The Aquabats |
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Editor's Note: Sean Sullivan's interview with The Aquabats is actually long enough to be five Short Talk articles -- but with the clock ticking down to Splendid's end and all of our feature slots filled, I didn't have many options available when I realized that I'd forgotten about this article. Apologies to Sean for its lateness and placement.
Few bands inspire the kind of devotion it takes to don a full body Twinkie costume in public, let alone to wear the costume to a show on one of the hottest days of the year. But the Aquabats are not like other rock bands, as their fans, The Cadets, will gladly tell you. The Aquabats are part vaudeville stagecraft, part hyped up ska/punk/new wave band and part cartoon superheroes. The result is a potent brew of super-catchy songs and a super rad live experience that leaves even The Aquabats' enemies smiling when they leave.
I caught up with bass player and superhero Crash McLarsen before the band's show at The Axis in Boston. The Aquabats were touring in support of their latest album, Charge!!!, the first they've recorded without a horn section. It is also perhaps their most cohesive and accomplished release to date. Crash filled me in on some of the myths and stories that surround the Aquabats, as well as clarifying the point that Yanni is, in fact, evil.
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Splendid: For people who don't know, can you describe the legend of the Aquabats?
Crash McLarsen: The legend of the Aquabats comes from our live show. It'll make more sense once you see the show. It's kind of always been about the live show. And when we write songs its always, "How is this going to work live?" Or they evolved out of the live show. In our younger days we used to do crazy stuff, trash clubs and stuff. Now we're older and wiser so we just act like retards.
Splendid: (Laughing) Retards?
Crash McLarsen: I think cause we've always tried to do different stuff with the show; that's where the "legend" comes from.
Splendid: Okay. Let me ask the question a bit differently. How about the story of Aquabania? The fictional history.
Crash McLarsen: The history?
Splendid: Well the story of how you washed up on the beach.
Crash McLarsen: Okay, well, let me tell you the story behind the story. When the Aquabats started it wasn't that pre-meditated. It kind of started as a joke, so the very first show we had the elements of it. But even though the name was Aquabats, it wasn't an intentional super hero. It just kind of made sense that way. Originally we were thinking of it as a surf band. So we thought, Aqua. Bats. Aquabats. Then a friend of ours made the helmets, and 'cause we all liked Devo we thought it was rad. So it wasn't even really as a super hero thing. But people would kind of ask us, "Well who are you guys? Where do you come from? What's the deal?" So we'd be like, "Ummmm we're from Aquabania." "Why are you here?" "Our island was attacked by space monster M so we hollowed out a log and paddled here. And uh, now we're here and we're fighting all the monsters and saving America." So that's sort of how it started. But with each album people would ask more questions and the legend evolved.
Splendid: That's cool. I was just thinking today about how you can construct a reality and over time it sort of becomes real.
Crash McLarsen: But that's the beauty of it, too, because the back story hasn't always made sense. We just make it up as we go along. There are stories from the albums. There are stories that are myths. There are stories that you hear from kids that are myths and they think are true and there's fiction that is true and it's all mixed up and great. It's great because people don't really know what's going on and neither do we!
Splendid: I gather that you guys are surfers?
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, we love surfing.
Splendid: So is Aquabania a surf paradise?
Crash McLarsen: Its like Fiji times ten. Like perfect Cloud Break and only we can surf it.
Splendid: Okay, so an Aquabat, the thing itself -- does it have gills.
Crash McLarsen: Of course. You have to breathe underwater.
Splendid: Sonar?
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, because they can't really see, but they also have a sense of smell. So it's kind of confusing.
Splendid: Can you fly?
Crash McLarsen: Underwater.
Splendid: What do you eat. Insects or krill?
Crash McLarsen: Coral.
Splendid: Coral? Nice. Yummy.
Crash McLarsen: And Sea Slugs, Sea anemones.
Splendid: Mmmmm, tasty going down?
Crash McLarsen: They seem like they would taste good.
Splendid: In the Aquabat universe you basically have heroes and villains, pretty black and white. I was thinking of some things and wondering whether they are good or evil in the Aquabat universe. So... Lobsters?
