Gloopy Records – 21 Aug 2020
Heroes! Villains! Karate! Fun!
Twenty something years ago, I was a pompous schmuck about music, fully engrossed in my “NoFX” stage and too interested in teenage nihilism and calling everyone enjoying themselves on stage or releasing an album I deemed substandard a sellout. I wasn't interested in horns or fun or happiness, so I avoided all ska except for Catch 22. And it was a Catch 22 show at a firehouse in Wayne, NJ where the Keasbey Nights creators opened for The Hippos (who killed) and more importantly The Aquabats! and my mind was changed.
This crazy posse of costumed, superheroes of ska showed me that fun isn't something to frown upon and that nothing is more punk than doing your own thing (even if your own thing includes a man dressed up as Magic Chicken throwing bags of chips to the audience.) Since that night The Aquabats! have continued to create happiness and fun. The band created and star in their own children's television serial The Aquabats Super Show! and lead singer MC Bat Commander's alter-ego Christian Jacobs created the award-winning TV show Yo Gabba Gabba; both shows are rife with killer original tunes from The Aquabats! and their friends. Jacobs is also currently the co-creator and co-host of the World's Best Dad Podcast where he and RVCA clothing founder Jimmy Arrighi discuss the struggles and perils of fathering mini versions of yourself and join celebs to dish out healthy doses of dad jokes.
Somehow though, even with the members wearing so many hats in the entertainment industry, the band still managed to crowdfund over $900,000 in 2018 to produce 13 webisodes of the SuperShow and 2 full length albums.
Kooky Spooky… In Stereo! came to be thanks to those fundraising efforts, and it is everything The Aquabats! are known for and everything their fans, affectionately referred to as “The Legion of Righteous Comrades,” or “The Aquacadets” love about the campy coalition.
Opening track “Karate Body!” kicks off (pun intended) the LP, and is perfectly suited for a fight sequence on a SuperShow episode. Actually most songs seem to be written for future use by the series, as “No One Wants to Party!” would be a perfect fit for a pensive scene featuring MC Bat Commander feeling lost and lonely while his cohorts are having fun with new friends where “Skeleton Inside!” would be quite at home in an Invasion of the Body Snatchers type of episode.
The album continues down this same route with super-fun anthems of silliness. My personal favorite track might be the most pure anthem of the quarantine era “Pajamazon” where the team gets agoraphobic to avoid the horrors of outside, choosing instead to enjoy the convenience of Amazon, pajamas and streaming media.
Kooky Spooky… In Stereo! is a fun romp throughout the combined creative minds of MC Bat Commander, Ricky Fitness, Crash McLarsen, EagleBones FalconHawk and Jimmy the Robot, crafting campy fun and absurdist adventures. The Aquabats! may not ever be the sort of band credited with saving a life from depression, but its pretty damn hard to wear a frown while listening to tracks like “Dangerous Leon!” or “Sneak Attack!” because the fun here is infectious. I've outgrown almost all of my interests from 1999, most of the bands I felt a connection to because of their personal lyrics aren't as relatable today but the goofiness of The Aquabats! Is something that I have not matured beyond and I hope I never do.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed's musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he's self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/