''Yo! Check Out This Ride! EP'' is an EP by American band

the Aquabats The Aquabats are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1994. Throughout many fluctuations in the group's line-up, singer Christian Jacobs, the MC Bat Commander and bassist Chad Larson, Crash McLarson have ...

, independently recorded and released by the band themselves in 2004.

Overview

After being dismissed from Goldenvoice Records in 2000 and subsequently failing to find another record label, the Aquabats entered an extended period of relative inactivity in the first half of the 2000s, delaying all plans for extensive touring or future recording due to financial constraints. ''Yo! Check Out This Ride!!'', the Aquabats' first self-produced album since 1996's ''

The Return of the Aquabats ''The Return of the Aquabats'' is the debut studio album by American band The Aquabats, independently released on Horchata Records in December 1995, and subsequently re-issued by Fearless Records. Overview ''The Return of the Aquabats'' firmly ...

'', was recorded to both appease the band's fanbase after four years of no new material, as well as to serve as a potential demo to attract interest from record labels. This would ultimately prove successful, as the Aquabats were signed to

Nitro Records Nitro Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1994 and operated by The Offspring's Dexter Holland and Greg K. Nitro is famous for being an incubator for punk rock artists who have subsequently become successful, most notab ...

later in the year. ''Yo! Check Out This Ride!'' was recorded during a transitional period in the Aquabats' career. Following the departure of trumpeter and co-founder Catboy in 2002, the band had dropped their once characteristic

horn section A horn section is a group of musicians playing horns. In an orchestra or concert band, it refers to the musicians who play the "French" horn, and in a British-style brass band it is the tenor horn players. In many popular music genres, the term ...

and predominant

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

elements to focus more exclusively on the guitar and

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 ...

-driven rock and new wave influences which had dominated their previous studio album. Musically, the album showcases a

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

-tinged rock song in the title track and straight

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

in "Todd-1 in Space Mountain Land!", while featuring

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...

from

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

bands

the Plimsouls The Plimsouls were an American rock band known for their hit 1982 single "A Million Miles Away", which was featured in the movie '' Valley Girl''. History The band was formed in Paramount, California in 1978. They recorded two full-length al ...

and

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

, and vocal group

the Kids of Widney High The Kids of Widney High is an American music group composed of students with mental disabilities from the special education J. P. Widney High School in Los Angeles, California, United States. History The band consists of students with physi ...

. The EP was the first Aquabats album to feature drummer

Ricky Fitness Richard Falomir is an American musician and composer, perhaps best recognized as the current drummer for the Orange County rock band The Aquabats, in which he performs under the stage name and persona of Ricky Fitness. Biography Prior to joini ...

, who joined the band in 2002, as well as the final to feature original member

Prince Adam He-Man is a superhero and the protagonist of the sword and planet ''Masters of the Universe'' franchise, which includes a toy line, several animated television series, comic books, and a feature film. He-Man is characterized by his superhuman s ...

as an official member. The cover art, depicting a horseback Aquabat lassoing a dinosaur-like creature, was painted by Brandon Bird.

Reception

Scott Auth of Punknews.org gave ''Yo! Check Out This Ride!'' 3½ out of 5 stars, writing "Musically this isn’t the greatest work they’ve ever prepared; sadly there's not a trace of

to be found on ''Yo! Check Out This Ride!'' As heartbreaking as that is, it's still a quality EP worthy of purchase."

Track listing

Previous versions

*A demo version of "Todd-1 in Space Mountain Land!", an outtake from the '' Floating Eye of Death!'' recording sessions, was first released on The Aquabats' website in the early 2000s.

Personnel

The Aquabats

* The MC Bat Commander –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Crash McLarson –

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 ...

Jimmy The Robot The Aquabats are an American rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1994. Throughout many fluctuations in the group's line-up, singer the MC Bat Commander and bassist Crash McLarson have remained the band's two constant fixtures ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, keyboards *

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

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 ...

* Chainsaw, Prince of Karate –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

–

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

*Produced, engineered and mixed by

Adam Deibert Adam Deibert (born August 12, 1976) is an American musician and voice actor, known for his work as a member of The Aquabats from 1994 to 2004, where he played guitar, trumpet and keyboards under the stage name of Prince Adam, and as the bass guita ...

and the Aquabats *Mastered by Alex Reverberi *Recorded at "Global International Worldwide Studios" in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

and "The Deibert Ranch Studios" in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as of ...

References

{{Authority control The Aquabats albums 2004 debut EPs