Reel Big Fish

After 15 years and almost as many members, Reel Big Fish are still alive and kicking.

With an Australian tour locked in for December, Reel Big Fish’s main man Aaron Barrett spoke to us about major labels, revolving doors and why ska still has its place in the music world…

Interview w/ Aaron Barrett (Vocals/Guitar)

of Reel Big Fish

By Cameron Chambers 

Pleasure speaking to you today

Aaron, how are you? 

Not a problem man. You good? 

I’m great man.

lately? 

Argh… we’ve had some time

off actually. I haven’t seen those guys for a few weeks which is cool,

ha ha.  

“Monkeys For Nothin And The

the record has been received? 

Oh yeah man, ha ha. Our fans have

actually been liking this one and it’s been getting some good comments.

Usually you do a new album and it’s hated on and people say it’s

terrible but then when you do your next album people are like

“it’s not like the last one, it’s so good”.  

So I’m scared of all the positive

feedback because they might hate it later but hey, it’s all positive

so far! 

I read that the record was

record in a different direction? 

It was originally intended as

a bonus disc for a live album and we were like “let’s do even more

live stuff”, ha ha. We’re about to take someone on the road with

us with all the recording stuff but I mean, c’mon, we don’t need

anymore live stuff… it’s ridiculous! 

So we said, let’s do the b-sides

thing, let’s dig through the old stuff and our demos and maybe we

can re-record the songs we like. We found a couple of things we like

but there wasn’t enough so we wrote about 10 more songs and now we

have an album! 

Is there a chance that we’ll

see any of the discarded songs pop up on future Reel Big Fish release? 

You never now, ha ha. We don’t

like anything to go to waste so they might pop up somewhere. 

This is your first record since

a more enjoyable experience? 

It definitely was. There was no

A & R guys asking hanging around, we didn’t have to ask anyone

for a budget or get an OK on our demos. It was just lie, let’s record

something cool and fun and let’s just do it! 

We used a studio that was really

inexpensive and didn’t hurt our budget too much. We just went in and

had some fun. It took about 3 weeks and it was just awesome. We’re

happy with it and we think it sounds great. 

Our friends at Rock Ridge put

it out and it actually came out when it was supposed to and it was out

all over the world as opposed to our last record which was only released

in the US, ha ha.  

Ska hasn’t really had a lot

in the US at the moment? 

It doesn’t really get any radio

attention so you don’t hear too much about it, but there are a lot

of ska bands everywhere we go. Heaps of kids at shows tell us they’ve

started bands and give us demos so it’s definitely bubbling under

the surface.  

Regardless of trends or your

from so many other ska bands? 

I dunno. I guess it helps that

we listen to all kinds of music… not just ska and punk, but all kinds

of crazy stuff. We take our influences from all over. I think that helps

make the music different from other ska bands. 

I think we try to please our fans

and we try not to worry about what the record label says. We just worry

about what our fans like and what will please them and we try to put

on a show they like.  

We got our big break in 96 or

97 and we got popular and a lot of our friend’s bands got popular

but then they went and made albums without horns because they listened

to their label, but we never did that. We just did our own thing. 

What touring have you guys

done to support your latest record? 

We did a huge tour in the US… 

Who was that with? 

We were on the road with Less

Than Jake, Against All Authority and Streetlight Manifesto. It was such

a good fun tour! 

Reel Big Fish have been through

how do you stay motivated to keep the band going? 

Um, ha ha. I guess I’m just

the crazy guy who wants to keep the band going and write songs. Scott

and Dan have been in the band since 1994 and I consider them to be original

members even though they haven’t technically been there since the

beginning.  

Matt Wong has been one of the

band’s most popular members – was it hard to see him leave? 

It was weird man. He was in the

band for so long. We knew he was miserable being away from his wife

and baby. He liked to be at home and he wanted to be the family guy. 

He wasn’t into being in a band

for a living. Don’t get me wrong, he loves playing but it’s not

his first love, ha ha. We’re happy with his decision.  

Have fans been accepting of

your new bassist Derek Gibbs? 

He’s really good man. He’s

been in other ska bands… he was in Forces Of Evil with me. So, a few

people now who he is, ha ha. 

Some people are sceptical until

they seem him rock out and then they dig it! 

Does the introduction of new

to writing and recording? 

It definitely does. Someone new

helps us to remember why being in a band is so fun. Having someone who

is so excited to be playing and glad to be in the band makes it more

fun for everyone. 

Will Reel Big Fish continue

for your next album? 

So far it’s working out really

well so we’ll see where it goes. If there’s an indie label that

wants to give us an amazing deal then we’ll consider it, but we’re

doing well on our own. 

You guys are hitting Australia

of Reel Big Fish will compare to the last line-up that toured down under? 

This will be one of our best tours

ever. We toured with Less Than Jake in the US and it was my favourite

tour ever. We’re really happy we’re bringing the same line-up to

Australia with us and we want to take it to Europe as well! 

As for our line-up, they’re

all great musicians and we’re all pretty solid players, so yeah, we’re

really happy! 

Less Than Jake like to get

a little rowdy, can we expect some band on band pranks on this tour? 

Yeah, ha ha. Definitely! 

We drank a lot this summer! It

was fun and a really good time for everyone. It was just a non stop

party… good times for all! 

Have you got a particularly

nasty tour story that you’d like to share with us? 

Um, I dunno. We always get that

question, ha ha. Normally I’m like, “wait, I don’t remember anything

it all because it’s all a blur”, ha ha. 

I remember the last show of this

US tour and Less Than Jake had a confetti shooting cannon and they were

aiming it at the audience. On the last night they filled the cannon

with glitter and pointed it at us so when we were playing we, along

with all our equipment was completely covered.  

It was a fun tour! 

I’ve got to ask

best films of all time by the way!? 

Well yeah, ha ha. We still to

this day wonder how we got in that movie! We have no idea but someone

called us and yeah, it just happened. 

We were excited because we love

South Park and the thought of being in a movie was cool. It never crossed

our minds that being in a movie was something we could do… we just

wanted to be in a band for a living.  

But yeah, meeting Matt and Trey

was really cool. Some people found out about our band which is always

cool too! 

That’s about it mate, anything

else you’d like to say? 

We can’t wait for December,

ha ha. Get to these shows! 

Ha ha, we’ll see you then

mate.

For more information on Reel Big

Fish head to:

http://www.reelbigfish.com

http://www.myspace.com/reelbigfish