Crash McLarsen: Mmm. Lobsters are good because they are delicious, but Lobstermen are evil.
Splendid: Lobstermen are evil? Because they take the lobsters from the ocean?
Crash McLarsen: No, no, lobster-MEN. Men that have lobster claws.
Splendid: Okay. Gotcha. How about the lobstermen that go out and harvest lobsters.
Crash McLarsen: I'm sure some of them are nice. They have to bring the lobster in so we can eat them.
Splendid: Okay, hero or villain: Fred Durst?
Crash McLarsen: I dunno. I'd fight him. I have nothing against him. He did write "The Nookie". But I'd have to say villain because anybody that takes themselves that seriously can't be a hero.
Splendid: How about Yanni?
Crash McLarsen: (Long Pause) Ah, I gotta say villain.
Splendid: You have Shaq as a hero on your website.
Crash McLarsen: And Shaq-duck!
Splendid: So how about Kobe?
Crash McLarsen: Ohhhh, that's tough. I don't know if I can answer that. I'm a huge Lakers fan and it's hard to like Kobe right now. I mean, who knows the real story, but by all appearances he kind of looks like an idiot. But he's fun to watch. I don't know if my Lakers will ever be a championship team with him there, unless Phil Jackson can work some sort of magic. I'll say it was tough watching the NBA this year. I really wanted to see the Heat do good.
Splendid: So are you all sports fans?
Crash McLarsen: Well, we're all fans of sports. Hymie the Robot is a huge baseball fan.
Splendid: I was just gonna ask because Fenway Park is just across the street. (Note: The interview was conducted at Axis in Boston which is right behind Fenway Park's Green Monster. The show began at roughly the same time as a Red Sox game so the streets were filled with Red Sox fans mingling with Cadets.)
Crash McLarsen: He tries to go to a game in every city we're in. I like baseball, it's fun to watch. But I like basketball. We play basketball as a band. Nike just sent us a bunch of basketball shoes, so we're going to try to play on our day off.
Splendid: Back to Good/evil. The Wiggles?
Crash McLarsen: Ummm. That one is tough, too. They're pretty hard to watch, but kids love 'em. My kids watch the crap out of 'em. I tried to keep my kids away from the Wiggles. I wouldn't let my wife buy the Wiggles' tapes, but they heard of them from pre-school and from their friends. Eventually my Mom bought them a Wiggles tape. I think its a good introduction to music, but it doesn't portray a good message to the youth of America, that acting that fruity is okay.
Splendid: (Laughing) And the Aquabats don't act silly?
Crash McLarsen: Okay, well, don't go there. That hurts. Okay. Good point. Here I am making fun of the Wiggles for how fruity they are and we're a step above.
Splendid: They aren't fruity enough. That's the problem.
Crash McLarsen: You might be right. There you go.
Splendid: The thing is that kids, my kids, I mean we get in the car and they say, put on the Aquabats! They're so in love with you guys.
Crash McLarsen: Kids love the Fury of the Aquabats.
Splendid: Yeah, they love that one too.
Crash McLarsen: It's super cartoonish. But my kids really like the new one too.
Splendid: Okay, so what is world domination for you guys.
Crash McLarsen: Obviously we are here to rid the world of evil. And how we do that is with our live show. We do that through just being positive. There's a lot of negative in rock and roll. I would say it dominates rock and roll. It always has. Or at least recently it has. Our shows are just about having fun. Just giving the outcast nerdy kids a chance to be in their full splendor, be themselves in full splendor and not worry about some kid punching them because they're dressed like an idiot! (Laughs) For us, we've never really grown up. Having kids is just an excuse to watch cartoons. I've never really grown out of that stuff that I really should have grown out of. What was the question?
Splendid: World domination.
Crash McLarsen: World domination. Okay, our way to do that would be to slay all the evil bands. We'll fight 'em one by one. Battle them. In the octagon.
Splendid: A true battle of the bands.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, enough of this stupid high school battle of the bands -- let's just get together and really fight. Cause violence is positive energy, right? Maybe not?
