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66. The Aquabats - Part 1 (w/ The Ska Mailman)
190 Plays29 days ago
Call the troops cause here's a scoop for you! Checkered Past welcomes back Adam the Ska Mailman to dig in on the costumed superheroes of The Aquabats! First, Adam chats with Rob, Celine and Joey about his new project Lab Brats, his epic TikToks and even... potatoes! Then, the crew digs in on The Aquabats from their satirical early days to their blockbuster successes (with a very famous person drumming for them) to their confused, new-wave influenced fare in the early 00s. Tell you mom, tell your dad!
Make sure to vote for your Top 5 favorite episodes of 2024: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2LTJ77J
Hosts: Celine, Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Cutman
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Introduction to the Skaadcast and Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
On this episode, we have returned! Beware our fury as we fight the evil eye of death while going on all kinds of adventures with the Ska superheroes themselves, the Aquabats, on Checkered Past, the Skaadcast.
00:00:35
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker Past, the Scott Castle's Celine and Rob. The show where a Dr. Schusandra spellcraft and a black coat, white shoes, black hat, Louis the Lilac explore the history and impact of a different band each episode. Hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob, and this is my sister and co-host, Celine. I actually have no idea. Didn't think so. Well, I didn't like I got that there's Ska songs in there, but what the hell is the other thing, Louis the Lilac?
00:01:04
Speaker
I'd like to introduce my co-hosts with the most toes, birthday boy engineer Joey. Hello, engineer Joey.
Introducing Adam, the Ska Mailman and His Music Journey
00:01:10
Speaker
I have no fucking clue. but this one's got is I know what you said the first thing. Google did a lot of heavy lifting on this one because these are minor, I don't know, Batman 66 villains off the top of my head and I did a lot of Googling to figure that one out.
00:01:28
Speaker
Okay, that makes sense. yeah we know this is little little i la keepto Is he purple? Is he like a pale purple? I assume so. I don't know. My phone is charging upstairs. Who's the other villain? What was the first one? Cassandra Spellcraft.
00:01:52
Speaker
and Okay, Cassandra Spellcraft. Sounds cute. Sabrina Spellcraft, I thought? No. No, different. Spellman. Spellman. Spellman, not Spellcraft.
00:02:04
Speaker
after Okay, edit point. I don't know if you can say that at all. No, I like gold. That was all gold. Joey's editing this. Cupman doesn't get his greasy little hands on it and take out all the fun stuff. We are absolutely thrilled. We are absolutely thrilled to introduce our guest. You know him from his epic TikToks, but did you know he's a musician as well? His new album Lab Bratz is out everywhere right now. Adam, the ska mailman is here. Hello, Adam. Welcome back to the pod. Surprise. Thanks for having me.
00:02:35
Speaker
You betcha. Last time I saw you, you were in a hot dog line. That's true. No, last time I saw you was like 2 a.m. leaving a bar in Connecticut and I had a flight to catch you in two hours. and yeah Yeah, that's true. We're ready to have a lab brat winter.
00:02:52
Speaker
yeah Hell, yeah. Oh, my God. I can't. I can't believe I didn't release the EP in the summer and had a lab brat's eye by brat and lime green. You missed so much marketing. You're going to just say you backed off of her amazing marketing campaign to sound like legit son of a bitch here. Damn. Famous fortune. flip through fornic And fornication. Yeah. Yeah. You got it. All of it's up to your hands.
00:03:20
Speaker
ah What was your karaoke song that you sang in Connecticut? Oh, I did. yeah I believe in a thing called love. Yes, I remember. And you did it well. crush yeah Yeah. And I shared I shared the mic with ah ah one of the dudes from runaway ricochet. And that was a good time. Nice. That was fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We did a million. Remember that performance. It was early in the night. Yeah. i Got to go early. Honestly, that's the time to go.
00:03:46
Speaker
Early and often we had you on the podcast in a back alley interview at the FBI fest So we did ask the immortal question about your history with Scott We went right all that but we want to talk about lab brats. So over to you What do you want to tell the listener about your new project?
00:04:02
Speaker
Oh yeah, lab rats. ah not It's not, to be confused, lab rats. It's lab brats, L-A-B-B-R-A-T-S, because I'm a genius. um yeah But yeah, it's just ah like scientific, slanted, fun, ska punk. And I did all this stuff myself.
Exploring Lab Bratz and Ska Music in the Pandemic Era
00:04:20
Speaker
It's all just me. ah drums vocals guitar bass all of it max mastered and I've been holding on to these songs for a while and I was just like you know what it's been too long I'm gonna release these so I finally released them and and have a ah the EP under my belt and I'm working on other stuff but yeah it was just like me having a good time trying to be goofy and like making ska as fun as possible
00:04:40
Speaker
ah And so I put out this ah this little fun EP. I don't know. There's not much to it. I just have these songs for like four years. And it's super lab coat. But the whole lab brat, that's so lab brat coated. Definitely. But no. And the whole thing is that I just am like obsessed with costume bands like like choir and kiss and the maxis, the aqua bats. Right. But so lab rats, when I do perform, I've got a lab coat and I've got like safety goggles and props and
00:05:11
Speaker
Uh, it's just all played to it like a backing track and it's like a fun, wacky, silly time. Cause I just think that's the best. Uh, I, I'm working on some sort of like beaker thing that is like yeah overflowing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'm working on most stuff. Me and my brother-in-law are building a switch. That's like old, like Dr. Frankenstein lightning thing that one taught the top of it, the top of it says Scott and it's all checkered and you switch it to punk and it kicks into like hard mode. And so that's like a fun,
00:05:38
Speaker
but i'm like she's so stage thing yeah so I don't play live very often when I do we try to make it a blast but yeah just like costume band scientific goofy scotch it you know like real mozzarella stick shit like don't don't confuse it's like very mozzarella stick unapologetically yeah absolutely no I'm so proud him So what was the impetus to start a band in the first place? Like what gave you that idea? I've been i've been playing in bands like forever. I started my first band when I was like 14 years old. And I played in a bunch of different ska bands. ah My fun fact I like to say is um my vert my very first ska band was called Absolutely Unsure, just a high school band. And the basis for that band was named Melanie. And she is now the basis for Built to Spill.
00:06:27
Speaker
Uh, she's like an incredible basis, incredible person. And we still keep in touch a little bit, but I always like to every once in a while, like send her a message like, Hey, don't forget, I have like actual videos of you playing in a shitty Scott band in Idaho. So like, be nice to me. i was in likema Yeah. So I was in that band for a long time and then kind of jumped around and played other things. And then like a ton of people pandemic stuff hit. And I was like, well, you know, I'm not playing with anybody. I've got all this gear and I've got these ideas for these songs. So I just started writing then and recording over the last like four years. And I actually like learned how to record music because I've i've never learned how it's like such a separate skill set from playing music.
00:07:09
Speaker
Totally. So I decided to like, you know, just watch like endless hours of YouTube videos and talk with like friends of mine who've done it and kind of went and like not took a class, but one of my friends who has been doing it for like decades just kind of sat me down and was like, yeah, so this is what compression is. This is what an EQ really is. and And just like really went through the whole thing and decided like, well, I can I can do that myself. And so worked on it forever and ever. And then I started doing the TikTok thing and ah making just funny videos about Ska and trying to just be silly and and doing all this stuff. And it got some attention and that was super cool. ah And then I was like, you know, like I have like this audience and I have these songs. I want to do something with them. Like, might as well release it. Like someone might actually listen to it.
The Rise of Ska on TikTok and Adam's Strategy
00:07:55
Speaker
So ah that was kind of cool to be able to do that. But a lot of people don't realize that I am a musician first and foremost because I don't
00:08:02
Speaker
talk about it a ton on on TikTok. I'm mostly trying to highlight these other bands and and bring highlight to the scene that we're currently in and everything. And I'm more than happy to do that. But now I'm kind now i'm taking the time to be like, okay, my turn. like Let me talk about my band. Yeah, yeah like I actually do music too. But I also think it like gives you you know i don't know more credit, not that you need it. But I always think you know if you're actually playing music, people tend to respect your opinion a bit more sure true yeah totally yeah yeah because you kind of know what you're talking about yeah but yeah you know i don't know it's just at least you can bullshit your way into people thinking that know you're absolutely bullshitting my way into it like i said i learned how to record like in the last four years but i've been playing guitar for like 16 years so you know it's it's a whole new thing but
00:08:49
Speaker
Uh, yeah, no, it's just been a blast to get it out and get like cool response of what people think about it and and a lot of really positive stuff. You know, everyone's comparing it to the Aquabats, which is like super duper intentional and, uh, but other, you know, other stuff. And right yeah, it's it's super flattering. Yeah. Just cause everything's goofy, but, um, there is one song that's not on the EP that I cut.
00:09:12
Speaker
that was called Radioactive Dating. And it's basically just Martian Girl, like there's not really much different about it. And I showed it to Chris Grau, a loser. I showed it to Chris Grau and I was because I sent him everything super early on. I was like, tell me kind of what you think. And he goes, that one is a very much an Aquabat song.
00:09:31
Speaker
like like fair one i like yeah Chris like super appreciate yeah and so yeah but but know chris has actually decided like the lead track off the off the EP. So Chris has been a big help with that. And ah my friends the shut ins. It's a different band. I'm in this punk band. They helped me with a bunch of like track orders and stuff. And they did some like additional vocals and like burping into microphones for me. So I had a little bit of stuff. That's important. It was very important to set to set the scene. It was. I literally texted them and I was like, you guys know how to party. Can you like record what a party sounds like? And we'll put it in the song. And there he was like, I got you. And I i love it. I love a party sound in a song. Oh yeah. There's like, so if you listen, there's like beer can crushes and belches and people just like screaming, yeah, over here, dude. Like it's cool.
00:10:15
Speaker
Did you record it? Did you record it at home or did where did you go to a studio? It was all done right here at this like little desk. um We're looking at it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Just like. Tiny desk. Super, super homemade.
00:10:29
Speaker
um The stuff I'm working on now, i that's not out or anything, I'm like definitely much more proud of because I actually know a thing or two now. So this is kind of really early stuff, but I'm still like super proud of it. And i was I was debating on releasing it or not. And then my friends were like, dude, you've worked on it for four years, like quit messing with it and just do it. So that's what we did. But yeah, it was just all done right here. Just all my own stuff, just getting things one at a time, like getting a nice microphone, getting like, I didn't have a bass guitar. So I was like, well, I need a bass guitar. And so like got that, made that happen. and And ah yeah, ah the only thing I did in the studio was like demo the drums because I wanted to... I don't know. It's so hard to program drums. So I went and i went so i went and played the drums and then took that and then ah then like made it better through
00:11:17
Speaker
logic and did the whole thing with the drums. But other than that, yes, it's just all done right here. It's it's it's a homegrown Idaho ska. Sounds like a potato. Sounds like absolutely. Absolutely. Now, be honest. and How are you sick of potato jokes? you You know, you think I would be, but I do love a good potato, you know, like yeah got something wrong I took a road. Are we sick of maple syrup jokes? A little bit. Well, yeah, I'm sorry. not no i i I took a road trip to Oregon and me and my wife were like ordering food and they said, just so you know, we're like out of potatoes. And I was like, what do you mean? Is that possible? You don't have. but like and You're 40 minutes from the Idaho. You don't have potatoes. You can find potatoes. I feel like you're not trying. Absolutely. should Is what you should have told them. Yeah, you're not trying hard enough.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's all you should say to them. Go back, tell them. No, the one thing you want to talk to... I'm sorry, go ahead. Oh, I was just saying, people always get it confused and they say, Iowa. And I'm like, very different. We are not Iowa.
