Dan: So, how has the tour gone so far?
Johnny: Fucking awesome! It's so great to be out on tour with Zebrahead and Less Than Jake. They're our friends, amazing bands and great guys: it's all we could ask for.
Dan: So how many dates have you done so far, and which has been the best?
Ryland: I believe this is date number sixteen, seventeen in total. I think we're very lucky in the sense that we have great fans all over the world. It's really the fans that make the show for us. I can't really pick a particular show, because they've all been so great.
Johnny: Birmingham was amazing.
Ryland: Birmingham was really great. For some reason, particularly on this tour, maybe there's an energy in the air or something, but on this tour the crowds have been singing the horn lines, really loudly. I feel like I haven't heard that for maybe a couple of years, so it's cool to hear that again. I think it's the excitement of the line-up, people are so amped for the show, they just go nutty...
Dan: I think maybe it's the weather as well: you play kinda sunny music, and we've got really shit weather here at the moment...
Johnny: (laughs) Yeah, yeah exactly! We've gotta bring you some sunshine one way or another!
Ryland: We're here to put a smile on your face, for at least a few hours.
Dan: You've been a band for over 20 years now. How do you keep the energy up and keep coming back?
Ryland: Well, there have been a lot of line-up changes over the years. For every time a member of the band leaves and we bring someone new in, that feeling is sorta contagious, it keeps us going...
Johnny: It's like a new girlfriend. You're like 'oh, wow, things are totally awesome and different!'
Ryland: Our new member... our new member?
Johnny: Oh hey!
Ryland: ...Billy Kottage on trombone
Johnny: He feels great!
Ryland: He feels different, he smells different, he plays different...He's in his early twenties and just started touring in the last year or so. He's experiencing a lot of this for the first time, so it's kinda fun to be around that. It takes you back to being like 'oh yeah, this is really fun, this is what we get to do'. It's exciting. Whereas, if you're in that same line-up for years and years and years (which can be fantastic as well, I mean you have a band like Less Than Jake, which just is the band).... but... yeah I don't know where I was going with that!
Johnny: I think we all feel lucky to be here, to get to do what we do every night. Everybody in the band really wants to be here. Nobody's checking out, we all love playing music together, and playing for these awesome crowds. We're lucky guys.
Dan: As you said, you're good friends with Zebrahead and Less Than Jake. Are they good tour buddies?
Johnny: Absolutely. The best. You don't have to worry about them: we're all mutually respectful, we're all adults, which is awesome...
Dan: It's better than touring with children, yeah...!?
Johnny: Well, yeah! That's happened before and it's not any fun...
Ryland: There's definitely like a code of conduct that happens between bands on the road: it's not something you're ever really taught, just sort of something you get over the years, and both Zebrahead and Less Than Jake...well, all three bands have been on the road long enough to know how to respect eachother's boundaries: know when it's cool to go in someone's dressing room, know when it's cool to steal a beer... It's that respect. All three bands have been around so long: not to pat ourselves on the back but we seem to be doing something right to keep people coming...
Johnny: It's also awesome to go out and watch the bands and be like 'these guys are professionals!' You really get the sense that each band knows exactly what they're doing, and knows how to put on a show.
Dan: So what's coming next? Is there anything new from Reel Big Fish coming?
Ryland: I hope so. Our musical mastermind is Aaron. The way it works is we'll be at home or something, and get an email or phonecall telling us to be at the studio tomorrow, where the new musical project is unveiled. I certainly hope there's something new...
Dan: So what are you going to be doing for the rest of the year?
Johnny: A load more touring. We're going on something called the Rock Boat right after this, I think we only have like two days off; go and play a show in Fort Lauderdale, then go down to Miami and hit the Rock Boat.
Dan: Is that literally what it is, a boat with a load of rock bands on?
Johnny: Yeah, a cruise ship with rock bands on.
Ryland: I think we're gonna be back in England later, in August, doing some festivals. That's always exciting, playing for those crazy giant audiences. It kinda never stops. The band has built it's reputation on the live show and that's sort of our bread and butter. It's funny because we tour as much as we do that putting out new album projects is almost like a side-thought...
Dan: I guess it's because your back catalogue is so good and so popular, nothing new is really needed?
Ryland: And, thankfully, we're always making new fans, so a lot of the time people can't even keep up! As we make these new fans, they don't even realise that some of these records are fifteen, twenty years old. They don't even know that! To them, it's brand-new music, which is another reason we tour as much as we do: we're making these new fans constantly.
Dan: What are the downsides to life on the road?
Johnny: Being sick. Everybody is sick right now. I'm getting sickness number two, and it's a bummer because you don't get to get home long enough to get away from everyone and get healthy! Everybody on this entire tour has been playing ill; but doing a tremendous job, you'd never know it from the audience! But sometimes it's hard from the back of our eyes, you know, especially with Ryland, playing drums and now singing...
