Not long ago the Huntington Beach police paraded handcuffed members of Reel Big Fish down the middle of Main Street as an example of what happens to troublemakers. This was the outcome of the first time the members hung out together outside the band. "It was kind of cool," recalls trumpet player Tavis Werts, "because everyone that drove past us called the cops 'assholes!'"

As one of Southern California's premiere ska-punk bands, Reel Big Fish is a frightening example of why young children shouldn't drink Jolt Cola. Each band member has such a consistently high level of energy that they could take Ritalin off the market, and yet collectively, they channel this energy through ska melodies with enough raw, kinetic power to turn a club upside down. In fact, the band has been chased off the stage more than once by battered security guards.

As with most hyperactive youth, Reel Big Fish pride themselves on their sarcasm. These are the type of guys who entertained such possible band names as the Moisty Buttholes and Aaron and the Baritones. Yet even the chosen name, Reel Big Fish, has questionable origins.

Though the band once said the name originated from a boat attack off Catalina Island, they now claim it comes from the 1949 edition of Rock and Roll Band Names which noted Reel Big Fish as an oddly repeated line in several now classic films. Barrett remarks, "It's from that famous line at the end of Casablanca, you know, 'The problems of seven small people don't add up to a hill of beans in this reel big fish.'" They also claim it can be found in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and in Brando's famous "Stella" scream when played backwards.

More likely, the name probably reflects the band's odd backyard keg party origins. Originally a three-piece band, Barrett, bassist Matt Wong and drummer Andrew Gonzales were a straight-ahead rock band doing Wham!, Warrant and Jimi Hendrix covers. Their goal was to cover a different song from every musical style possible. Then inspired by ska, Reel Big Fish added horn players until they arrived at their distinctive big band-meets-tattered caffeine freak sound. Though the original turnover for horn players was worse than your local McDonalds, the band finally gelled with Grant Barry and Dan Regan on trombone, Tavis Werts on trumpet and Scott Klopfenstein on trumpet and vocals. In fact, the chance of playing trombone in Reel Big Fish persuaded Barry to quit his day job as a nursing home dental assistant.

With a solid line-up, Reel Big Fish recorded and self-released their Everything Sucks album in 1995, and it became an underground hit selling several thousand copies and spawning a number one hit single on Radio Free Hawaii. Soonafter, the band signed with Mojo Records, who quickly put them back in the studio.

Under the direction of Mojo president Jay Rifkin and Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila, Reel Big Fish recorded a new, sixteen song album entitled Turn the Radio Off. Their time in the studio included sound room mosh pits, horn players recording naked and the demolition of a toilet they tried to repair with super glue and soap, and yet Reel Big Fish finally captured on tape the energy and power that made them one of the best live shows in Southern California.

Though their live sets often include covers of A-ha's "Take on Me" and The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry", Reel Big Fish stuck to originals on the new album which showcases their twisted sense of reality. As Barrett puts it, "The album's about being in a band that doesn't go anywhere, and the girls who fuck you over on the way." This attitude is found in songs like "Beer", "Join The Club" and "Trendy", the last of which Barrett adds,"It's the trendiest thing of all to make fun of trendy people."

As a band who learned firsthand not to throw a cup of piss out their van window while other windows are open, Reel Big Fish gathered all the experience needed to make something from their collective ball of energy. And while the name origin may change repeatedly over time, Reel Big Fish can be counted upon to deliver one caffeine-coated charge of ska-punk after another...whether the Huntington Beach police like it or not.