Reel Big Fish is suffering an inferiority complex in the real big pond of "Sell Out" recording contracts and stadium rock. Overcome with bouts of paranoia, anxiety and restlessness, the Southern California seven-piece scrambled back into the studio immediately following their extended American club tour and slapped down 16 tracks in hopes of reclaiming their share of fair-weather ska fans. |

"They've got a gold record and they should be cocky about it, but they're not -- they're pessimistic," the band's manager, Vince Pileggi, told JAMTV on Tuesday. "They went right into the studio and in a week's time they came out with all these amazing songs."

Reverting to their signature esoteric flare, Reel Big Fish have titled their latest effort Why Do They Rock So Hard? -- a not-so-veiled jab at the vapid, binding recording business. This sophomore effort follows more than two years after the group's Mojo Records debut, Turn the Radio Off, which spawned a cult favorite about hawking your soul to the devil -- "Sell Out." Now Reel Big Fish has extended the sellout storyline with producer John Avila (Oingo Boingo, Steve Vai), who helped them churn out catchy corporate nudges like "The Kids Don't Like It," "Everything is Cool" and "We Care" for this forthcoming disc.

In addition to sarcasm and ridicule, Why Do They Rock So Hard? will contain a healthy dose of musicianship from the band's horn section, which features Grant Barry and Dan Regan on trombone, and Tavis Werts and Scott Klopfenstein on trumpet. For a band that could not legally drink when it first formed, Reel Big Fish has graduated from the school of pop hooks to a whole new plateau on this album, Pileggi said.

"It's definitely Reel Big Fish -- they're still crazy, they're still wacky, but they're much better musicians now," he said. "The last album was very catchy and hooky, now it's actual music. I didn't think they had it in them."

Anxious to dispel the "flash in the pan" label bearing down on them, Reel Big Fish's founders -- vocalist/guitarist Aaron Barrett and bassist Matt Wong -- began re-working old material on the road last year, and by April they had enough songs to fill an album. While Barrett and Wong wracked their brains at Music Grinders studio in L.A., the band's horn section hopped aboard Green Day's tour bus for a stint of summer shows, including the infamous Weenie Roast brawl with Third Eye Blind on June 24.

Now, the exuberant band has finished work on their second album and plan to release it sometime this October. In the meantime, Reel Big Fish will appear on small and large screens this summer with "Take on Me," an A-ha cover song recorded for the comedy Baseketball, which debuts this week. A "Take on Me" video directed by Jeff Moore (the Cardigans, Jewel) has already cropped up on MTV.

In addition, the band warmed up for its upcoming full-length release with a seven-inch record titled Vacationing in Palm Springs, which contains a cover of the South Pacific song "There Ain't Nothing Like a Dame" with swing sensation Cherry Poppin' Daddies. A mini-tour of the U.S. starts in August, with a larger round of shows to follow the release of Why Do They Rock So Hard?

"The people at the record company called me and said, 'We just listened to some of these new tracks and Wow!'" Pileggi said. "I think we're gonna do big things." (Anni Layne)