Mojo Records
Tavis Werts says his band's new music
has more of a rock edge.
Reel Big Fish
still swims upstream
The fading popularity of ska
By John Berger
leaves the band unfazed
in pursuit of its sound
Special to the Star-BulletinTavis Werts and his band, Reel Big Fish, are swimming in bigger ponds these days. Once a strictly an Orange County phenomenon, the ska septet has built on the success of its 1996 debut album, "Turn The Radio Off," with an eclectic list of accomplishments.
Werts, a trumpet player, and the rest of the horn section played concert dates with Green Day, the rhythm section sat in with Don Ho, and the entire group made its film debut with Matt Stone and Trey Parker in "BASEketball," and was named Best Ska Artist in the Bay Area Music Awards. "Trendy" -- a song about conformity, a dance called "the fish" and the pasttime of making fun of trendy people -- was adopted by the Florida Marlins baseball team (who may, or may not, have grasped its nuances).
Werts says success hasn't changed the group's outlook on trend-driven commercial radio and the music business in general.
"As soon as ska started to get big, every record label went out and signed every ska band they could, and then when they decided that ska is done with they threw all those bands by the wayside and started pushing whatever their next hobby is. The record companies make most of the money and the bands are there to make money for other people. We've all become pretty cynical about it. But we're still having fun playing."
Ska may or may not be as popular as it was in 1996, but Werts says that with the exception of June, Reel Big Fish will be touring almost nonstop through November. The band passes through Honolulu this week on the way to Australia and Japan. Later destinations include the American southeast, Mexico, Puerto Rico and a summer tour of Europe. Werts expects the band will return to Australia and the Far East, and continue touring in the fall, before starting work on a new album in December.
The songs on "Turn The Radio Off" offered ska fans a collection of wry and witty contemporary vignettes about mindless conformity, posers, commercial radio, the music business, fickle girls, obsessing over a special girl and forming a band to impress people -- particularly girls. Werts says the group's newer music has had a bit more of a rock edge and reflects the changes that come with getting a solid record deal, recording a hit album, and enjoying a modicum of fame and fortune.
"It's still kind of in the tongue-in-cheek vein, but instead of talking about never becoming a rock star, a lot of our lyrics have more to do with the worries about being a professional band and having to deal with all the record industry people and all that stuff (but) there's still a bunch of songs about girls and not being able to get them or whatever."
Meeting girls was certainly one of the objectives eight years ago when Werts, Aaron Barrett and Matt Wong formed the band that would become Reel Big Fish.
The membership eventually jelled as Dan Regan, Scot Klopfenstein, Andrew Gonzales and Grant Barry joined Reel Big Fish.
Werts credits Barrett for the group's perspective on modern life. "When Aaron writes lyrics he usually writes about things that he has serious feelings about -- usually either about wanting to be a rock star, or girls. He gets pretty sarcastic, with the poppy music they always sound kind of tongue-in-cheek and funny."
Werts adds it's OK with him if certain radio stations aren't playing Reel Big Fish and other ska bands as much as they did a few years ago. If mass-media trend mavens say swing is now the thing and ska is out, that's just how it is in the music business.
"We never really got into it to be a big popular radio band, we were doing it to play music we liked and to have fun. When all of a sudden we started to get big and everything was going great we were happy, (but) now that it looks like radio isn't really picking up on our new album and album sales aren't doing as well we figure we'll go back to being your normal touring band and still have fun playing music we like."
Reel Big Fish
In concert: 7 p.m. Wednesday
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