Reel Big Fish

Life Sucks... Let's Dance!

Written by: PP on 22/09/2019 11:32:04

"If we don't have fun, then what are we living for? If we don't have fun, why are we here?", roars Aaron Barrett on "Ska Show", capturing the very essence of Reel Big Fish in one fell swoop on the new album "Life Sucks... Let's Dance!". The album title says it all, which is why it's arguably the best Fish album since their 2002 classic "Cheer Up!"; you know, the one with "Dateless Losers", "Good Thing", "Drunk Again", and all the other upbeat classics.

If we're being perfectly honest, ska-punk has been in a rut for the better part of the last decade or so where people started believing the age-old phrase ska is dead for real. Save for the occasional bright spot from the usual suspects (Big D And The Kids Table, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake, etc), most records felt if not derivative then at least without the spark and cheerfulness that surrounded the genre during its heydey, including the last couple from these guys.

Not so on "Life Sucks... Let's Dance!". Here, it's as if the band reinvented themselves and their 3rd wave ska-punk in the process. All the best aspects of ska-punk return with a bang from the upstroke guitars, the vibrant trumpet/trombone segments, to the fun-driven, lighthearted songwriting. Is a song like "In Love Again" simple? Yes, but it's incredibly catchy and a fantastic sing-along. What about the upbeat love song "You Can't Have All Of Me", or the "Beer" version two, the hilariously self-ironic "Another Beer Song"?

The songs feel fresh, the songwriting has been revitalized, and all the varieties of ska-punk are heftily explored in cheerful, upbeat songs that catch on instantly. We have reggae-driven "Bob Marley's Toe", the signature-style Reel Big Fish banger "Bleached Thang, Baby", Hammond organs and vivid trumpets dueling against guitar solos and all the rage. If ska is truly dead, then this album shouldn't exist, because if anything, it feels like a renaissance of classic ska-punk delivered with a tongue-in-cheek, yet energy-fueled and buzzing atmosphere.

8

Download: "Ska Show"; "Bleached Thang, Baby"; "Life Sucks... Let's Dance!"; "You Can't Have All Of Me"
For the fans of: Big D And The Kids Table, Suburban Legends, Less Than Jake
Listen: Facebook

Release date 21.12.2018
Rock Ridge Music

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