00:12:27
Speaker
That's not the state I live in. That's a Slipknot record, right? Precisely. No, the worst is that at New Year's Eve, in because I live in Boise, the capital. ah At New Year's Eve, we have like a big potato drop, and the potato just looks like a giant shit. It just looks like a giant shit. like It just does. that We have a giant sausage near us that also just looks like a giant shit. Okay, yeah. You just can't make that. You can't drop a shit and call it New Year. I don't know.
00:12:57
Speaker
I mean, they are, that's pretty fun. And it's a bunch of it's a bunch of little potatoes out of one big potato. No, it's it just a big fake potato. like a big like One big potato that drops. Yeah, like the ball. Like the New Year's Eve ball, yeah. Yeah. I thought like a big potato would open up. Shower everyone with a potato. Okay, but here's there's one more but one more potato thing, so I don't want to linger on this. No, plenty more. No, it's okay. We can honestly just not talk about the aqua beds and only talk about potatoes. It's just checkered past the potato cast. The potato cast. Yeah.
00:13:31
Speaker
But I am convinced that Idaho doesn't get the good potatoes like we ship them out to everyone else. You know what I mean? Because sometimes our oil in Alberta. yeah Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Like sometimes I'll be eating potato. I'm like, this sucks. Like this is definitely not an Idaho potato because everyone's always like, dude, these Idaho potatoes are the bomb. And I'm like, I don't think I've had a ton of them, to be honest.
00:13:52
Speaker
thank I think they ship them out everywhere, like except for Costco. Costco's got the good ones. They got the actual Idaho potatoes. Of course they do. Kirkland can't go wrong. I'm totally convinced that we don't get the good ones. They give us the rejects. I believe you.
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah, except I believe you, except for McDonald's. Apparently McDonald's fries are specific Idaho potato that like they use for their fries like exclusively. So damn that's the other. That says anything. I wonder if that's a in Canada as well. I've been getting. No, we only get use Canadian Canadian potatoes. Yeah, they they make a big point of that. But McDonald's fries in the States taste ah real good. But I mean, know but yum.
00:14:35
Speaker
Oh, they don't. we that they I don't think McDonald's hasn't used beef tallow since like 93 or something. Oh, it was a really OK. Well, then I've been misled but because I think they used to, but they have they don't anymore. But that's ah you guys probably have good potatoes, right? I mean, you're just directly north of me. I'm i'm pretty sure I am the first mountain time zone guest on Checkered Past, right? Well, pretty close. Yeah. I thought about that, too. I was like i the same time where you are. Yeah, that's crazy. That never happened. Banana man.
00:15:04
Speaker
Banana man butana one and man was in the same time zone. Yeah. Yeah. No, but you guys are just directly directly north way up there of me. If do you know how if we were to drive to you. Uh huh. That was such an aggressive point. Do you know how long we were to drive to you? ah yeah If only there was a device to find out.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah, i I don't have my my device. Kilometers, please. Yeah. Kilometers. I want time. I want tough time. Oh, time. We could do like it probably do time. Oh, no. We've got to use metric time, though, because we use metric time up here in Canada. You've got to tell me in kiloseconds. It's 16 hours and 42 minutes.
00:15:46
Speaker
Not that bad. Not that bad. Honestly, you that's i've got for real. But you guys are seriously like super duper north. But the way you'd have to drive is you have to go through Washington and Oregon and like make a curve to get here. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, because your inner states. Yeah. do that drive Crazy. But you know what? i One of my sixteen, seventeen hours isn't crazy. But one of my old best friends is a vegetable is a vegetable farmer in Calgary. So I could just go to Calgary and then like, you know, halfway.
00:16:14
Speaker
Hell yeah, we're really close to Calgary. Yeah. To say that our three hour drive is halfway to your 13 hour drive is very generous.
00:16:26
Speaker
If you made a 13 hour drive and we're like, Hey, check your path. We'll meet you halfway. I'll be like, you know what? I think I could make it. I won't make you come to Red Deer. Don't tell him how close it is. Halfway. Yes. Yes. Halfway and yeah halfway to me.
00:16:43
Speaker
I feel like it would be remiss if we didn't touch on the TikToks because that's the whole deal. And I got to say this, our TikTok sucks. And that's because we don't put a great deal into it. But like, talk to us about the TikTok. How did that all come about? And like,
Embracing the Ska Mailman Identity and Collaborations
00:17:00
Speaker
I actually kind of want to get like advice. Like what advice do you have? I don't know. I think I just honestly just got kind of lucky because I I'm terrible at like Instagram and all the other stuff, but TikTok for some reason, like it was just fun and easy for me to do. And I didn't start doing ska stuff. I actually started as like a Taco Bell fan page. That's amazing. I was like, same thing. I mean, it's the same. But I was just posting like dumb Taco Bell stuff and just being goofy. And then one day, like there was this because, you know, on TikTok, you use sounds, right? So this is like really popular sound that was like, this is what one of your favorite this says about you.
00:17:38
Speaker
You're old, you're super old, you're dumb, all these different things. and so i was just like I was just like, oh, I've been a fan of ska since I could like walk pretty much. so I'm just going to do ska bands and it just blew up. All these people thought it was really great. and and And I actually got ah so a little bit of attention from it. Like I put like one of the things was if you know who this band is, like, that's crazy. Let's be friends. And it was Chase Long Beach. And and they're like, they weren't ever super huge or anything, but I loved them as a kid. And they they saw that and then reposted it on their Instagram account and was like, we're back. They had just reunited. And I was like, holy shit. And they reached out. So I was like, oh, well, I actually got to like talk to these people. And then one of them was
00:18:21
Speaker
um If you say this band, you're a liar. No one likes this one. And it was Five Iron Frenzy. And Five Iron Frenzy commented and said, yeah, we know. And I was like, oh, no. And I was like, I've offended people now. But I got enough attention. I was like, you know what? Like, I am super in disguise. Why don't I just kind of keep it focused on this? And it did just grow. And honestly, I was just trying to like.
00:18:45
Speaker
Cause that is right at the time when a bunch of these bands were coming up like cat bite was a really big one that was like oh like shit this cat this cool really cool band is kind of like doing the new stuff and so I was like well I don't want to highlight these bands but still talk about like the old third wave like cats that I really like and and all this stuff. So um there's mostly that and I just tried to find creative ways to do it to keep people interested. And they also, everyone really liked the like mailman aspect of it. And that just came out of going, well, I've got two kids at home and stuff and I don't really have time to be doing this at home. So I'll just do it at work. I got time to kill. and
00:19:21
Speaker
and I don't know, just people really connected with it because I started skanking on people's front lawns, and I'd call it Skankin' Saturday, and I would highlight like jo like Joker's Republic. I was like, welcome to Skankin' Saturday. The show where we could ska band, highlight that ska band, and then I'd like literally be skanking on someone's front lawn, and people just thought that was hilarious. They were like, is that really just a random stranger's lawn? I'm like, yeah, they live on my route.
00:19:45
Speaker
Calm mailman is a really good bit. It just works. It really is. it's a People really connect with that. So I don't know. I just kind of did my thing and I tried to make different little shows about it and stuff like...
00:19:56
Speaker
like I did like a section that's like Ska or Na, where we take non-Ska songs and debate whether they would be Ska or Na. So like ah like Paul Simon's ah Me and Julio Down by the School Yard has like a little bit of a skanky thing going on in the acoustic guitar. So I was like, let's debate it and do little things like that. But um I don't know, just kept growing piece by piece. And I just put all my energy into that, not on Instagram or anything else. So that's where it grew. Because then it was also new enough that I was one of the first people on there that was talking about Ska.
00:20:26
Speaker
So the people who did want to hear that, like I was one of the only people who were there doing it. And now there's like a bunch of bands on it and stuff and it's grown. And that's like super great. Like I love that. But I was one of the first ones. So I got lucky. But I wasn't going by the sky mailman at first. I was just going by Adam Flawless because that was like my stupid thing was Adam Flawless Wallace.
00:20:45
Speaker
And it was actually at the very first SPI Fest that um I walked in, because I had a bunch of issues with like luggage and stuff, or or um like finding a place to stay. So I had my luggage with me, and I walked into the venue. And Michi was there, and she was like, hey, Scott Mailman. And I was like, ah hey, can I put my luggage under your merch table? I have got nowhere to put it till I get to my Airbnb. She was like, yeah, no problem. And I was like, Scott Mailman, that's kind of cool. and then I walked away. Yeah. And then um Chris from Hans Gruber and the Diehards, his wife, Allison, I've been following on TikTok and we follow each other at that point and stuff. And so we met up and I was like, Oh my gosh, cool you know cool to see you in real life. And she was like, Scott mailman. And I was like, okay, I've had two different people call me that. like
00:21:32
Speaker
That's obviously the thing that's going here. So then ah my friend in the band, The Shut-Ins, the other band I'm in, his name is is Captain Piss. He's a punk dude. He called me up and he was like, listen, you got to like a cool thing here. We got to do like a real branding. You're going to change your name to Scott Mailman. You're going to make your profile picture this. We're going to set it up as your three pin videos and like helped me with all that of like You know, saying, uh, the first video pin should be like, who are you? Second one should be like, why should I follow you? Third one should be like, I don't, I don't, I don't quite remember, but it was like all this stuff. And he like totally was like, make your profile picture look like this. This is what people like about you. Make sure you're in the mailman uniform, like do all this stuff. And he just really helped me with like the business part of it. and
00:22:14
Speaker
Then it just grew and grew and I got really lucky and I did a really stupid post about how how I stay punk working in a government job. and I was like, I skank on people. and Literally, it ended with me being like, I skank on your personal property. and and that That just absolutely blew up to like 1.5 million views and got me a ton of- Oh, that's crazy. That's big. Yeah, it got really big and it got me a ton of followers and the Punk and Drublick Fest like reposted it everywhere. and ah And so that really brought it up to the next level and stuff. So now I actually am like paid by TikTok to promote ska music. So it's like, so yeah it's it's a dream. It's super cool. And
The Aquabats' Influence and Unique Style
00:22:50
Speaker
then I get it like, you know, do stuff like this where I get to talk about like the Aquabats and like the goofiest ska band possible because I just wanted to, you know.
