''We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy'' is the fifth studio album by

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...

band

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album '' Turn the Radio Off''. So ...

. It was released on April 5, 2005 on Mojo Records to mixed reviews.

Background and production

In February 2004, the band finished pre-production for their next album. Following this, they embarked on a tour of Europe, which lasted in March. In May 2004, they planned recording their next album. In June and July 2004, the band went on a North American tour, with Catch 22, Rx Bandits,

Lucky Boys Confusion Lucky Boys Confusion is an American rock music, rock band from the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Hailing from DuPage County, the band's music is a mix of rock, Punk rock, punk, ska and hip hop music, hip hop. The band con ...

, and

Big D and the Kids Table Big D and the Kids Table is a ska punk band formed in October 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts, when its members converged in college. Their first release was on their own Fork in Hand Records label, but have since teamed with Springman Records a ...

. Recording ultimately began in September 2004; around this time trumpeter Tyler Jones left the band. Jones' role was fulfilled by John Christianson, who worked with frontman Aaron Barrett in the Forces of Evil. Recording wrapped up in October 2004.

Music

Notably darker than the band's previous album, '' Cheer Up!'', the album's songs commonly express jealousy, regret, short-lasting fame, and disappointment toward mainstream record companies. The album also includes covers of

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles " Fast Car" (1988) and " Give Me One Reason" (1995). She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she rel ...

's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution",

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

's "

We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" is a song by the English singer-songwriter Morrissey from his third studio album, ''Your Arsenal'' (1992). It was released as the lead single from the album on 27 April 1992 by His Master's Voice. ...

" and

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. It consists of Mike Ness (vocals, guitar), Jonny Wickersham (guitar), Brent Harding (bass), David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards). Emerg ...

's " Story of My Life". Both the Chapman cover and the Social Distortion cover were respectively chosen as the first and second singles.

Release

In November 2004, Reel Big Fish went on a West Coast US tour; the members spent the Christmas period working on side projects. On February 2, 2005, ''We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy'' was announced for release in two months' time. They embarked on a co-headlining tour with

Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion), and Rob Felicetti (bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar). The band i ...

. "The Fire" was posted on the band's

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

profile on March 18, 2005 ahead of the album. ''We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy'' was released on April 5, 2005 through

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

. In June 2005, they toured Europe, and then went on a US tour with American Hi-Fi,

Punchline A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up for ...

and Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer between June and August 2005. American Hi-Fi dropped off the tour and were replaced by Catch 22 from the July 17 date, as Barrett explains: " merican Hi-Fiweren't being received very well by the ska kids, and because they were pretty burnt out from being on tour for a year and a half non-stop". In late August 2005, they filmed a music video for "Don't Start a Band" with director Jonathan London. The following month, the band went on a month-long tour of the UK with

the Matches The Matches are an American rock band from Oakland, California, initially active from 1997 to 2009. Formed as the Locals, the group changed their name after five years to avoid conflict with a Chicago band of the same name. As the Matches, they ...

Skindred Skindred is a Welsh band that fuses heavy metal with other genres, most notably reggae. Formed in Newport in 1998, they are well known for their energetic and involving live performances and have won several awards including "Best Live Band" a ...

and My Awesome Compilation. They toured across New Zealand and Australia with Goldfinger and the Matches, leading up to a one-off show in Hawaii. On September 22, 2005, the "Don't Start a Band" video was posted online. While in New Zealand, trumpeter

Scott Klopfenstein Scott Allen Klopfenstein is an American musician and a former member of the band Reel Big Fish. He sings and plays trumpet, guitar, and Keyboard instrument, keyboard. Before joining Reel Big Fish, Klopfenstein played trumpet in Nuckle Brothers ...

was hospitalized due to what the band referred to as "abnormal fatigue"; the rest of the band continued their scheduled performances. They went on a brief East Coast US tour with the Tossers and Transition. Reel Big Fish closed the year with a New Year's Eve show in Costa Mesa, California, with Klopfenstein back in the band. Reel Big Fish opened 2006 with a co-headlining West Coast US tour with Goldfinger, dubbed the Deep Freeze Tour; they were supported by

Zebrahead Zebrahead is an American rock band from La Habra, California, formed in 1996. The group's current line-up comprises rapper Ali Tabatabaee, bassist Ben Osmundson, drummer Ed Udhus, lead guitarist Dan Palmer and lead vocalist and rhythm guita ...

and Bottom Line. On January 13, 2006, the band announced they left Jive Records, with their manager Vince Pileggi explaining that the "traditional major label business model is a dinosaur whose feet are already covered in tar". A UK leg of the tour followed without Goldfinger, running into February 2006. Klopfenstein had to be flown home due to his previous illness flaring up as the rest of the band continued on a tour of mainland Europe. In March 2006, the band performed at The International Ska Circus festival. In July and August 2006, the band embarked on a headlining US tour, with support from

MxPx MxPx () is an American punk rock band from Bremerton, Washington, formed in 1992 as Magnified Plaid. As of 2016, current members include Mike Herrera (bass guitar, lead vocals), Yuri Ruley (drums, percussion), Tom Wisniewski (lead guitar, backi ...

Streetlight Manifesto Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from New Brunswick Township, New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 2002. They released their debut album, ''Everything Goes Numb'', through Victory Records on August 26, 2003. The ban ...

, Transition, and

Whole Wheat Bread Whole wheat bread or wholemeal bread is a type of bread made using flour that is partly or entirely milled from whole or almost-whole wheat grains, see whole-wheat flour and whole grain. It is one kind of brown bread. Synonyms or near-synony ...

. In the midst of this, the band released the live album ''Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album'', which was recorded across several shows. Between October and December 2006, the band toured across the US with support from Streetlight Manifesto,

Suburban Legends Suburban Legends are an American ska punk band that formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1998 and later based themselves in nearby Santa Ana. After building a fanbase in the Orange County ska scene through their numerous regular perfor ...

, and Westbound Train.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the album's songs as "angry" and "embittered", but also deemed the album as "super catchy".

Track listing

Personnel

;Reel Big Fish *Aaron Barrett -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, producer,

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

, guitar, keyboards,

vocal harmonies Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chor ...

*Matt Wong -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Dan Regan -

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

*John Christianson - trumpet ;Additional musicians *Justin Ferreira -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

;Production *Eddy Schreyer - mastering *John Halpern -

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

*Chaz Harper - mastering *Vince Pileggi -

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

*Denise Trorman -

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

*Beau Burchell -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

*Shawn Sullivan - producer, mixing, engineer *Jesse Alvarado - engineer *David Irish - engineer, mixing *Lars Stalfors - assistant engineer, beats

References

External links

''We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy''
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control 2005 albums Reel Big Fish albums Jive Records albums Mojo Records albums