Splendid: It depends on who you're violating.
Crash McLarsen: So if I beat up someone who is evil then violence is okay?
Splendid: I don't know the answer to that one.
Crash McLarsen: Nobody does. If they did, the world's problems would be solved.
Splendid: True. But you guys are making a dent.
Crash McLarsen: That's how it starts, you know -- you gotta fight one band at a time. Fight the music industry from the bottom of the gutter.
Splendid: So, moving on to Charge!!!... This is the first album without any horns at all. What precipitated that?
Crash McLarsen: Actually, it's because guys quit. Cat Bot quit a couple years ago. He was one of the trumpet players. Prince Adam, he was a trumpet player, but he had switched to guitar the last couple years. He quit last year. So we had just a saxophone, and it was kind of hard. We were trying to write a song so we could throw the sax in and it just didn't really feel right. So we still have Hymie and his saxophone, but we didn't really want to just throw in some token horns. It didn't seem like horns fit in, you know? But who knows what will happen on the next album. It's a tough line to be experimental and be diverse and be the same band. It's hard to predict what will happen.
Splendid: Okay, so the simple answer is that people quit, but listening to the material coming up to Charge!!!, it seemed like you guys were moving away from being a ska band anyway?
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, well we were never really a good ska band anyway. When we started, I had just bought a bunch of Madness on vinyl, and we wanted our friend Boyd in the band and he played trumpet and nothing else and another guy played trumpet. And really, for all these years people said, "You're not a real ska band." Then when the horns left, people said, "Oh, you're a ska band? Why are you losing the horns?" I mean, having the same guitar rhythm for every song gets kind of boring. If you listen to really good ska bands, it doesn't, because they know how to change it up and keep it interesting. But for us, like I said earlier, it was all about the live show, so to have every song have the same rhythm, it kind of got boring. Even the earlier albums that had ska rhythms we were focusing more on the adventure songs than really ska songs. So as we grew as musicians, we wanted to experiment with different rhythms.
Splendid: It seems to me, and I admit I'm not familiar with the really early stuff, but it seems from what I've listened to, your sound is more diverse now. For example, "I'm a Winner!" is like a classic rock tune. I guess it seems like you are more cohesive musically, but more diverse as well.
Crash McLarsen: I agree. Even on The Fury of the Aquabats, there's "Attacked by Snakes", which is not a ska song. There's, uh...(sings melody), I can't think of the name of it (laughs), which is sort of like a ragtime thing. And from that point on, we wanted to be more diverse. I mean, ten years on, we learned. Hopefully we got better. If you work with great producers and great musicians who have come along, you learn a little bit from each of those guys.
Splendid: On "Mechanical Ape", there's a line, "Monkey bite our way out!" It resonated with me. I kept thinking it must have come from some movie or something, because it seemed like I had heard it before, or perhaps it's just the perfect line at that point in the song. Is there some reference there?
Crash McLarsen: No, it just came out of the commander's butt. That song originally had different lyrics. It was still about a mechanical ape but he had a different verse for it. He just wasn't happy with the lyrics for some reason. And the first time I heard that, I fell out of the chair laughing.
Splendid: I had the same reaction.
Crash McLarsen: To me, that's sort of the genius of the Commander. He just knows how to put the right phrase in the right place that makes a simple song into a good song. Even our songs where our musical ability wasn't all that good, he was able to make them interesting.
Splendid: It seems also on Charge!!! that the vocals are...
Crash McLarsen: Better?
Splendid: I think they're better. I don't know if that's the songwriting or just the singing, but the melodies are more complex, or rather tighter.
Crash McLarsen: I think that's just him wanting to expand. He's never really thought of himself as a singer, I think. He's thought of himself as an entertainer. But he's a good singer. I don't think originally he was that great of singer, but he developed into a good singer. And our producer did a really good job of pulling it out of him. Cameron Webb really made him push himself, and that's why it came out so good.
Splendid: "I'm A Winner!" Why is it so much fun to make fun of tough guy construction workers?
Crash McLarsen: Cause I am one!