00:22:58
Speaker
Yeah, I love I love the story. I guess that's like kind of so I got one more question I guess before we talk about the Aquabats, but what I what I appreciate about you and Chris Let loser um is you know, there is this stigma against third wave ska music sure um but you're both super super supportive of new ska music and there's a real appreciation for it and You know, I don't want call it a self-deprecation, but there's almost like a, like you understand the the the vibe and the appreciation of third wave, but also what is happening now. And um like, I just think that that is really cool in this day and age when sometimes people get really serious about it. You know what I mean? No, absolutely. And that's been, that's been a big goal of mine is to like,
00:23:47
Speaker
not ignore the third wave because that seems to be kind of a a thing of like everyone talks about like two tone now mostly it feels like and I love to tone like ah a ton but I'm a third wave dude like through and through and so it's like I'm like I do feel a little bit of this need to like defend third wave in a weird way but it's like that's what brought me into the whole thing and I was just doing it to have a good time and and I don't see why we can't still have a good time and be goofy and silly like you know and but I absolutely like really love all the stuff that these new bands are doing and and the message they're bringing to it and um the energy and and it's absolutely fun as well like when we were at SPI Fest 2 you know there was that what was that a big ah mayonnaise bottle thing that was flying around yeah like giant hemet yeah is a giant panise justin for power up yeah Justin from Power Up walked over and handed that thing to me and I was like
00:24:40
Speaker
What? the way that he never He never answered me. He never told me where it came from. he It just appeared. He gave it to me and I did what I could to make it part of the party. Yeah. And so that's like, when that happened, I was like, yes, this is ska music. this yeah You know, but I yeah, no, I definitely try to do both. Like in the series, the series that I have on TikTok are very much separated and dedicated to like each. So like Skink and Saturdays is only for new bands. Like I'm not going to highlight like the pie tasters. You know what I mean? I'm going to highlight yeah a new band like a Boy Detective is a big one that I really like lately.
00:25:19
Speaker
Um, and then the one that's like adding ska lyrics to adding lyrics to horn parts. I'm only doing old bands for that. Cause like, I did like impression that I get, and it was just funny cause it's a song everyone already knows the horn part too. And so you just make up words for it. And like just little, like everything is very like.
00:25:37
Speaker
I'm gonna do this one is like appreciative of third wave this one's bring up a new band this one is like a joke here and stuff and then i also just like post random goofy stuff that Coheed ah cohiden Cambria song. um Oh, my gosh. Oh, I can't think of a favorite in the House of the Atlantic. Yeah, exactly. And so it's going like good eye sniper and it like fits perfectly. And so I like, you know, do give your shows yeah you I haven't heard that. Is it good?
00:26:12
Speaker
so It's it fits way better than you think. Is it actually so good? And the cummerbund is awesome. So where it's like, but up up up um like really, like it goes with the lyrics of favor in the House Atlantic as well. Like yeah it literally was like it was like they were made for each other. And so like, i you know, post. yeah oh yeah So what made you. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
00:26:36
Speaker
Well, you're you're knocking off, I'm in like, I hired a social media person for like the salon to like help out with stuff. And yeah, you're doing, you're checking off all the boxes of like the, like the consistent. And yeah, you do, you do all the things. sure well And you had to brand it, you had to punk brand you. I did. yeah you miss branding Captain Piss was my was my marketing dude. Yeah. I mean, it was like a lengthy phone call. I was like doing my route, I was like walking and he's like, listen here, mailman, this is what we got to do.
00:27:05
Speaker
But yeah, and I don't know, the Scott community is obviously like super supportive of anyone who's going to like lift them up. So, it was like no brainer. Everyone was like, you're on our team, you know, and and I try to be nice to everyone and and lift everyone up and it's good. But even like this summer, I took like a big long break. I didn't post like all summer at all because I was like, you know, I got little kids at home and I've got a family and a job and like this is my full-time thing. so ah Yeah, I wanted to focus on my kids and family while school was out and everything and then like slowly, you know, as things are changing here into the like cold season, I'm like, I can post a thing here or there and people are just like super supportive. Like as soon as I posted, it i was just like, Hey, welcome back. Glad you're here. And so, you know, if you can build it up enough, you you can still take breaks and it doesn't have to like be an all consuming thing. You absolutely can like make it work for you and you're still lifting up the people you want to lift up. Like, I don't know, I just have a,
00:27:55
Speaker
a huge respect for the community and and the the platform of TikTok that it's pushing out to the people who want to see it. That's awesome. and What made you choose the Aquabats for our discussion today? It was directly tied to the Lab Rats EP because it's Lab Rats is super, super inspired by Aquabats because it's a costume band thing and it's scientific. Aquabats does that sort of science-y thing.
00:28:21
Speaker
I'm not completely leaning on the superhero thing, but the science-y thing. and and I just love the style. I love like the stuff that Parker Jacobs brings to like the artwork, and he wears a lab coat and stuff. and He was a direct influence of like, well, I'm going to wear a lab coat and do lab shit. and so I chose Aquabats because you guys hadn't done before. I was a huge fan, and because you've already exhausted real big fish to the as but much as you could do, and so I couldn't ask you possibly to do real big fish again.
00:28:47
Speaker
Please don't. ah good and Please don't. Enter the time, Scoshine. Here we go.
00:29:08
Speaker
That was kind of science-y. Yeah, it was very Aquabats coded. Science! Remember when he did that? Science! The time Scott Sheen takes us back to 1994 to, ah yup, the O.C. Here, Christian Jacobs, Chad Larson, and Boyd Terry were toiling in the local punk scene, Lonely Punk Land, as safe Ferris used to call it, where they were being disillusioned by the overtly serious, masculine, and aggressive attitudes that the bands all had.
00:29:35
Speaker
They wanted to form a band that would satirize and mock these attitudes in as silly a way as possible. So of course at this time Scott was beginning to become bigger and bigger and this gave the trio the idea to make their band in this style as it would provide the perfect flavor and counterpoint. Jacobs would sing, Larson would play the bass, and Terry would play trumpet, so they set to gather up more like-minded musicians.
00:29:56
Speaker
It became a true revolving door of musicians, but ultimately the sound landed on was primarily Scott with mixes of punk, surf, Devo, Weird Al, and Bad Manners. They called themselves the Aquabats to make them sound surfy and wore matching costumes as a nod to Devo. They rehearsed once and played a house party on a lark with the gut enough kudos to turn it into a full thing. And here is what Christian Jacobs said.
00:30:21
Speaker
And then we started going to a ska show and the ska shows just seemed a lot more fun. But we had all these friends in the punk scene, so we started this kind of fake band we called the Aquabats. So we go play shows with really hardcore punks and guys would get really mad at us, spit on us, want to fight us, just because we're like, make sure to brush your teeth next time. And wearing tight superhero costumes at a punk rock show that seemed fun. But to us, it was fun.
00:30:46
Speaker
Cause that's like what the spirit of punk rock is. It's not like one specific style. I wear leather. I have a mohawk swamp punk rock, but that's one look where the real punk spirit is doing something different and getting a reaction from it. And we got a reaction from the punk scene, a big reaction.
00:31:02
Speaker
It took a long time to settle on their whole deal, however. The lineup was extremely unstable and their idea for costumes was to have a different bit every show. They started with Shriners, Chefs, Gula Dancers, basically anything. It obviously wouldn't last for the long term.
00:31:17
Speaker
so they molded over before landing on a superhero aesthetic heavily influenced by the nineteen sixty six batman theyre a part harry worked at it did with costumes just flooded they couldn't shut the doors anymore they're like i can't live like this we have to pick one costume And knowing what they like, how shitty those superhero costumes were when they started to like, it would have been real value village. And Amazon didn't even exist then. and No, no way to go. That's like they've they've been a search around at a for these outfits.
00:31:53
Speaker
Just going to like how like ah Spirit Halloween and grabbing like chef toques, just like as many as they could. Or kitchens. Yeah, maybe they're just robbing kitchens. Hula dance studios. yeah All those of California hula dance studios. Yeah, et cetera.
00:32:12
Speaker
They like Tiki. Maybe. That's true. yeah I don't know. That's good's true. bet You go to a Tiki bar, get the hula skirt, and guess what? You get the chef costume from the chef. It's the perfect crime. but And they're all they're all Tiki mugs the following shows.
00:32:31
Speaker
so ah Terry worked at a wetsuit company, so he created matching suits, green at the time with black eye masks, with belts designed by their friend,
The Aquabats' Musical Evolution and Impact
00:32:40
Speaker
Paul Frank, Celine. For real? they're friends real wild me three What mean? What do you mean? Julius, was the creator of Julius the monkey?
00:32:54
Speaker
design the Aquabats belt. That's crazy. Wow. That's sick and very in right now. I i put exclamation marks next to that little note in my script because I knew Celine would pop. Hell yeah. Fuck yeah, Paul Frank.
00:33:11
Speaker
The other piece of the puzzle is to create a mythos and a backstory where each band member had ah had a different persona, plus a set of villains or characters for the band to battle on stage. Much of the design was done by Jacobs and his brothers Parker and Tyler, who both worked in the arts industry. Parker was also a member of GoGo 13, and they issued a couple of demos and that the band cobbled together to their first full length.
00:33:34
Speaker
This was their debut return of the Aquabats. It was issued DIY on their own Horshotta Records, featured Jacobs as the Caped Commander, Larson as Crash McLarson, and Terry as Catboy. They also brought in Chainsaw, The Brain, Roddy B, Nacho, and Prince A.
00:33:58
Speaker
to round out the instruments with some additional instrumentation and solos from their friends. It was a local smash, hitting the streets around the same time as Sublime. No doubt, real big fish, safe aris. Jeffree's Fan Club and the RX Bandits were great in traction, so they were able to sell 20,000 copies without any major backing. Return of the Aquabats, let's talk about it. What's the first song I got there, Joey? Play-doh. Yeah. Here we go.
00:34:23
Speaker
The lyrics are just so first draft, and I know it's like intentional, but like even even even then, even then. When I was a little better. That's my favorite part, is like how it is just so funny. It's clearly like first thought, best thought, and I love that. First thought, best thought. Totally.
00:34:45
Speaker
Like it's literally just like when you're singing a song to your dog or you're saying you're just like I am my name is Selene and I'm on a podcast It's kind of crazy. I think it'll last What I love about Bat Commander on this first record is that he is Adam Westing, like, hard. He's doing it. He's not singing as much as doing a voice. He a voice that takes precedent over everything. Which I think I like better. I think I like it better when he just sings like this and he does a this. yeah
00:35:17
Speaker
it's just like perfectly stylized he's yeah he's being this like Adam West thing he's also like I mean big Devo influence like like he said oh I love Devo you can definitely hear like the Mark Mothersbaugh of it too so lyrically very yeah oh yeah it's just like I drive fast
00:35:39
Speaker
There are multiple. And everything is like very Saturday morning cartoon. Like everything. yeah forunish And that's like, I don't know. i That is like an aesthetic that just like itches my brain that I'm just like, that's so fun.