Ryland: Yeah, I recently put out a record so have been opening the shows. Being on the road: it's something you just realise you can't call in sick, you gotta do the job! Some bands will cancel the show if they have like a head cold or something like that... I think bands like us, you know, we just go and do the job!
Dan: So today is Valentines' Day. What are the best and worst Valentines Days that you guys have had?
Ryland: I lost my virginity on Valentines' Day!
Johnny: That could be the best! Nice!
Ryland: Yeah, totally...In the back of my Bronco. I laid out like blankets and stuff, it was really romantic...
Johnny: That wasn't a big Bronco, that was a small one! And you're a tall guy! How did you fit?
Ryland: I don't know... I don't know!
Johnny: You could probably see your feet in the back window...
Ryland: I think it was a fun night, because I knew it was going to happen. It was planned, like she was my high school sweetheart: we'd been going steady for about two and half years, we were both eighteen... so that was probably my most memorable Valentines...
Johnny: Oh gosh, I can't even remember, I've been married so long! Sending my wife flowers for the last ten years because I've been gone every fucking time... That's the biggest bummer, I'm never with my wife on Valentine's Day, I'm never with my wife on our anniversary, I'm never with my wife on her birthday...
Ryland: So, playing Shepherds Bush Empire is his best Valentine's Day memory!!
Dan: We've had some of our readers send in some questions for you guys. The first one is: what is the biggest fish you've ever caught, and how has fish or fishing influenced your music?
Johnny: Fish or fishing.... I think it helped name the band! It hasn't necessarily influenced the music... but it helped name the band!
Ryland: I've been fishing once! I don't think fish or fishing have really influenced Reel Big Fish...
Johnny: We're not necessarily fisher...men.
Dan: The next one is: what is your favourite fish-based characteristic?
Ryland: I like how sharks, when they smell blood, their eyes glaze over, and they get shark eyes. At that point they're no longer accountable for what they do, because they're just so out of it... I like the fact they can do bad things and get away with it!
Dan: Next one: Does she still have a girlfriend now?
Johnny: (Nods) Still.
Dan: One of our readers met you at the Golden Horn Kebab House in Exeter a few years ago...
Johnny: Yeah, yeah.
Dan: They asked: Where is the best place you've had a post-show kebab?
Johnny and Ryland (in unison): Abdul's in Manchester.
Dan: You've definitely been asked that before!
Ryland: It's really all in the naan bread they use. You get it with garlic naan, and it is to die for. So good.
Johnny: I got a small one, and I was sick after. It is so filling. You gotta get the small.
Dan: Have you been to Manchester this tour? Did you go back to Abdul's?
Johnny: We did, yeah, and yeah we did. That show was awesome too...
Dan: Final one is: would you say you've got as big as a ska-punk band could be? Have you had a heyday, or is it picking up still?
Ryland: It's ebbs and flows. We'll have tours, you know, which are still great tours, but compared to this one which is massive (it's right up there with one of the biggest tours the band has ever done), it doesn't seem to be showing any signs of stopping, people still love the band... we're still rocking harder than ever!
Johnny: Absolutely! What size venues are The Specials playing...!
Ryland: Well that's it, you're either playing something like this or you're playing an arena. So I mean, if we can continue to do this, I think we'd be pretty happy with that!
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As for the gig itself, it was a dramatic one to say the least. Following a confident performance from Ryland, Zebrahead took to the stage, delivering a stunningly energetic and raucous set of their brand of pop-punk. As ever, frontman Ali bounced all around the stage, leading the crowd a merry dance. They tore through fan favourite Hello Tomorrow, inviting 'Germans' onto the stage to down drinks from their ready made Valentines' Day bar, closing their set with Anthem, with Reel Big Fish guesting on brass. It was a fantastic set and one which reminded all watching just how good Zebrahead are as a band.Reel Big Fish then took to the stage and delivered a stunning set of ska-punk classics. As we chatted with Ryland and Johnny earlier about the quality of the band's back catalogue, their set proved this. Highlights as ever were Sell Out and Where Have You Been, the whole crowd roaring the horn sections, lyrics, and melodies.
We then had Less Than Jake to close the night. The excitement in the room was palpable: indeed, Reel Big Fish has raised it to massive levels. Less Than Jake took to the stage and played three tracks, before drama began. I only saw it out of the corner of my eye, but as it turned, someone had jumped from the first floor balcony, landing awkwardly and injuring themselves in the process. What happened remains unclear but all the crowd knew was that we had a 45-minute wait while the emergency services came to help, with both police and ambulance services involved. I was only able to stay around for a short while longer, having to go and catch a train, but looking online later on, the venue extended it's curfew by half an hour to enable LTJ to play on.
A dramatic, if ultimately satisfying, evening!
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