Splendid: Are you? I was thinking, "One of these guys works construction." because the song is just so dead-on.
Crash McLarsen: But it's really not making fun of them. It's actually paying homage to them. The line came from... well, have you ever worked construction?
Splendid: Yeah, still do.
Crash McLarsen: So you're been on a job site with forty guys with forty different radios going. There's the guys with the Mexican station, and everyone else has classic rock. I was complaining about it one day and the imagery of that really resonated with Prince Adam and the Commander. They thought that it was funny to be on a job site with four radios blasting classic rock. So I don't think it's making fun of them. Sure, there's the retarded tough guy construction workers, but most of the are rad guys, too. They're just happy guys who bust their butt every day, go home kiss the wife, watch football. It's a great life.
Splendid: Yeah, I work with boats on barges, marine construction, and you don't have anywhere to go to get away from each other and whatever music they blast at you. And I was thinking that the guys I work with would love this song. Maybe they wouldn't get it, but they would still say "Yeah!"
Crash McLarsen: Even when we do make fun of music, like rap-metal, like on "Myths and Legends" with "I fell Asleep On My Arm", we're also paying homage to some of those bands that really do it well. Korn, for example, I'm not really a fan of them, but they've been doing it for a long time, way before it was cool. And the kids that love that style of music really love it. They have a ton of energy on stage, which is what we're all about. We poke fun at everything because everything is retarded. Especially when people think you're really cool, then you are retarded. But even our musical enemies we pay homage to.
Splendid: It's not a mean thing.
Crash McLarsen: Well, I'll still fight 'em.
Splendid: Even musically, that song is just so appropriate. The chords, the solo...
Crash McLarsen: Have you heard "Why Rock"?
Splendid: I don't know that one.
Crash McLarsen: Look on the website. You might have to download it. Its not on any album. I think it actually made a heavy metal compilation once.
Splendid: I think I saw it on your website.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, if you've ever listened to Iron Maiden of Black Sabbath you'll really appreciate that.
Splendid: So is Charge selling well?
Crash McLarsen: Well, downloading has obviously changed the industry, for better or for worse. I mean, it helps us tons. But it's not like we're selling like a Coldplay record or anything. The first week we sold about four thousand and we've sold about two thousand a week since. It doesn't seem that impressive. But since we've been on tour we've been selling out every night. I think the next tour they're going to push us to larger venues.
Splendid: It seems like the kind of album that might take a little time to gain traction, but over time the word of mouth will help sell it.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah actually Chainsaw and I were talking about that. I mean, Nitro, they are rad they are really a great record label, but they still look at us like we're just another band. The booking agents are continually amazed at how well we're doing, like, "Wow, that's crazy! I don't get it!" I think our next record will be really successful. This one has been the most fun for us to write, which always makes a good record. The guys in the band are a tight-knit group. Also, partly because anybody that didn't really believe in it left. It was fun to write this record and I think the next one's going to be even more fun. We're pretty excited about that. Whatever commercial success it does have, it seems like everybody loves it. It's rad to see the kids sticking their fists in the air singing "super cool wrist bands".
Splendid: Do you start all your shows early so the kids can get to the shows?
Crash McLarsen: No, this was just double booked. Which is always kind of lame, but they're pretty cool here at the club. As long as they are cool we don't mind.
Splendid: I read that you run a clean show -- no smoking, drinking. Why?
Crash McLarsen: Well, there's enough bands that do. There's enough people that swear and teach people that stuff. For me, personally, I'm Mormon, me and the singer are, but we're not a religious band. We've never had those intentions. But because I have those beliefs, I think we've always said, we just want to do something different. We always try to do something different. We've always stood out because even bands that are cartoonish like us, they are not so squeaky clean that it's kind of funny. But on stage, its kind of like we are so goody goody that it's kind of funny. I get stoked when parents come up to me and say they appreciate that. They know their kids can come to the show and they're not going to hear that, at least while we're playing. And it's not preaching anything either, it's just being wholesome.
