What has Reel Big Fish been up to since ska’s heyday in the late ’90s?
Well, in January we got dropped from Jive Records! Was it an amicable split? We wanted off because they were turning into a bigger and bigger label. It wasn’t worth it for them to put any thought or time into us. But they wouldn’t let us go because they owned our catalog and it was making a little bit of money. We were in limbo for a while and by the end we were screaming, “Please let us go!” Do you prefer being with a small label? We want to be with a label that cares about us, whether they’re big or small. Right now, we’re just trying to see how it goes with putting out an album on our own. We paid for our most recent record, Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album, all by ourselves and we got distribution. When you make an album on your own, what does that entail? Basically, a label gives you a loan—they’re like a bank. You use that money to record your album and pay for studio time and artwork. They also have a full budget for promotions. Without a label, it’s up to us to com
