''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 together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

band,

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, 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''. Soon af ...

. It was released on April 5, 2005 on

Mojo Records Mojo Records was a California-based record label founded in 1995 by producer Jay Rifkin. It became a joint venture with Universal Records in 1996 and then sold to the Zomba Group in 2001, who placed it under their subsidiary Jive 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 Rx Bandits are an American four-piece band based in Seal Beach, California, United States. The band formed in 1995 in Orange County, California. They have appeared on the Vans Warped Tour, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valle ...

Lucky Boys Confusion Lucky Boys Confusion is an American 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, ska and hip hop. The band consists of vocalist Kaustubh "Stubhy" ...

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 and ...

. 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. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released ...

's "Talkin' Bout a Revolution",

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally 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 1987. Since then ...

's " We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" and

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...

'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 (abbreviated as BFS) is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing vo ...

. "The Fire" was posted on the band's Myspace 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. In June 2005, they toured Europe, and then went on a US tour with

American Hi-Fi American Hi-Fi is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1998. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stacy Jones, lead guitarist Jamie Arentzen, bassist and backing vocalist Drew Parsons, and drummer Brian Nolan. Prior t ...

Punchline A punch line (a. k. a. 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 ...

and

Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer (often referred to as simply Zolof) is an American pop rock band that originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania through core members Vince Ratti and Rachel Minton alongside Anthony Green. Their music, defined by t ...

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, 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 self-releas ...

Skindred Skindred are a Welsh reggae metal band formed in Newport in 1998. Their musical style mixes heavy metal, alternative rock and ragga. The band also integrate elements of punk rock, hardcore punk, reggae, dancehall, jungle, ska, hip hop, drum ...

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 "Scotty" 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 ...

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 The Tossers are an American six-piece Celtic punk band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, formed in July 1993. They have toured with Murphy's Law, Streetlight Manifesto, Catch 22, Dropkick Murphys, The Reverend Horton Heat, Flogging Molly, ...

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 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 pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington, founded in 1992 as Magnified Plaid. As of 2016, current members include Mike Herrera on lead vocals and bass guitar, Yuri Ruley on drums and percussion, Tom Wisniewski on lead gu ...

Streetlight Manifesto Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, formed in 2002. They released their first album, '' Everything Goes Numb'', which was distributed by Victory Records, on August 26, 2003. The band h ...

, 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-synonym ...

. 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 perform ...

, and

Westbound Train Westbound Train is a ska band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 2001.Apar, CoreyWestbound Train Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2012-03-21 Their name originates from the Dennis Brown hit song by the same name. Westbound Train released their ...

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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 fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

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

, 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 t ...

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, Guitar,

Keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

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 chora ...

*Matt Wong -

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Dan Regan -

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, 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 vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

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

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Production *Eddy Schreyer - Mastering *John Halpern -

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable 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 employed ...

*Chaz Harper - Mastering *Vince Pileggi -

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

*Denise Trorman - Art Direction,

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

*Beau Burchell -

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

*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 a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

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