00:35:54
Speaker
This was, uh, like I've heard many, many of these songs over the years, but, um, as I had to put in the group chat a few days ago, uh, I actually had the Aqua that's just fully do not play this artist on my Spotify account because, uh, because it would just a super rabbit just come up all the fucking the time. Yeah. Right? right like Like I would, yeah whatever I was listening to would end and then fucking Super Rad would start and it's a good song but I just was so sick of hearing it right at the end of just whatever all the time that I turned it off. So this is my first time like actually sitting and listening to these records and I thought this first one was way more
00:36:34
Speaker
way more of that punk rock. Like as the story goes, like I got more of that feeling from this record than any of the other ones being like trolling fucking punks at a show. this This gives that energy. Yeah. And like, it just makes, cause I was always kind of confused why like punks so liked Aquabats.
00:36:51
Speaker
because they're definitely like was that through line. But also I think just like the nerdy dude, they reference Star Wars all the time. And cartoons. Yeah, I feel like it just i like it makes it like I never really like paid a attention. I actually read all the lyrics and like sat with it.
00:37:07
Speaker
Well, yeah. It was the defying gravity. I held space for the lyrics. I held space for the Aquabats lyrics. Oh my God, Christian James is going, oh my God, is that true? I didn't know. Don't cry, scum, Hailman. Don't cry.
00:37:27
Speaker
fold it together No, like in the MC back commander, like ah he like has a ton of like gun. He's like a big Gundam collection. He's like big into Saturday morning cartoons, like anime stuff. Like he definitely like is putting his money where his mouth is. He like he knows this stuff and he's like referencing it and ah it being inspired by it and it's like so genuine this love for it and then also being just like a complete goofball and just yeah taking the piss out of the whole thing like I don't know it's just I think it's so amazing.
00:37:59
Speaker
How do you feel about this record in particular, the the debut? yeah I don't I guess I mean, i I know this is technically the debut, but I consider Fury the real debut. You know what I mean? Because this was like all self done. And then a ton of these songs like Plato end up on Fury. So this to me is like the same thing as like Everything Sucks for Rubik Fish. It's like these are their first ones. I mean, it it sounds really good. um And there's a couple of songs that like didn't make it like I don't know if we're going to talk about pinch and roll.
00:38:27
Speaker
but you know that definitely hated pin general i don't know why i hate it so much i hated it so much well yeah it's like kind of funny but i hate it i can see that being a song that would have popped off on a live show absolutely if your whole thing is to like.
00:38:48
Speaker
grill punks on stage like and then you just like rot or roll in a song about scratching your nuts. Like, yeah, you're going to you absolutely are going to like your heroes. Is it true? Pinching and rolling. That's like the pinch and roll a universal thing. yeah Absolutely. For sure. For sure. See, I didn't actually didn't know about the pinch and roll. Yeah, pinch and roll. Let's see. And that's that's one of those things, too, where it's like hard if you did that to your labia.
00:39:14
Speaker
Probably. Yeah. like We take that out of the podcast and that just be the the the tagline for the show. good That would hurt if you did that to your debut. Put that on your shirt. But no, like, Pinterest, like, that's one of those songs where, like, now listening to it, knowing it was 1995 in the Aquabats, I think it's super funny. I think if a band did that now, I would be like, that's pretty stupid. Like, don't do that. I know. like and I had to get all their five-year-olds in their shows like would have no idea the fuck they're talking about yeah this album in particular that I Just all that whole thing like I just felt it was more adult and more punk rock cuz I know later they they just bigger more kid-oriented kind of later right and so I was I was not expecting it to be as
00:40:04
Speaker
Blue, I guess you might want to say, you know, as the Aquabats can go before they wear blue outfits. Yes, exactly. But ah well, that's ali the other thing, too, is ah I just recently watched like rewatched the it was an Aqua Cadet. It's called I think it was called Aqua Cadet Eyes Only or something. And it was this VHS that you could get when you joined the Aqua Cadets. And it's like.
00:40:28
Speaker
I think it's like 45 minutes long and it's like about the early years this VHS and so if you watch like it's on YouTube, it shows like 1994 95 96 all their live shows and like the different costumes and the different stage antics and like even early on those those shows were packed.
00:40:46
Speaker
There was like a ton of people there and the band was going. I mean, the band was all super young, you know, so they're just going really hard on stage, like a ton of energy. They're being super funny. They're throwing out props to the audience. And like it was a huge party. It was so fun. And that's like I definitely get that from this. It's like this is the like live show put into a record. um Yeah. And it's very loose. Like it's it's still really funny. Like, you know, this version of Martian Girl on Return of the Aquabats. ah It has like the same kind of structures and jokes, but some stuff goes on longer, some stuff's just a little looser, and it it feels more like at a show when he's like, oh, well, the the crowd's watching, the pressure's on now, what am I gonna say? like I'll tell you why, kids, it's just pi because. you know like
00:41:30
Speaker
um and i just like that That's what I get more from this one before it moves on to like ah being a little more clean and and better produced. Sorry, real quick, could you explain to the listener what an aqua cadet is?
00:41:44
Speaker
Yeah, so an aqua an aqua cadet is his army. Yeah, it's the Kiss Army of the Aquabats. Yeah, it's like you are like a you you you are a card carrying member of the Aquabats like fan club. You're an aqua cadet. um I've never joined. I wanted to. I know they reopened the program. They reopened the program in like 2016, 2018 around that time.
00:42:05
Speaker
um But you would get like exclusive like VHS's or you get exclusive like deals to buy your own like rash guard and anti negativity helmet and like all this stuff. ah But yeah, it's just they're like their their hardcore fan club. And if you watch that VHS thing that's on YouTube, too, you'll see an interview that Aaron Barrett does right out after a show at the Glass House in Pomona. And it says it says Joe Famous Aqua Cadet number zero zero zero three.
00:42:35
Speaker
And he's holding like, is yeah, and he's going to an interview and people are like, what'd you think about the show? And it's it's so funny. But yeah, so like ah Aaron Barrett is the third aqua cadet. That's cool. That's cool. Do the hand thing. Oh, you want to. Is that? Yeah. The Aquabats. Yeah. You got to do the thing. It's like the logo. It's the it's the little logo. You put your fingers up and logo. It's the little bat. The Aquabats. Yeah. back guy But no I do. You brought up a Martian girl. I have a I have one issue with Martian girl. OK. Both.
00:43:10
Speaker
both versions of the song. Okay. she's He keeps calling her a Martian girl, but she is not from Mars. No, she's from planet. she She's yeah not a Martian. So my issue is how can she be a Martian girl if she is not from Mars? Well, I'll tell you why, Joey. It's just because.
00:43:27
Speaker
Yeah, you got me. Got you. Fucking got you. Fucking schooled you on Aquabats shit. Fucking got. Yeah, you got mailman. No, one I got mailman. I don't think anyone's on the aggressive about like, I fucking told you about the Aquabats, dude. I fucking told you. Joey, do we got Scott Robot Army said the other song. That's. Yeah, we do. got Robert Army. Yes. scott Robert.
00:43:56
Speaker
It would be fun to record that.
00:44:04
Speaker
Very toad also. yeah that muppe in Very muppet ass. That's full toad. This is pre-towed. Pre-towed. Someone's got to Google that.
00:44:17
Speaker
You think Toad didn't exist before? No, no, tone i no, he just didn't have a voice like that. Not his voice. Oh, he always had that voice. That's not true, man. intime recorded In Mario Party 2, Toad's voice is like, um it's like super high. You know what I mean? It's not that gravelly stuff. That was way later. Yeah, that's true. Does this qualify? mentalal I would say so. I mean, yeah, I would say so. It's like all along the same lines as like Sharky 17, you know.
00:44:47
Speaker
Like there's like you good songs. There's like words. there it Sorry. I got it. I got to stop for a second that when thinking about an instrumental, Ska mailman thinks of inspector seven. It's a good. It's really good. Just talk about a deep cut though.
00:45:05
Speaker
Yeah, see, and that and so like Ska robot army like that or like some of the stuff off fury that because they do a handful of instrumentals that like I tried to copy that same thing in lab rats. I have an instrumental called chemical three and it's a surf rock ska thing because I mean, Aquabats nail the surf rock stuff. And that's like the same thing as like the only lyrics are like chemical three. But but yeah, what is the substance? But but yeah, like they're instrumentals like that one, too, that it very much feels like a soundtrack to like wacky, zany, like crime fighting, like pow, wham kind of stuff like they i just knew it.
00:45:46
Speaker
I was going to say they there their instrumentals are not like an instrumental so that we can showcase the instrumentalists in our band or whatever. They're like totally like mood vibe setting songs. The first two albums were actually surprisingly easier to listen to than I expected.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah, totally. You're definitely giving your hand away on how you feel about the third one. What I'll say about this era of Aquabets versus the next one is ah because Catboy is still in the band, yeah i it is very trumpet forward and ah the yeah Sky is not a trumpet forward genre, even though when people make fun of it, they talk about trumpets. um Right. But like bands like this are real big fish or mad caddies always have like big trumpets in it. And it's it does give it um a much brighter sound. And they they had I can't remember this one, the next one, they had two trumpets. It was the next one they had two because they wanted to do that mariachi kind of sound.
00:46:46
Speaker
Um, so that's, that's an interesting thing about return is like how very trumpet forward it is. And also the lyrically, they haven't quite wrapped up the the mythology of the Aqua bats. They're still like, yeah, writing jokes. Like mostly it's just like, this would be a funny song. Totally. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Uh, do we have any last minute thoughts about return before we take a break?
00:47:09
Speaker
Uh, no, I'm mostly just stoked talk about fury. Yeah. I think they were having I think they were in on the joke more. At this point. Yeah. I know what I mean. Yeah. They were having more fun. Was more so it was it was more subser subversive? Yeah. It was more subversive. The joke didn't this point over the concept. Yes. Yes. It was a little more nanananana. Yeah. I agree. I agree.
00:47:38
Speaker
all right well let's take a break and we'll get into more of the nan and and na ah na na ni na
00:47:51
Speaker
Welcome back to Checker Pass. We're here talking with the mailman and we're talking about the Aquabats. And so the time skoshine continues. This prompted a bidding war that took the OC by storm. And with many of their peers getting snapped up, they signed with Golden Voice Records to get their second album recorded. There were some significant changes, not the least of which was moving to a more well-developed costume, getting closer to their iconic blue suits, as well as another rotation of band members.
00:48:20
Speaker
The new lineup would have Jacobs as the now Bat Commander, Larson as Crash McLarson, Terry as Catboy, Chainsaw now is called Chainsaw the Prince of Karate, Prince A is now Prince Adam, and Ultra Q of the Goodwin Club is now on the second guitar with Jimmy the Robot on saxophone, and a certain someone who may or may not go to be a very famous person on drums, the Varen Vontido.