Splendid: You were talking about keeping it clean for the kids. On "Nerd Alert", the line "Get Stupid on your time." I'm driving in my car singing that and one of my daughters says, "Daddy don't say stupid, its bad." So now I have to sing, "Get silly on your time."
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, the same thing happened to the Commander. His kids told their Mom, "Daddy said a bad word." And she's explaining, "It's not telling someone they are stupid, he's just... Okay, you got him there." (Laughs) It's funny that stupid is like the worst cuss word for kids.
Splendid: Yeah, they don't really get the bigger universe of real cuss words.
Crash McLarsen: You know, we want the kids to come to the shows. I love it when the little kids come to the show. And we've been doing this for so long that people who used to come to our shows are now bringing their kids to the shows, and that's kind of cool. These are people that have been fans forever and they're bringing their kids.
Splendid: You kind of answered this earlier, but if someone is reading this interview and they've never been to an Aquabats show, can you give us a sense of what they might expect that is different from your average rock 'n' roll band?
Crash McLarsen: It's a whole show. The whole thing from start to finish is a show. As much as we look at ourselves as a band just rocking out, we try to put on a show. Even when people come to our show, even if they are not fans of our music, they leave as fans. Even people that hate our music come to the show, for the show. We played in Texas and this girl came in and talked to me afterwards. She's like, "I don't really like this kind of music." She likes Cradle of Filth and Hatebreed, dressed in black, she had dog collars on. She was rad. She said, I love your show. I saw you at SXSW and I just love your show.
Splendid: What's the difference between a fan and a cadet?
Crash McLarsen: I think its when... Well, to become a cadet all they have to do is apply, but the Cadets are almost like a little army that we can mobilize. They help with our street teams as far as promoting the record. Online, they've been a big help promoting our band, because we don't have airplay. We don't even really get a ton of press, you know? Bands that are on the radio are not as big as we are. Multi-platinum bands that have opened for us, that have sold millions of records, still have to open for us. I think it's because of the cadets. They just spread the word.
Splendid: There's definitely a passion.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, they're crazy. They're awesome. There are kids that paint their cars into Aquabat cars. Wear their costumes to school and get beat up. They're so awesome.
Splendid: You guys need to show up at their schools and beat up the bullies.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, we wanted to do a reality show like that where Aquabats came to high schools and helped kids out.
Splendid: You mention a reality show. I also read that you were trying to get a TV cartoon at some point. Is that still happening?
Crash McLarsen: Well, since day one we've been trying. We did a deal with Disney for a live action show. Bobcat Goldthwaite directed the pilot. It didn't really come out that good. Then we did a deal with Fox, but they shifted their focus to reality shows at that time, so it kind of sat in development hell. We've talked to Cartoon Network. We've talked to everybody. I think we're just going to do what we've always done -- we're just going to do it ourselves.
Splendid: I was just going to say, can you do something online, like an online cartoon?
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, its just a matter of money and time. Fortunately, this tour has been successful enough that we'll have a bit of money. And we've got some private investors. It's always been the dream. It hasn't happened yet, but I think it's going to in the next couple of years. We all quit our jobs. We're just going to focus on this and make it happen.
Splendid: Well, you guys certainly seem to have a handle on that more than most bands -- specifically the marketing aspects of the business.
Crash McLarsen: Well, we've definitely learned from some mistakes. But from day one we've always been focused on marketing and design. Think of things that would sell. I think our business sense is getting better. We opened our own merch store. So yeah, when you sit and wait for the lightbulb to go on, it just doesn't happen. You've got to make your own things happen. The next couple of years we're just going to focus on making some of these things happen.
Splendid: You should make lunchboxes.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, we thought about that.
Splendid: Time and money?
Crash McLarsen: Yeah, pretty much.
Splendid: Okay, moving on. I read on your website that your old label said about The Aquabats vs. The Floating Eye of Death that there wasn't a single good song on there.
Crash McLarsen: No, they said there was no single.
Splendid: Okay.
