IN CONCERT
Less than Jake, Reel Big Fish and Flatfoot 56
When: Wednesday, 9: 30 p.m. (doors at 8: 30)
Where: Club 9ONE9
Tickets: $29.50 at Lyle's Place, B.C. Smoke Shop, Ditch Records, ticketweb.ca, Strathcona Hotel, and Fascinating Rhythm (Nanaimo)
In the seven years since he joined Reel Big Fish, drummer Ryland Steen hasn't had a moment to take stock of his situation.
In fact, he's barely had enough time to do laundry.
Five recordings over that period - along with a never-ending succession of live dates - is a hectic pace, no doubt. But the Nebraska-born Steen said he's having a ball keeping up with his bandmates, who never seem to sit still for long.
"At this point I couldn't imagine working any other way," he said from his home in California. "We're always touring, we always have these recording projects going on, and I love it. Any time you give a band time off, that's when people start to get lazy."
Steen had been a member of scores of groups prior to joining Reel Big Fish, but none had the work ethic of his ska-punk brothers-in-arms. "We've never given our fans a chance to forget about us," Steen said.
Reel Big Fish are led by singer-guitarist and sole original member Aaron Barrett, who has been at the helm of the group since 1992. The group arrived out of Huntington Beach, California, at the point ska-punk was coming into vogue, and in 1997 experienced breakout success with the horn-heavy single Sell Out. The song arrived when acts fusing traditional horns (as heard in the music of The Cherry Poppin' Daddies), punk-inflected tempos (blink-182, the Offspring), and sardonic wordplay (Smash Mouth, the Aquabats) were becoming mainstream.
Reel Big Fish were in the right place at the right time and became a band on the bubble with a solid rock-radio hit.
That success, however, couldn't stop members from coming and going. Steen wasn't around back then, but he has an idea why more than a dozen members have left the group during its run.
"Some people, after a while, just can't handle the pace," he said with a laugh. "But when you have a band that has been together 20-plus years, that keeps things fresh."
Following the popularity crash of ska-punk, Reel Big Fish split with their long-time label, Jive Records, in 2006. The band has man-aged to thrive in the years since by playing to its strengths, coupling Barrett's gift for bitter lyrics with concert sets populated by a vault full of unlikely cover songs.
The covers that appear on the band's seventh and latest recording, Candy Coated Fury, run the gamut from Don't Let Me Down Gently (by British folk-rockers The Wonder Stuff) to The Promise (by New Wave act When in Rome). Quirky covers are a bit of a specialty for Reel Big Fish; some of them, in fact, are among the stockpile of 10 songs they "have to play" each night, Steen said.
"But as each tour goes on, it changes. We'll cycle in old songs we haven't played in a while."
Live shows by Reel Big Fish never disappoint. Steen said a quality show has been Reel Big Fish's secret ingredient for the better part of two decades.
"A lot of it has to do with the fact that the music lends itself to a good time," he said of their material, which is generally classified along acts like Goldfin-ger and Mighty Mighty Bos-stones as third-wave ska.
"This great, upbeat, energetic music set to these sarcastic lyrics speaks to a lot of people. There's a lot of angry people out there who don't want to be angry, so we give them a healthy balance. They can get their aggression out but in a positive way at our shows." [email protected]