00:48:44
Speaker
This album was titled Parker. Yeah. Who? and yeah That's what you meant by. Yeah. Who's the drummer for the different guy? yeah different Different guy. Different guy. You're thinking you're thinking of the guy from Blink 182. I'm afraid you isn't the same guy.
00:49:02
Speaker
This album was titled Fury of the Aquabats and was released in the summer of Ska with production handled by The Trout who also produced the Voodoo Glow Skulls and Face to Face. It was headed off with the single Super Rad at a Saturday morning cartoon influence music video directed by Bobcat Goldwaite.
00:49:17
Speaker
that got heavy rotation on MTV, peaked at number 172 on the billboard and number 12 on the heat seekers with a sound that was faster and had more punk and surf influences than its predecessor. We want to talk about it. It's Fury of the Aquabats. Let's play Super Rad. Hell, yeah. Is this like people think is like number one? Oh, absolutely. By a long shot, I believe. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. the The cadets. Yeah. This is like charge. that's Maybe charge. Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:49:49
Speaker
I came in at the end. It's the best though. Because it's cool. Tell your mom. Vibrato watch. Tell your dad. Vibrato came in on this album, I noticed. He does the, yeah, he does like. Yeah, you really do it there. He does like lounge singer like, ha ha, yes, yeah, Aquabats, move on. Yeah. The halftime thing is. God, it's so great. This is actually really catchy.
00:50:16
Speaker
ah The thing too is like this is one of the first ska songs I tried to learn to play on guitar and like their songs are actually super fucking difficult like It's really welcome. That was one thing Yeah, that was one thing that I wrote, like, particularly on this record that I noticed. and I was like, for a jokey band, no one in this band is a slouch. No, not at all. The guitar work, the bass work, the drumming particularly on this album is bananas. Absolutely. Like, it's all really, really powerful.
00:50:47
Speaker
but yeah i did notice on this album the billy energy because i feel like it also had a rockabilly crossover a lot of rockabilly people fucking love they feel like the loungey-ness because of the surfiness yeah the surfiness we really like to tell you to rockabilly that's it billy hard billy crossover and this is when we start to hear it Yeah that that was one of my things when i was listening in it like list re-listing to everything with the idea of coming to this podcast i was like. You know this does have a lot of billy energy the only difference is that it's like completely sex list.
00:51:20
Speaker
yeah
00:51:25
Speaker
Like you can't look at the Augback, it's mormon the Mormon underwear. But no, they really and this one particularly, they really bring the surf influence, like especially just the tone of the guitars. It's really bass heavy. Like I know their current rig like Eaglebones uses like a Fender basement head to get the extra low end on the guitars. And they're just ah It's all like super twangy and i I don't know, i I think they put surf into it real, real well and in theory.
00:51:57
Speaker
Yeah, 100 percent. um This I mean, this is the the classic. This is where um I found that they have their genres that they the of song that they like to write. Absolutely. They have it. So these are the three, in my opinion, I might be wrong. They got the funny song like a super rad or a lobster bucket. They have the love song like Red Sweater and My Skateboard. And then they have the boss mode ah songs, which like Cat with Two Heads and Powdered Milk Man.
00:52:27
Speaker
And I feel like that it comes together here in a lot more of a perfunctory way, like you can really see Like now they're they are the Aquabats now, not just a band that was about to become the Aquabats. Well, yeah. And the whole record is like so high energy and I can't help but feel like that's a lot to do with the Baron Von Tito, Travis Barker. Like all the drumming who all the drumming is so, so hard. Like it goes so fast and really complicated and like just grooves really well. But if you listen to um
00:53:00
Speaker
the the interview that Christian Jacobs did on Krista Makes a Podcast where he talked about Super Rad, he talked about Travis Barker in the studio. He was like, yeah, he took he did like one take of every song. That's all we needed. Maybe we got two, but he just was like a killer. And then it set the tone for the rest of the record for them just to like go nuts. Because every every song feels like lightning speed.
00:53:22
Speaker
It really is. You don't want to say that the drumming makes the entire record because that's feels reductive right because a famous person was the drummer. um But I mean, this was his first band. Right. yeah ah And it yeah it really makes a huge fucking difference. Holy crap. Like, and especially in terms of how fast it is, it's just so fast.
00:53:46
Speaker
Do you think Courtney Kardashian is an Aquabats fan? she's card number four i mean that's why she She was like, that's why she started dating him. She was like, I fucking... Oh my God. Is that the Baron Foncito? Oh my God. Yeah, oh my God. But she has to be aware of them. Sunglasses. She has to be aware of them because he still plays with them on occasion.
00:54:13
Speaker
That's crazy. Yeah, I guess so. yeah Imagine Kourtney Kardashian at an Aquavats show. That's a very funny mental picture. Travis Barker, like he they they did a music video for Powdered Milk Man two years ago, and he was like the main focus of it. and like At festivals and stuff, like if they're in the same place, he'll be like, You know, that commander will be like, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest playing with us right now. It's the Baron Vontino. And he'll come out in the full gear like still and do the thing. So he's not like ashamed of it. But I also want about the other drummer. How does that make him feel that anytime he's doing perfectly fine? Sorry, Travis wants to play. Get out of here. Move along.
00:54:51
Speaker
It's not in the I don't think I have it in my notes, but Ricky Fitness, who's the current drummer, was the drummer for fucking sort of Jelly Beans, which is just the funniest lake. I don't know how those two bands got connected. But yeah, so they they went from a famous like they had a famous drummer and then got another very, very good drummer right after. And I don't think he's suffering. I think he's doing well. Well, I want to know him. How did Travis Barker being as serious looking as he is? How do you end up in two of
Travis Barker and the Aquabats' Legacy
00:55:20
Speaker
the goofiest bands? Did you do watch the the the the document the pick-it-up documentary when they interview Yeah, he couldn't have been less interested in talking about Scott like he's do it so disconnected from the entire period he's so good at wild but should this out I know you got him to interview but he adds nothing to this conversation you know my
00:55:49
Speaker
ah Sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. You go ahead. my that what i was When I listen to this record and I hear him doing his Travis Barker stuff, this this one and i maybe the first two Blink records he's on are the only records I can think of where he actually sounds just like a member of a really good band. After that, I find Travis Barker's playing just goods so far into Travis Barker territory that it all It's it's it's all it's he he goes a little hard on his whole thing. You know, what's his name in the Aquabats again? The Baron Von Tito. You think he needs to Tito it up? I just think i just think went down Baron Von Tito was more a member of the band and not like a star like a.
00:56:35
Speaker
A star, a savant drummer, right? Yeah, a little bit. But like, yeah, I just, I felt that he really, the drumming on this album, it feels really cohesive, even though it's still Travis Barker doing yeah fucking wild Travis Barker shit. You know what I mean? I really enjoyed that.
00:56:53
Speaker
But then also talk about like Bob got Bobcat Goldthwaite directing Super Rad. He also then directed a a pilot for them to do a TV show for Buena Vista in 98. No, he didn't go anywhere. But it's like like that just shows like they they already from this point here, like they had this mindset of like, oh, we're doing like a whole thing. It is a TV show in ah in an album. It's yeah. it So this point. So we.
00:57:19
Speaker
We should play, so let's play Powdered Milk Band because I have that queued up. Okay, yeah. Because that kind of goes into that whole bit.
00:57:27
Speaker
Also, this is my favorite Aquabad song. Oh, really? it is very The orange is so evil sounding. Yeah. ah That goes pretty hard. the Number two, but this is number one. It's just a Slayer thing. Yeah. Oh, it's good.
00:57:51
Speaker
I've listened to this a million times and every time I want to dance. This song actually is pretty good. Let's see, listen how fast it is. And like the chord changes. Like they're not just doing like a message to you, Rudy, over and over again. It's like crazy playing. It's like really interesting. yeah It's fast. It's so fast. They play real fast. We play so fast.
00:58:19
Speaker
he's like i honestly think he bought a rhyming dictionary at some point and sometimes he just looks at the word that he's doing and just picks sentences with all the words that rhyme that one word sometimes they don't rhyme that's true sometimes he just says sometimes they're just words have you guys ever had powdered milk Oh yeah. yeah it's It is the worst thing in the world. It's awful. Maybe as a child. Sure. Yeah. It's like skin milk sucks and it's like way worse than skin milk. Yeah. No, powder milk is... I get why a powder milk man is a villain. Really good villain. Yeah. Solid villain.
00:59:00
Speaker
Um, and, oh man, I lost my train of thought. I just got really into that song. Right. And I was just listening. Oh, I was going to say this was the, this was also when the whole like, uh, thing about them doing stuff on stage started really kicking off like bits, like with like the people in costumes and stuff like that happening. And they would have storylines while they were on stage.
00:59:24
Speaker
um And so people would have like a powdered milk man costume or what have you would actually come on and like they would fight them or that's why there's these like extended instrumental sections in the songs is to allow the band members to like fight the monsters. Yeah. Yeah. No, if you've ever seen them live, they like, yeah, they have like villains come out in the audience like booze and then, you know, there's like punches to the face and like, yeah, it's it's a total visual show.
00:59:50
Speaker
um Yeah i think i may have told the story on the show before but like when i saw them the open for rancid ah rancid sucked. I was on the domino's tour okay and ah we drove to like a hall in calgary to watch them which is very strange cuz i never do that.
01:00:08
Speaker
ah But the Aquabats were awesome. I think they were touring on charge. And the villain was the man who was trying to like ah like make them not be punk rock anymore, which was really funny. um And they they fought a giant lobster for like the lobster bucket song. yeah um And the bat commander had a big ah ah giant mallet that he would hit them with and then it would chase them away. And then he turns to the crowd and he's like, it just goes to show you kids you can solve all of your problems with a big hammer. It was great.
01:00:42
Speaker
um Yeah, that's something I haven't talked about that I wanted to was um my son when he was four years old, his first concert was the Aquabats. That was the first show. Yeah, that's cool. Super yeah what and it was so much fun. You know, they throw pizza slices out and they throw in sharks and kids are like crowd surfing. I mean, there's a ton of kids there, but it it was like so it was so much fun and ah and I remember the entire time, because he does the same thing that my wife does, where it's like, you they're both having the best time imaginable, but they look like they're like scared. I'm like, is everything okay? and I kept checking in on his headphones. I kept looking forward and being like, give him a thumbs up, like, you okay? and He's like, yeah. and and I was just like, oh man, it's like too much there's it's too overwhelming. There's too much sound and lights and stuff going on. like He's like overwhelmed. so The show was over and I was like, did you have a good time? We're in the car and he goes, dad,
01:01:33
Speaker
that was the coolest thing I've ever seen. And he like, oh he stayed up to like, he stayed up to like 1am just telling me and my wife like, Oh my God, it was incredible. They did this and they did this. And then there's a, there's a pizza slice. And like, it was so cool. That's so cute. Yeah. It's definitely for the kids. oh yeah For sure. In a fun way. I mean, we'll go into it at some point, but I'm a big yoga, but gab ahead. That's my, that's my,
01:01:58
Speaker
Yeah, yeah i like i je I unironically watched you have a guy I was. Yeah, me too. it And I unironically watch because I loved it. And if you look at like the super rad video and like their other ah like ah pilots, they did like Muno is like in super rad like that early on. They have that character pretty much.
