Two of the more popular acts of the Ska/Punk explosion of the 1990s — SoCal’s The Aquabats and Reel Big Fish — are spending part of their summers on a co-headlining North American tour and the second show on the jaunt is right here Cincinnati. The groups play Bogart's this Wednesday, July 3.
The costumed caped crusaders Aquabats are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. In recent years, the band has etched out a career in kids-oriented TV, including appearances on Yo Gabba Gabba! and their own The Aquabats! Super Show!, for which they recently re-acquired the rights. A soundtrack album culled from music for the show was released in June.
In a press release for the tour, The Aquabats’ Christian Jacobs says, “We haven’t been on the road for a while so this is going to be most fun! We’ve been friends with the Reel Big Fish-ermen for over 20 years now and after all this time, it still feels like we’re just goofing around, playing music and having fun with no other motives than to goof around, play music and have fun.” (Fun fact: Jacobs was a child actor in the ’80s, appearing in, among other things, Pretty in Pink — he was the boy in the record store who Annie Potts lights up with a staple gun for shoplifting.)
Reel Big Fish also formed in the ’90s and had a breakthrough hit with their song “Sell Out.” The long-running group has been touring almost non-stop ever since. Last year the band released its ninth album, Life Sucks...Let’s Dance!
“Come out and party like it’s 1997 with two bands who have been making fools of themselves onstage for your entertainment for over 20 years,” Reel Big Fish frontperson Aaron Barrett says of the tour in the release. “If you don’t have a good time, it’s because you hate fun.”
7 p.m. Wednesday. $25. Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, bogarts.com.
