Reel Big Fish: Naysay It Ain’t So.

Reel Big Fish play The Arena on Friday, the Troccadero, Surfers Paradise on Saturday and the Nambour RSL on Sunday.

Ska-punk band Reel Big Fish from Orange County, USA have finally released their first studio release in four years, Cheer Up!

“There's a lot of sadness and stuff like that happening in the world', starts trumpet player and sometimes vocalist Scott Klopfenstein. It's betrayed a lot through music and things like that I think. We called it Cheer Up! kind of sarcastically. 'Cause the music's always happy and fun and like yay! But the lyrical content and just what the songs are about isn't necessarily always the cheeriest of things.”

Cheer Up! has been a long time in coming.

“We've been through a lot of craziness in the last couple of years. We did a year and a half of touring on Why Do They Rock So Hard? But that's just part of the job and it's fun. When we first started touring it was rough though being away from home and loved ones for so long. It's part of the job and we love doing it, we love playing for the kids every night. You just kind of grin and bear it. We started writing the new album and the label we were on at the time Mojo didn't like what we were writing or coming up with. Then Mojo got bought out by jive records so there was the whole politics that are involved in that. That all put everything on hold and we just wanted to take a lot of time with the record to make sure it was perfect. We were hoping to put it out at the start of last year. It was extremely frustrating. We wrote probably thirty songs for the record. We're happy with what we have but through everything we felt that we were being told that we weren't good enough. We decided then if we weren't good enough then drop us then and we'll find someone who thinks we are good enough; but they kept holding on to it. It all worked out for the best though.”

Reel Big Fish have also had their share of naysayers and critics over the years.

“I try not to get to caught up in what people say about the band. I'm not really sure what people think about us; I think people are mostly confused about what we're all about. We're not extremely revealing as far as our music or our interviews can be. I often wonder what people think about us as people in the band. We confused ourselves and we're a little on the nutty side. Sometimes we don't know what to say and stuff so we kind of learnt that you just open your mouth and what comes out comes out and most of the time it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's just kind of what you get. I think even if the kids are confused they still find us entertaining which is the point I guess.”