01:02:19
Speaker
That's so cool because they had this obsession and it's more pronounced on the next record with like kaiju stuff like they he love tin katsu or. ah ah the The superhero fighting stuff in japanese stuff and they have like those monster costumes that are like stomping around yeah. Yeah. Right. And I think that Yo Gabba Gabba actually has a huge influence from that because that's what all the monsters kind of look like. They're like really kind of kidified Kaiju suits. Totally. Totally. But back to me as a fucking banger. Anyways, yes, I'm done.
01:02:50
Speaker
Back to this record, though, there is one other thing I wanted to say with it, too, is like there's all the goofy stuff that's like first the first thought, best thought, like really just silly. But then there's other stuff that I think is like so well written in such like a meaningful way, like the the story of nothing like that's such a perfect way to describe like not being noticed by someone you're interested in of like, I guess I'm the invisible man. ah You know, and but it's still it's still fitting this like superhero horror movie villain kind of thing of like She turned me into nothing. Let's talk about something else. Like, I don't know. I just find that super well written and like heartbreaking, but still fitting the theme. Like, I thought that was really well written. I don't know if I have much else thought. Oh, the one other thought I had on this is and this is my one critique is and i i this is I know this is controversial and Aqua Cadets will be mad at me for this. OK, I don't like Crash Mclarson's bass playing. How dare you? Are you serious? yeah
01:03:43
Speaker
I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, Joey said I'm crazy. Great. I don't I don't love it. I think because it is very cartoony, like he makes these really goofy bits on a lot of that type of stuff, a lot of that kind of stuff. I don't know what it is. It just like it's not my favorite. And I love this record. Like, love it up and down. Sure. And I do think like the other thing too is that there's a saxophone and the saxophone adds a ton, which is really more texture to all the songs. Yeah. Do they not have a saxophone for like much longer? Well, Jamie the Robot, he plays keyboards and saxophone, so he kind of goes back and forth. OK.
01:04:24
Speaker
Yeah. That makes sense. And like, it became more, set more keyboards. Yeah, they get really excited about space sounds right away. They get really excited about space sounds coming up quick. But really, like, top to bottom, Rob? You like Captain Hampton? Oh, no. I hate that song. So, so I forgot about that song when it came on and I was like, no, it's okay.
01:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's not top to bottom. I i don't like the love songs either. Red Sweater bugs the shit out of me. No way, Red red Sweater is a little boring, you must admit. And I actually, I feel like I don't like their love songs at all. I like i like don't, like, I don't know. i I kind of thought the lover's loving love or whatever was kind of funny. That's on the next record. That's on the next record. That's on the next record. That's on the next record. That's okay. No, I'm just saying. That's on their love songs. Wait, wait, wait. I'm just saying that's the only one that I was like, oh, that's funny. Red Sweater's just literally a bad, it's just like not a very good love. It's just like, I get that they're doing a bit, but it's not a bit enough for the joke to land. I don't know. Red Sweater's like, Red Sweater's like. I just did double piece signs.
01:05:31
Speaker
Red Sweater is like top 10 for me because it is the perfect example of like first the first rough draft lyrics of like I don't care if we lived in a garbage can like yeah in his first draft it's for captain hampton and Captain Hampton is just the captain Hampton does not hold up like it does not know well i mean i remember thinking that shit was so funny, but I Really? I didn't just because like I thought like the the parts where he's like singing was like Captain Hampton, Captain Hampton. Oh, ah like that's all fun. But when it goes to like the storytelling part, I was like, you lost me. Oh, like if this if this came out, if this came out today, like because of the way album track listing and like order goes like you you would lose so much of your audience would be like, ah this is this is boring, like terrible placement. And then you're not going to get Martian Girl, Idiot Box, these other songs, because people are just going to turn it off. But since it's, you know, 90, was this 90, 97?
01:06:21
Speaker
ah right You god could put them in weird weird order and stuff and there's just like Captain Hampton sucks so bad. I hate that song. I just didn't know where it was going. I like fast forwarded. and It didn't go anywhere. My my um my one critique for for the album is it's just too long, which is like a that's a thing for a lot of stuff from this era. But my my issue with it is I don't think they needed I don't think the updates of the songs that they redid were big enough updates to warrant them being on this record and taking up time. You know what it like? Sure. Like they're good. Don't get me wrong. Like they they are good versions of this. They're they're better versions of most of the songs. But I feel like the original versions of the songs were good enough that they didn't need to do that. You know what I mean? I agree with you for like Plato, but like, uh, uh,
01:07:16
Speaker
Martian Girl, I think they updated it just enough, like just little producer things like this section where where this the beat is doing the side stick thing. Like they just shortened that by like they instead of playing it twice, they played it once. And I was like, that's super needed for that song. And the word just editing, like, yeah, like just little things like yeah that. But I mean, they didn't really change this like much about the song, as you you're saying. But I do think like this version of Martian Girl is like way better just because it is like cleaner and like more thought out and then the way he does his talking is like way funnier. You know just yeah we said it already but the I'll tell you why kids it's just because like he kind of laughs through it this time and like totally sells it so I agree with you for the most part but but I would say Martian girl is like the big exception to it plus
01:08:04
Speaker
Martian Girl is so fun live because he does the like the W.O. going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like when I listened to that this week, when I was like in my mail truck, I was like had mail in my hands and I'm still going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's in the supermarket. It's so fun.
Hollywood Connections and Band Changes
01:08:19
Speaker
Oh, I had something really quick. so for Is his mustache real? Cause it looks like he can grow big stash. It's a really, it's like that crazy mustache on the MC back commander. It looks real. No, it's definitely drawn in. It's fake. I was like vermin and i thought it was real.
01:08:36
Speaker
And the Blackout tooth. Blackout tooth is also real. I'm kidding. It's natural. kidding Oh, and we real quick, too, we didn't talk about we didn't talk about how the MC back commander as a kid was like ah an actor in like sitcoms and he was in 16 candles and stuff.
01:08:55
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why he got that's why he knows Bobcat and a bunch of people in like Hollywood is because he actually was like an actor. who And when I is weird and when I interviewed Scott Klaffenstein for On the Upbeat this year, he talked about when he was like in high school going over to the Jacob's house and was like friends with the whole family. Like it when when the MC back commander was still like a little kid or like not a little kid, but like a few years just a little man. He was just a little. Captain Hempton. But I don't know, just crazy how it all how the whole scene there was all just so interconnected like that. But yeah, I always thought that was crazy that he was like in 16 candles. You can see him like in the record store. It's crazy.
01:09:36
Speaker
Nuts. That's crazy. Yeah, that that's blowing my mind currently. Crazy. Oh, yeah. All right. Let's move along. The band would then go on massive tours that feature their wacky live shows that it props characters and bits galore. It was during ah one of these tours that Blink 182 fired Scott Rainer halfway through and needed a fill in drummer. The Baron Von Tito shed his costume and rocked the house down, getting hired onto Blink full time after using his real name.
01:10:04
Speaker
just scapes me now. ah Dr. Rock would then join on drums. Baron Vontido said this, I haven't heard any of these new records. I think I heard the record after I left. But unfortunately, when I left Christian, the singer was really bummed like hella bummed. And he was upset with me because I was leaving. But I never had hard feelings for those guys. I'd always wish them the best and everything. I do any for them. You know what I mean? I thought that was sweet. That is sweet.
01:10:27
Speaker
ah Jacob, ever the businessman, saw an opportunity around this time to move the band to the small screen as it could easily translate. He rang back up Bobcat to direct a TV pilot, but unfortunately no one was interested and it fell to the wayside. It's time for their third album, so the band went into the studio with a plan to write a lot less ska, as they didn't really like the reputation they were gaining. They decided to dig in on their new wave sound and focus more on synthesizers and guitars while maintaining their mythos and humor.
01:10:56
Speaker
Ska was still a marketable sound in 1998 though, and Golden Voice was worried this shift ah this shift was an ill-advised move. The album Versus the Floating Eye of Death was released in 1999. Coincidentally, as Scott was collapsing, it was produced by BYO Records house producer Tom Wilson, who worked on the adolescence TSOL and all of those 80s LA punk bands. Golden Voice called it and the album was a miserable failure. It would be the last to feature your founding member Catboy, Dr. Rock and the mysterious Q and also the last on Golden Voice after they imploded. I will talk about that in a second.
01:11:33
Speaker
Let's talk about it. Floating Eye of Death. This must have been a bummer when it came out, because it was like so punk and ska and then it was like this. It's a hard shit. Yeah, what song do I have first? It's a hard shit. Let's do Antimatter. Yeah, Antimatter. Let's do Antimatter to start. Just because this is a pretty listenable song. This is, yeah. Spoiler, this is in my top five Aquabats songs of all time. Damn! Wow. This song in particular is good. It's like pretty much the only one. You know what? This album really had me like... ah I liked... I liked things about many of the songs but I did not like the album. so You know what I mean? Like there were a few songs where I was like, oh this is like a great song but like overall that it was not an enjoyable for me unfortunately.
01:12:31
Speaker
This song fucks though, dude. Yeah, this one's good. This one in that lover's loving loved one I thought was pretty. There's a handful that I was like out of character. These songs sound like where they go with charge. Exactly, yeah. Like it's more implying, like when they get into like being like a punk new wave band in the mid aughts.
01:12:51
Speaker
Yeah, like they've reinvented themselves like four times. You know what I mean? like I feel like their viewpoint of New Wave is the exact same as how real big fish hears and views New Wave like their interpretation and their yeah version of New Wave sounds very similar. But when I listen to New Wave, it doesn't sound like that. It's actual New Wave. It's straight Devo. But I like Devo.
01:13:17
Speaker
Yeah, I love Devo. But there's only one Devo. I feel like a lot of people try to be Devo. They add this like 90s, early 2000s like pop rock element to it because that's just like what was happening at the time. I see that. Into the sound of the new wave and that's what I don't like about it. I will say just, and I'm sure I'm not speaking out of turn, this is a controversial album. It is not a lot of people's favorites.
