrical Parade for two Japanese Disney rock tribute albums called "Mosh Pit on Disney" and "Dive into Disney," respectively. They have appeared on many film soundtracks, most notably that of BASEketball with their cover of A-ha's 1985 hit single "Take on Me" (as well as performing their single "Beer" in the movie itself), and The Wild Thornberrys Movie soundtrack with a cover of Toots & the Maytals "Monkey Man". Covers they have included on full-length releases include Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York", Morrissey's "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful", Operation Ivy's "Unity", Social Distortion's "Story Of My Life", Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution", Sublime's Boss DJ, The Pixies' "Gigantic" on the Pixies tribute album Where Is My Mind?, and Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" from the "Sold Out EP". Additionally, the band has covered the theme song from the TV show The Love Boat on "Viva La Internet." Reel Big Fish also recorded the American theme song "Rave-olution" for the anime show Rave Master.

[edit] Discography

[edit] DVD's

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] 7" vinyl records

[edit] Compilations

[edit] Band members' other projects

  • Scott Klopfenstein and Dan Regan are also members of The Littlest Man Band.
  • Aaron Barrett 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.
  • The band also guest starred on an episode of Waterman, a popular flash cartoon. One of their songs is the Waterman themesong
  • The band also feature in the movie BASEketball as the arena band.

[edit] External links

fr:Reel Big Fish nl:Reel Big Fish ja:リール・ビッグ・フィッシュ pl:Reel Big Fish sv:Reel Big Fish

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