Crash McLarsen: It's tough, 'cause a record label needs to make money too, and Goldenvoice was awesome. The guy that runs Goldenvoice is the best guy in the music industry bar none. He's the best guy. He's a genius. At the same time, though, he's a businessman. I think with that album, we'd just put out The Fury of The Aquabats!, which was a great record, but it just kind of pigeonholed us as a cheesy ska band. We had some really great musicians in the band who wanted to prove themselves. I mean, some of the arrangements on Floating Eye are sick. They don't always make for great pop songs. I have mixed feelings about it. I think it's a great record, but it probably wasn't the record we should have put out at that time. But there's genius stuff on it. So I'm not bummed. The record label was kind of like, "Well, it is what it is." And at the same time the guy that owned the record label had just done the production of Coachella and that was the first year of Coachella where they lost millions of dollars. And so here's our record. We handed them a record that is out there, experimental screwing around. And he was like, "Well, you know, good luck with it." He still helped us out with it and he still helps us out all the time. He's a great guy.
Splendid: Let me ask you some questions from the fans. While I was standing in line outside before they opened the doors, this guy, his name is Mike, a huge fan -- dressed up as a Twinkie, you'll see him down there -- he wanted to know what happened to the Professor.
Crash McLarsen: Uh, he went to work for Carl Frank as one of their head artists and just left Carl Frank Industries to work for Shaq. Shaq is doing clothing and he's one of their designers. The Professor has a family. He'd love to have more time to go on tour and act like an idiot, but he's got a career and stuff.
Splendid: He also wanted to know who would win in a fight, Giant Robot Bird Head or Mechanical Ape?
Crash McLarsen: Uh, probably Giant Bird Head. It has rockets. It doesn't have to come in close. Mechanical Ape is... (gestures with arms how mechanical ape is limited in mobility). Rockets and jets win.
Splendid: Okay. Makes sense. He also wanted to know -- he met you last time you were in Boston, last summer, and he said you told him that your kid wouldn't take off your Aquabats costume. He wanted to know if he was still obsessed with the Aquabats?
Crash McLarsen: He went through a phase where he was... well, let's say he goes through weird phases where he'll decide to be a cowboy for a week, or Batman or a Power Ranger. He was a Power Ranger for a couple weeks. (Pauses, thinking.) I think it was a year ago. He was wearing my costumes. It looked like a dress hanging down past his knees. But he hasn't done it for a while. He came to the last couple of shows in LA before we left. Just sat on the side.
Splendid: What do you guys listen to while you're driving around?
Crash McLarsen: It's pretty eclectic. I love old punk rock. New Wave. Some of the younger guys know some of the newer cooler bands.
Splendid: What are the newer cooler bands?
Crash McLarsen: Let me think. (Calls to the Commander) Commander, what are some of the newer cooler bands?
MC Bat Commander: What?
Crash McLarsen: Who are the newer cooler bands? He was asking what we listen to and I was saying that The Robot and those guys introduce me to newer cooler music, but I can't think of the names of any of them.
MC Bat Commander: The Dead 60s are pretty cool. We like the Aggrolites.
Crash McLarsen: They just got signed to Hellcat.
MC Bat Commander: The Gorillaz record is really good. Who else? We like the Bravery.
Splendid: So, anything else you would want to tell Splendid readers from The Aquabats?
Crash McLarsen: Let love rule. From one of the greatest poets of our time.
Splendid: Let love rule... Okay, actually I have one more question for you, on the good or evil scale. Music Journalists?
Crash McLarsen: Well, I don't think you can do journalism profiling. Sometimes they are right, but a lot of times they are not.
Splendid: Good answer. I was going to have to fight you if answered that one wrong.
Crash McLarsen: Yeah. Well there's a guy in Portland who, no matter what we do, we are the worst band ever, total crap. But back home there's the OC Weekly. If we put out crap, they say it's crap, but they still love us. The bottom line is they let us know, there's some good genius here but there's also poop. Not everything you do is going to be genius.
Splendid: True.
Crash McLarsen: But we are pretty close.
Splendid: Well I think so. You're bringing good to the world. Thanks a lot, Crash, for taking the time to talk to me today. I appreciate it.
-- Sean Sullivan
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