01:13:40
Speaker
Yeah, no. Yeah. I mean, this the the album like in full is like, I don't like it at all. um but As discussed in the back back alley interview, I am a cherry pick and daddy through and through. Yeah. Hell yeah. But this one, I mean, this this album has like three good songs that i I really like a lot and put in like some of my favorite Aquabats songs. But overall, it's just it's just kind of boring and it doesn't feel like very inspired. But the song anti-matter though, the one that we just listened to, that's in my top five Aquabats songs of all time. I think it's like super personal, which is like surprising. um And it's got some jokey stuff to it, but it's not very jokey. And it's, I don't know, maybe it's because like,
01:14:23
Speaker
as I got older because I didn't like it this much as a kid. But as I got older and I'm like, have my family on my own and stuff, I'm like, yeah, like, what does it matter? Like, we got what we got. Who cares what anyone else has? And it's just like very sincere. Like, yeah I don't think he had kids at this point, but it feels like a song like to your kids of like, hey, man, don't worry about all this other stuff. Like, let's just be happy with what we got and what we have going on here. And I don't know. It just connects with me now more than ever. So I love it. And I think what you said. Yeah.
01:14:51
Speaker
Yeah, I do think that like a lot of the it it is missing the the big bad like the the villains It is really missing the like the fight songs like those are so none of these songs have exclamation points after them so zero Yeah. So yeah, they're they're periods. That was a weird move now. ah But I felt like this album was an entire album of a band trying to do a whole album of Dare to Be Stupid. And it just didn't land. Maybe. You know, because it's like it just like it they it's very Devo. But I feel like because it's so jokey, it's almost like Weird Al's version of Devo.
01:15:36
Speaker
But like, dare to be stupid is like a perfect song. Yeah. So you can't, yeah you know, like you can't make a whole album of dare to be stupid because it's like already a perfect thing, you know. And and the Bat Commander does a lot of weird alley stuff like, you know, like the the like the the bait and switch like that. He's going to swear or say something inappropriate. Like that's such a weird outrope, too. Right.
01:16:00
Speaker
Later, he became friends with Weird Al. I mean, Weird Al has been spotted in the Aqua Cadet or Aquabats like uniform multiple times. He's been on the TV show as villains. He's performed with them with the accordion stuff like is very much like in that world. Yeah, his TV show was very much like the exact like base, probably what the Aquabats would have done had their TV show. Oh, the weird out show. Yeah. Yeah. Like weird. Like the the humor in the Weird Al show is very very much like if not LTV. No, No, it was a one on CD. I've never seen Weird Al show. I've i've got a Weird Al show was like. I've got the DVD set of it and I've watched all the episodes with commentary and everything like that is truly one of my other large obsessions. It's a Weird Al show. I've never seen it. It was like a like a Peewee's Playhouse kind of. OK, that's crazy. that' i'm not Like the concept was like pet Peewee's Playhouse, but it was like Weird Al.
01:16:54
Speaker
doing stuff but it also got what Adam you might know the story a little more they they had to insert parts to make it into a kid's show because he wanted it to be more subversive. So when you watch the episodes, like as they were released, they have these like really oddly inserted, like, yeah, like ah public service announcement type things in them that are really weird and don't really go with the show. funny They're so funny. Yeah, you absolutely have. to Yeah, I don't think you can find it anywhere. Like you have to have the DVDs of it. Damn. It's on Tubi. Oh, it's on Tubi. Oh, hell yeah, dude. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's on 2B. I hope you'll invite me back for a Weird Al chat because that's my that's my other big, big one. I just bought a Weird Al t-shirt today. I'm probably Weird Al's number two biggest fan probably. like It's up there.
01:17:46
Speaker
yeah Yeah, after Broom Mutashwartz. After John Der Mutashwartz. Yeah. Let's play one more song because I don't want to spend too much time on this record because there's a lot to ah not be happy about. But this ah this song is its most streamed song on the record, and Chemical Bomb. That's what I thought it was going to be.
01:18:09
Speaker
most We don't talk about their pastiche songs a lot. they did this yeah but i can't i can't yeah this yeah we like like We didn't talk about like, attacked by snakes, and that's like a very, that whole pastiche. This like, bossa nova thing. No, this bossa nova one is so fun. And it's like so dark, it's really dark for it for them.
01:18:30
Speaker
What are you talking about? yeah like the snake you want the like vocals are Speaking of snakes, did love the line, like so many so many snakes you could fill the Great Lakes with snakes was was pretty funny. I laughed every time he said it. Are there any more? No, but yeah, this song is so dark where he's like, you know, everybody's dead.
01:18:54
Speaker
Again, a very weird alley. The singing. Yes. It's intentionally, so you're gonna purpose. I just don't find this enjoyable in my ears at all. Okay, well but the hook? Four and a half minutes long. What the hook in this song? What hook? Where's the hook? Wait, just listen for it. It's like the most perfect bossa nova hook you could have. It's so good. Rob's probably gonna cut it right before it drops. Right before the lalalalalas.
01:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, probably. Right there. Oh, that just like doesn't that. That's the hook. Aren't you guys supposed to be like French or something? Like this is like so French. We got a little bit of. It was a born as shit. I don't like that. um I will. I do want to say that when I saw when I saw the Aquabats live, it was a really great show because the MC Bat Commander was born in Idaho.
Aquabats' Humor and Americana Culture
01:19:44
Speaker
um He didn't grow up here. but he was He was born in Rupert, Idaho, and he mentioned that in the show and he was like, so we're going to give you an extra special show and everything. And there was this one girl who ah she was like a high school girl. She had tweeted at the band the day of the show and said, like, can I please sing chemical bomb? And he was like, so we're going so he's like, absolutely. We saw your tweet come up on stage and she went to Nampa High School, which I grew up in Nampa, Idaho, which is just outside of Boise. So I was like, holy cow. Like we're getting like Canyon County representation here. yeah she's like c This high school girl goes up and they played the full song and he would hand the microphone to her and she'd go la la la la la la la la. la la so like got keep It was so fun. Like everyone is having a blast and then like she got off the stage and she was like, you know, a big hero to the whole crowd. It was great. Bad song rule. Lovely story. But we also didn't have any other thoughts.
01:20:40
Speaker
Well, I don't remember. Are we going into volume two on this episode or no? Yeah. OK. I listen to it. OK, sounds good. All right. I listen to it. So as I left off, Golden Voice imploded after this record. But would you like to know this story because it's time for an edition of Label? She's the bomb. Golden Voice was founded by Gary Tovar in Huntington Beach. Yup. The OC in the early 80s.
01:21:09
Speaker
A contemporary of the BYO crew, it's all connected. He spent a lot of time working with LA punks like TSOL, Social Distortion, and bringing in UK bands like Public Image and GBH. He booked 5,000 plus person shows that dwarfed the New York shows, often at his own expense, with him figuring that he lost somewhere between 4 and 5 million dollars over a decade.
01:21:31
Speaker
Well, that was okay by him, because he just so happened to be a notorious marijuana smuggler, and Golden Voice was his money laundering scheme. By the dick by the late 1980s, he brought in some additional help, including then-unknown Scott promoter Paul Tollett.
01:21:48
Speaker
It all came to a head in 1991 when the DEA broke into his house, took him into custody, and denied him bail, forcing him to pass the business to Paul. Paul was the label head, and he helped Pearl Jam put on their famous 1993 concert at the Empire Polo Club in the Inland Empire to 25,000 people. It was here that he became inspired to put on a full-blown music festival.
01:22:11
Speaker
It was inspired by the fact that his label was unable to compete with other promotional companies that had much larger guarantees. The music festival was conceived as a way to combat this and they wanted it to be artist first and European style to be a counterpoint to Lollapalooza or Woodstock or what have you.
01:22:28
Speaker
The first one was in 1999 and was two days with headliners by Beck, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, and it was $50 a ticket. It came with free parking and water. Only 37,000 people attended, well half of the audience that they anticipated despite glowing reviews, especially in contrast to Woodstock 99 the same year.
01:22:50
Speaker
The event cost Golden Voice $850,000 in net losses. So in order to keep the promotion arm afloat, they closed the recording arm, which up to that point only included the Aquabats. The only band? They were the only band? Correct. The Aquabats were part of a marijuana smuggling scheme. And can you guess what that music festival was called? Oh my goodness. Walla Palooza.
01:23:19
Speaker
Nope. It's in the Inland Empire. in In Inland. It is Coachella and still exists to this day. that's So Coachella single handedly collapsed a label whose only member was the Aquabats. That's fucking bananas.
01:23:44
Speaker
I mean, that's a pretty weak empire to fall. That story made me laugh so hard. you tell him he's like Coachella basically wrecked Aquabania.
01:23:57
Speaker
yeah What the fuck? A2 Brutus. and Without a label. A2 Bad Commander. A2 Bad Commander. Without a label, the band members went back to their day jobs to help fund the band while getting some distro assistance from Fearless Records, who reissued their debut and helped them put together an album of outtakes that were written in between Fury and the Floating Eye of Death, showcasing a more easing and evolution of their sound in that two year period. The album ah was titled Miss Legends and Other Amazing Adventures Volume 2 and was released in 2000, which is where we'll leave our discussion for today. ah I don't know, pizza day.
01:24:38
Speaker
Not pool party? I feel pool party's like the big one. These are both the big ones. Yeah, my band in high school cover. For a record that's basically B-Sides, it has two monster songs that they play at all their live shows. This this record is way better than the actual record, Mike. Yeah. No, this song was...
01:25:05
Speaker
a big favorite of me and my friends and we covered this one and Pool Party in my old band and that was like how we decided to be a ska band. That's fun. And we had a horn section for two weeks. It was the best two weeks ever.
01:25:24
Speaker
yeah this is like if this was actually on Fury like it was supposed to have like it would have been a single and it would have been as big as Super Rad i think damn i mean if you see them live this song kills every time every time and they and they a great song it's the beer of the band exactly a song that didn't really hit the radio but is the fan favorite yes and pizza goes well with beer that's true does it i've never had that that sounds like a good combo though It's like milk and honey. Milk and honey for Canadians is pizza and beer. Are you putting a lot of honey in your milk down there in Idaho? Just big old cold glass of milk and honey? We're very biblical here, all right? We're very biblical. I have a belt. That is a really, that is a pretty silly fun song. That's super fun. I want to hate it, but I can't.
01:26:16
Speaker
ah It's super catchy. I can't hate it. It's so good It's unbelievably catchy and then it has like funny bits in it like at the very end where He's like best day of the week says Michael Jackson of Encino, California like it's like he's just like they're they're goof they're Goofing off and having fun in the studio and like isn't that Bobcat who does that whole bit at the end? No, that's pretty sure the bobcat it sounds like the back commander to me and It maybe it is, but I am. I am 60 percent sure it's Bob. I'm going to confirm this while we. That's not. yeah I don't know. I don't know. It's a C. It's a C. I will say, though, the one thing about ah might be today is that it very much because in Canada, it's a very different like school lunch culture thing. So it's just very like when I listen to this song,
01:27:07
Speaker
I have no other point of reference other than sitcom, lunchtime, California, TV 90s, TV sitcom, lunchroom. That's what I have to picture for this song because we don't have the same kind of lunch program. Wait, so what's your public school lunch set up like? How's it different? You bring it. Yeah, you bring your fucking lunch. Oh, you never have made for you at school?
