Beel
Big Fish
Are Reel Big Fish des-
tined to be "the Nirvana of ska" as their
manager hopes? The remark seems a bit pre-
tentious. Nirvana were reluctant rock stars
spawned from the cradle of grunge in
Washington State. Reel Big Fish are willing
stars rising from the loin that beget No
Doubt: glorious Orange County California. It's
literally apples and oranges!
Pack your bags, 'cause Thrasher's tagging
along to see these SoCal ska-punks take on
Hawaii. Just how big are Reel Big Fish on that
little island in the Pacific? Arriving for a gig that
weekend, they're met by fans at Honolulu
Airport. This is the big time now, baby. How
long till we can buy pillowcases etched with
their images?
It was the band's 1995 DIY album,
Everything Sucks, that first caught the attention
of Oahu's most adventurous radio station,
Radio Free Hawaii. Shortly after, the band
signed with Mojo Records-thanks in part to
being "discovered" by Goldfinger's John
Feldmann-and released Turn The Radio Off.
which is a ska-influenced masterpiece packed
full of catchy pop gems, brooding in cynicism,
that glistens with a 4-piece horn section.
The success of Reel Big Fish in
Hawaii is due wholly to the station's unre-
lenting airplay of album tracks "Sell Out,"
"She Has a Girlfriend Now" and
"Everything Sucks"-every hour, on the
hour, sometimes twice an hour. Yet, they're
still an underground phenomenon.
As popular as they are on the island,
Woolworth's doesn't stock 'em. Anything to
do with the album cover depicting a girl bran-
dishing a gun in a dj's face? Or the eleven
times they sing "fuck"? It doesn't matter. What
does matter are singer/guitarist Aaron
Barrett's lyrics full of doom generation
angst-"Alternative, Baby": hey, little alternative
girl/don't you wanna be my friend?-and acer-
bic wit such as "Say Ten," a vegan vs carnivore
ode: how can I sleep when carrots are bleeding?
Splendid pop songs aside, it's truly the
horns that make Reel Big Fish a stand-out
band. Doubling up on trumpets and trom-
bones are trum-
pet player/singer Scott
Klopfenstein, Tavis Werts.
Dan Regan and Grant Barry,
respectively. All four clock in
at the ripe old age of 19
with a wealth of musical
knowledge that cite person-
al influences as diverse as
Charlie Parker, Weezer and
Rage Against The Machine.
Rounding out the septet, the
group is kept in pace by
rhythm section Matt Wong
on bass and Andrew.
Gonzales on drums.
In Honolulu, Radio
Free Hawaii hosted a mod-
ern day luau for RBF in the
station's parking lot. It was a
modest local, but there was
a BBQ grilling up tasty treats
and about 50 fans waiting to
meet the band
One avid fan hounded
members for their socks
(which only trombonist Dan
Regan relented) as another
begged for their shoes
(again, only Regan caved).
As it turns out, there's a
history with the shoes. When
shooting the band's colorful
melee of a video, "Everything
Sucks" Dan showed up in a pair of
red Converse.
"I had pink hair with purple polka
dots and a purple beard. The director
said I needed purple shoes, and he hap-
pened to be wearing some, so we traded."
Dan kept the director's shoes until
persistent hounding from one fan netted a
trade. "I told him to promise me that
someday he'd give these shoes to someone
else and make them memorize the story
But now I've got his shoes. And then I gave
some other kid my socks..." Regan's less the
fashion plate he flew over as
When the biggest thing to hit the
Hawaiian shores since sliced pineapple took
the stage at The Groove, the skankin' body
heat of nearly 2,000 busted the cooling sys-
tem. The crowd sang along with every
word. And Reel Big Fish's sense of humor
did not go unmissed with their ska ver-
sions of A-Ha's "Take on Me" and The
Cure's "Boys Don't Cry"
Soon their "Everything Sucks"
video will be played in malls across the
country at Wet Seal stores, and they're
swing version of Duran Duran's "Hungry
Like The Wolf" will be out in the spring
on a DD tribute album.
And Wal-Mart might have those pil-
lowcases in soon...-Lisa Johnson
After the breakup of
Nuclear Assault, Dan
Lilker's side project,
Brutal Truth, gained a
foothold in the burgeon
ing NY/NJ death metal
scene. Seven years later,
it has remained afloat,
staying true to the original
reasons for its existence.
This is a band that has not
only survived, but, by tal-
ent and will, like deter-
mined homesteaders,
they have staked out
their very own piece of
heavy metal real estate,
How do you keep your
chops up?
Dan, bass and vocals: When
we're not touring, we practice
three four times a week in
Manhattan, When we're on the
road, sometimes we play thidy
shows a month in every conceiv
able situation. We also do a lot of
side projects,
BRUTAL
Rich, was it difficult to
come out of playing in
punk rock bands? Did
you have to change your
drum technique?
Rich Hoak, drums: When
I first joined, I took Extreme
Conditions and spent a cou-
ple of months in intense
rehearsal, playing everyday
for eight hours a day, stop-
ping only to watch an occa-
sional TV show. I had to mas-
ter the double-kick pedal and
learn the "blast beat."
What key do you turn your
guitars to?
Dan: C-sharp, like most
death metal bands. We tried
to tune down to B once and
made a demo. We called it
The Low Tape. It sounded
like mud bubbling.
Does being a three-piece
give you more room on
the bass?
Dan: On record, there's
often more than one guitar
part anyway, but, yeah, I tend
to think like a guitar player.
using different sounds and
distortion and playing chords
and riffs.
Do you play your songs
faster live?
Rich: Definitely. We write
and record something and
tour after that.
Dan: Kill Trend came
out a few months ago, and
we're already playing
everything faster.
Rich: We do a couple of
songs from the first album, it
just gets silly. We have to stop
and slow it down sometimes.
Kevin, watching you sing
onstage, it's clear that you
really want to get over the
meaning in your words, and it
must be frustrating when
people don't get it and just
hear screaming.
Kevin Sharp, vocals: The
worst time was in the Midwest
when all these Nazi skinheads
showed up at a show. We were
playing a song called "Birth of
Ignorance" about racism and
anti-Semitism, and people were
seig heiling to it! I was thinking,
"What am I saying? These kids
aren't listening, and they don't
care. We're just background.
music to their bloodbath, this
isn't fun. We only played two-
thirds of our set and just got out
of there.
Any last words?
Dan: I don't like Green Day. I
was misquoted in Metal Maniacs.
-Morgan Walker
90 T