Looking for some good live music to spice up your weekend? Search no further than the Reel Big Fish concert this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in Morrell Gym, with special guest emo/pop-punk band the Spotlight, which features Rob Reider '07 on bass.
Aaron Barrett and Matt Wong founded Reel Big Fish in Orange County in the mid-90s, at a time when bands with a similar ska-punk vibe, like No Doubt and Sublime, were just getting popular. You may remember Reel Big Fish from their earlier days, when the band appeared in the movie Baseketball and had several hit songs, most notably "Sellout" from their album Turn The Radio Off, which was released in 1996 and went gold. Reel Big Fish's latest album, We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy, was released on April 5, and their concert at Bowdoin is just one stop on a national tour to promote the album. In addition to the above-mentioned albums, the band has also released three other albums, Everything Sucks, Why Do They Rock So Hard? and Cheer Up! The band also released a DVD, The Show Must Go Off.
"Reel Big Fish was my favorite band in the world when I was in seventh and eighth grade, and I know they were a big part of why I started playing in bands," said Reider. "Everyone in the band loved Reel Big Fish at one point, and I still dig their music a lot, so we're all really excited."
Meanwhile, Reider's band, the Spotlight, has already played with other bands such as the Starting Line, Taking Back Sunday, and Rufio, and has released two electric demos and one acoustic demo. Its first official six-song EP will be released in mid-May and will be available online. The other members of the Spotlight are friends of Reider's from Maryland: Chris Brown and Mike Toohey on vocals and guitar, and Chris McCabe on the drums, who formed their band last summer.
"We got started when all of our previous bands called it quits. I knew Mike because we had both been in ska bands," said Reider. "I knew Chris and Chris because they went to the public school down the road and played in a fairly well known band in the area called The View From Here. All our bands broke up, Chris and Chris called me, and I brought Mike along."
This will be their first time playing for a Bowdoin audience. "It's going to be great to finally get a chance to play at Bowdoin because a lot of my friends have heard us on CD and seen videos before, so it will be great to finally give them a live show," Reider said.