01:27:33
Speaker
norow bag Yeah, sometimes it like some high schools will have like cafeteria did but yeah, like even then you you got to pay for it though. Yeah, like for the most part there I think there are some assistance programs, but like my high school had like had a ah cafeteria, but I would say that Probably eighty percent of the people brought their own lunch. Yeah, well, I mean like The definitely like you have to pay for lunch like in schools here I mean and unless you like get a special grant or whatever money, but yeah like money Yeah, but lunch but no we definitely have like a schedule in Friday was pizza day at least when I went to school like that was very common everywhere you had Friday and it was usually like French bread pizza or something, but still you had pizza on Fridays like
01:28:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's best it was the best day of the week Pizza I feel like even like family pizza night is usually Friday. So I feel like the yeah Totally there totally Friday pieces of Friday's hard Friday energy getting cozy getting thoseie away from the cozy away from the mic yeah But if we're gonna talk about like I have a confirmation Yeah, the song but I know Bobcat and if so if it is the back commander, he's doing a spot-on Bobcat Goldwaite impression Yeah, maybe I'll have to listen to it again I always just thought assumed it was the back commander cuz it kind of sounds like him, but cuz I don't know lets noise You know, it could it could it could you know what? moca because i goes like Wow, yeah yeah buddy He does like the voice. have a his voice back Yeah, it's kind of the same. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty good that was good that year you you heard this before that's yeah Not your first time doing that I do bobcat head over you love a good impression that's like one of my favorite things in the world yeah
01:29:14
Speaker
um ah So do can we talk about, I didn't queue it up because there's a lot going on in the song, but fell asleep on my arm. Joey, you had thoughts. I love this song. It's so funny. It's so fucking funny. I love that they touched on like four or five New Metal band sounds in the same song. Yeah, they cornered pretty well. They cornered pretty well. They raged. They went biscuited. They do all. They definitely got the biscuit. You know what I was really... Which is also, that's very weird, all of them. That's very weird. Yes, very much. They do a pastiche like that, yeah. But what was impressive with me is they definitely paid close attention because even the way the vocals are mixed, it sounds like a New Metal song. It's very really close up.
01:30:00
Speaker
I don't know, it's just so funny. And then doing that, boom, dum, dum, the dicky, dicky, like so so yeah fucking funny. And again, when I saw them live, they did just that last bit for like 30 seconds and he was going, but with the, tippo the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,
01:30:21
Speaker
as it like as it kicked on in my car, I honestly was like, oh, did the album end? Is this corn? What's happening? And then I was like, oh, no, wait, they're doing a thing. As soon as you hear the ride cymbals going. tota tick to tik to dicting Yeah, and then that discord and like weird chords they use or whatever. So funny. That's definitely one of my favorites. But no, we absolutely must talk about pool party. That's like a must. Yeah, let's play it. Let's play it. Pool party. I didn't want to. I could tell.
01:30:51
Speaker
No, I was gonna play it. I just wanted to do Pizza Day first. More... More silly bits in the studio. Hey, guess what today, dude? Pizza for pool party my house.
01:31:03
Speaker
This is another one where my only for like like reference point is like TV shows, because yeah nobody here has pools. oh yeah right you go to the like local pool You don't have a pool party there, though. Yeah, actually that's true. And then they then someone brings Subway. Oh yeah. I gotta say this is like, this is like the standard for Aquabats synthesizers, but sometimes they they just miss me with it. But this is like yeah like, this is perfect synthesizer, like cause because in lab rats, my EP I put out, it's very synth heavy because I don't have the horn sections where I placed all the horn parts with synth parts and I wanted it to have this specific type of sound and so like, I just I love the way that this mixes in with everything because it still fits with surf. It still fits with the punk stuff. And it works with Scott really well, too, surprisingly. They nailed it on that totally. Yeah, I agree.
01:32:02
Speaker
They're just so funny. Yeah, that's a great. Oh, yeah. Oh, in the holy guacamole, we got chips. Come on. That's like, yeah, that's a great joke. Right. Just a good joke. I just remember kids. Holy guacamole. We've got chips. Every kid at my school, anytime someone said holy guacamole was followed up with we got chips, even like if you weren't like a Scott fan because I grew up with a bunch of Mormon people. So they like the Aquabats. You know what I mean?
01:32:26
Speaker
That's fun. holy like The Mormons get to have fun, too, with the Aquabats. No, anytime anyone said Holy Guacamole was following up with me. Soaking, Aquabats, soda pop, yeah soaking. Bed shaking. Yeah, the bed shaking. I just learned about that one the other day. Oh, dude. OK, so total sidetrack, total sidetrack. But um the band Wicked Bears, one of my favorite bands ever. um Love them. Yeah. So Nick from Wicked Bears is a good friend of mine. We went and saw No Effects together this year and everything. But anyway, Salt Lake City is getting ah an NHL team and they don't have a they don't have a name. So I texted him and I said, oh it's really stupid. Yeah. But I texted him and I said, ah you guys should name your your team the ah Salt Lake City Soakers.
01:33:11
Speaker
And I thought it was great. And he shot back with like, only if we can get the Boise bed shakers. And I was like, my God, this is like, yeah, that yeah
01:33:22
Speaker
and lean in, lean in. Right. Lean in. so like city he So imagine we hear a lot of. We hear a lot of hockey. We hear everything about hockey here being in Canada. And yeah, every time the, what do they call it? Like the salt Lake hockey club or something? Yeah. It's like the Utah hockey. Yeah. Utah hockey. So yeah, something like that. Something like, and every time it comes up, I'm just like, man, the talk about first draft.
01:33:47
Speaker
First thought, best thought. um No, but that's the other thing you cut it off. and And I know you guys aren't Rush fans, but there's the Rush like moment in pool party with the Tom Sawyer riff. And that's like that. yeah I'm also a massive Rush fan. So that was like so cool. And I like Rush. Oh, thank God. Because when I was talking only I'm the only one. Well, when I was talking to to Rob in Joey in Connecticut this year, I like brought up Rush, like really excited to talk to like Canadians and they like let me down. So I like Russia. I think Russia is cool. No. Do you have any last thoughts on a different way of a rush to land? No. I love all your dudes. News Legends. I do have it. Say it again. Sorry, I was thinking my last thoughts.
01:34:37
Speaker
Your last thoughts, yes. Don't laugh will get derailed by Rush Talk. so Oh, dude, we could totally, well we got to have a separate episode for Rush and Weird Al. Like, I'm all for it. um Yeah. No, this album ends. Rush does have some scoffs. Stop it. They do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, got it. I'm so ready to go into it, man. I said, stop it.
01:34:53
Speaker
so The end of this album is on the wild the the song The Wild Sea, goes back and uses that same that same hook from Chemical Bomb, but they like make it faster and use it for Ska and it works so well.
Aquabats' Evolving Sound and Critiques
01:35:07
Speaker
that bra and and and and that's that done ah It's it that one. like just because I remember the first time I heard that, I was like, oh, that's Chemical Bomb, but this is like way cooler than that. I just love that they like called back to it and like repurposed it for a different genre and it worked 10 times as good.
01:35:22
Speaker
There are some banger tracks like Wild C, Adventure Today, Hey Luna. There's just some like really, really good songs that are just like album tracks that work really good on this. It does feel like, ah,
01:35:35
Speaker
Like you could take songs from here, you could take songs from even the previous record to some degree, but you almost wish they followed a different path a little bit just to see where it would go. I have no problems with like modern Aquabats, but I feel like there was a through line of like those types of songs that they just didn't explore because they were too busy getting rid of all their scar, right? Which right it's just like a different Yeah. Which this was kind of like the last one before very recently that they kind of started doing ska stuff again. But this was that definitely an end of an era was this one before the the return, like the real return of them. So Lynn Joey, what are your thoughts on this record before we close up?
01:36:16
Speaker
I liked the Ska songs. I don't know, this one was kind of hit or miss for me. It did feel like just a collection of songs. It was a tough one to get through. Yeah, I think it just didn't really hit as an album for me, but it was fine.
01:36:37
Speaker
Like I said, the ska songs were the high points for me for sure. ah But it was it was like a just a collection of songs, you know, it's just worms make dirt is an absolutely terrible song. I will say I say that all the time. Like, I'll just be like worms make the dirt and the dirt makes the earth was was was tiny pants on this one or was that on the last one? the the last one. Oh, okay. I hate that song. I got just got to say, I hate fucking tiny pants. that's all I just think it's crazy that the like B sides album is so much better than the actual like studio. It's just says weird.
01:37:15
Speaker
there's more ideas i guess i feel better about ideas for sure um but yeah uh songs that start with p i maybe that maybe it's a party pizza day it's a party pooper yeah pooper pooper rad pooper pad pooper pad where's your dog yes you know you daughter and All right. You know what? let's This is the good a time for part one. Mailman, thanks for coming on, Adam. We always love to talk to you. This was a fun chat. Thanks so much. What have you got to plug, homie?
Guest's Band and Podcast Conclusion
01:37:45
Speaker
ah Let's just do ah my TikTok at, well, it's not at the Scott Mailman, but if you look for the Scott Mailman, I'm there. Check out the Lab Bratz EP streaming everywhere now.
01:37:57
Speaker
um follow my other band, The Shut-Ins, with a Z. We put out some pretty sick political punk rock stuff. I'm really happy with what we got going there. Sweet. Yeah, just a good time. ah I don't know when this is coming out, but on the upbeat, it's got a ah ah Christmas compilation coming out in a couple weeks on my birthday. so For my birthday on my birthday, go do that, and it benefits Toys for Tots. and If I get my shit together, I should have a song on that ah compilation as well because I did it last year and it is ah my Christmas song last year. My wife says it's the best song I've ever written. so Unfortunately, the best song I've ever written is a Christmas song and that is also streaming everywhere now. Lab Bratz. That's all I got.
01:38:41
Speaker
That's pretty good. That's a lot of stuff. Yeah. Sagittarius. Hell yeah. Thanks for listening to CheckerPass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok at CheckerPassPods. Send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail dot.com. To support the pod and get bonus content, including a full length and unedited video of this episode, sign up for the Checkerhead Patreon at patreon dot.com slash checkerpass. We also have merch available at checkerpass.ca. If you're watching the video, our merch is on a person's chest right now.
01:39:07
Speaker
Checkered past. Our merge is on a person's chest right now. Yeah, that's how I that's how I phrase it. It sounds like the only thing checkered past is edited by cut checkered past is edited by cut man and engineered by Joey. I. And until next time, I'm Rob. so lyn And Joey. In the mortal words of the Aquabats, tell your mom, tell your dad to listen to checkered past.
01:39:36
Speaker
You're listening to Checkered Pass. We're not the one about Silver Age DC Comics.