25/04/11
I’ve got to do that really British thing of asking you what time it is and what the weather’s like there…
It is exactly 1pm and it is beautiful; sunny day, blue sky, no clouds at all - California December.
You’re kidding me?! I’ve just walked through the most blissful wintry wonderland to get to you. Are you looking forward to Christmas?
Well, sorta. It’s not far away now is it? I’d better start shopping. I’m a bit of a last minute shopper.
Do you research though? Have you concluded that part of the process?
The research? Like what people want? Yeah, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of what people want.
So, you got together back in 1994, is that right?
Well technically, we got together and played our first big gig in December 1991, so yeah, we’ve been doing it a long time. A lot of members changed in those first couple of years; I wasn’t even the singer at first - I was just the guitar player. I kinda took over about 1993... I took over the band and made it a ska band; “We’re gonna be a ska band now. We’re gonna have horns and we’re gonna make ska music!”
So you’re quite the dictator then?
I… I wouldn’t use that word!
Did you ever have a Stalin-like moustache?
No, but I did have a sort of Captain Morgan-like goatee with the little moustache and the thing. Like the devil beard - one of those, if that counts? Maybe.
So can you remember what your attitude was to being in a band way back then?
Well I had a really good attitude at first. Like I was really excited about life and I wanted to start a band and get big and famous and I really believed in the band, that we were gonna make it all the way and then, I dunno, I got a bad attitude after, like, a year. I’m really impatient and I was like, “Ugh, this is going nowhere! We‘re never gonna make it. Nothing‘s gonna happen!” But now 17 years later, I’ve got a great attitude!
It’s been said you were part of the third wave of ska, but had you always been influenced by and wanted to create that sound?
Well, when I was about 11 or 12, I discovered The Beat and UB40 and they were my favourite bands ever. I didn’t really understand that there were different styles of music, I just thought, ‘Oh, they’re all music!’, but then my Dad said “Oh, that’s reggae”, and he showed me that there all sorts of different music and I was fascinated by that. But I loved reggae and I loved the English beat, which I later found out was ska music, probably around 1992 when I was already in Reel Big Fish. Our lead music told me it was ska music and introduced me to The Specials, Madness - I mean, I already knew Madness, but I didn’t realise that was ska music, so I got into it that way. After that, I was like, “YES! We’re gonna play ska music!”
With Reel Big Fish, you’ve had a change in line-up quite a few times, but what do you think the change in line-up has done for the band and do you think you’re settled now?
I do think we’re settled now; we’ve got the best musicians we’ve ever had in the band since the beginning, everyone gets along well, like, everyone’s a lot friendlier with each other, everyone lives together much better than they used to with certain other members, so we’re a much happier, more functional band now, which is good, ‘cause we’re always on tour and we’re always with each other. Even though the big tour bus may seem luxurious to everyone, it’s a tiny little thing with bunks all on top of each other. You’ve got all the band members and the three or four crew people sleeping on bunks on top of each other, so it helps if we’re able to live with each other. We’re much happier now, but it happens a lot with ska bands, it’s like you’ve got the horn players and their personalities, then you’ve got the rock band / bass drums and guitar and those people have always got a completely different personality, so getting two kinds of different people working together and getting along has always been difficult. Getting horn players to stick around, y’know, especially teenagers, through college and high school, they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go to school to be a whatever…’, people leave, people go. So yeah, it’s always hard for ska bands and the main reason you hear for them breaking up is that everyone can’t get along. It’s a miracle that we’ve made it this far!
Your last album was ‘Fortune. Fame. Fornication’, which was a covers album, but I did read an interview where you said you’d write an album of original songs that’d be out late 2009. With it creeping into 2010, where are you with new material?
Well, we’ve got this big tour coming up, so we can’t record ‘til we’ve finished that, so we’re probably gonna put out an album of new songs like late, late 2010. We’re just starting to come up with ideas for the new songs now. I’m hoping that probably after we do our US Summer Tour, we can get in the studio and start recording new stuff at the end of the year - that’s what I’m thinking, haha.
Your albums seem to have charted the journey of a band wanting to be noticed, to making it, to looking back cynically at the process, but what message would you want to put out in this record?
Erm, well hopefully I’m trying not to write about being in a band anymore, ‘cause looking back, I think that could have alienated people, I mean, some people can relate to it, like for young people starting a band, they can see that the songs are about that, but then there’ll be a lot of other people who’ll be annoyed by it and they’ll be thinking ‘Stop writing about being in a band and how bad it is, because you are living the life - you’re a jerk to complain about it!’
So you’re gonna write an album about going to the shops, or cleaning the bathroom?
I dunno… there’s always bad relationships to write about! But yeah, I’m gonna try writing
songs not about being in a band, because I’ve done that and I’ve kinda got that covered, it’s time for other subjects.
You’ve been known to say it’s really easy for bands now as the internet has made the DIY aspect of promotion much easier - do you think that causes an over saturation of really shit bands?
Well there’s always been many, many terrible bands, haha! There’s probably just as many as ever, but with the internet, there’s a way for these terrible bands to start promoting themselves. But I don’t know, I think it’s good that people can get the word out about their bands and tell people, but I think with the internet, it may be harder to get noticed, ’cause there’s so many bands on the internet, and everyone’s on MySpace and Facebooking and Twittering and things, so everyone sorta gets lost in the shuffle.
I saw earlier on your Twitter page that it said thank you to a fan for buying and not just illegally downloading your music. How do you feel about the theft of music?
I always have mixed feelings about that, because like, when Napster first came out and the birth of mp3s, it was great, because our albums weren’t even out in Europe and the UK, but we were able to start touring there because people were getting the music through Napster and downloading it, so I always thought that was awesome, because I just wanted our music out there. But now, it’s harder and harder to sell your music and make some money off of it, which is a shame, because we’re like, now we’re off a major label and doing it ourselves, we could actually make some money off of our recordings, but we can’t because it’s so hard to sell because everyone gets it for free, so I dunno. As long as people come and see us play, I’m happy.
I think the last album that wasn’t available in the UK was ’We’re Not Happy ’Til You’re Not Happy’, but then the next album, ’Monkeys for Nothin…’ charted really high in the UK album charts - have you always been pleased with your reception in the UK?
Oh yeah, definitely. I think the first time we played in the UK was 2001, then we’ve come back every year since and I’ve always said that it’s one of my favourite places to play, like, always the best shows and the best crowds, I mean, the people there love us and we love them and we’ve always been anxious to get back to the UK.
You record on your own label now, with a distribution deal through Rock Ridge Records. Does it get your creative juices flowing, not having the pressure of a major label behind you telling you what to put out and when?
Yeah, definitely, for me recording is so much easier now. I mean, I was always aware of how much money was being spent and how little time we had to get it out, that I’d be freaking out. But yeah, just watching the way music has changed and how people get it has really changed. But I don’t know how long record labels are gonna last; they’re gonna have to adapt. They’re already changing, because now when a band gets signed, it’s not just a record deal - they take a cut of your merchandise and your live shows, it’s weird.
I saw actually you have quite an extensive range of merchandise, but in your wildest imagination, what merchandise would you like Reel Big Fish to be made into?
I’ve always wanted to do all that crazy Reel Big Fish everything, but I dunno, it’s so expensive to get them done, and noone really buys the knickknacks like that, y’know, like everyone just buys a shirt or something, but I think it’s really good, like, I was really excited when we had scarves. We’ll see what we can do for the Norwich show.
Reel Big Fish will be expecting you to skank along with them when they come to the UEA on the 21st January. For tickets, go to www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk.