Less Than Jake & Reel Big Fish in Missoula [CONCERT]

96.3 The Blaze is stoked to welcome Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish back to Missoula.

Less Than Jake have released their first full length album, "See The Light," in 5 years and they're celebrating by touring with Reel Big Fish.

• Less Than Jake with Reel Big Fish and the Interrupters
• Saturday, May 16th
• Wilma Theatre
• $23
• On sale Friday, March 27th at 10 a.m.
• Rockin' Rudy's,  by calling 866-468-7624 and online.
•  General admission, all ages, beer & wine with ID
• Doors 7, show 8 p.m.

Don't miss one of the last shows at the Wilma before it closes all summer for renovations!

From the press release:

LESS THAN JAKE are back!

“But they never went anywhere,” you protest. Well reader, in that sense you are correct. But this fall they’re not only serving up their first full-length in five years, but – after more than two decades together – also embracing a total back to basics approach.

Throughout a career that has run the gamut from self-releases and small indie imprints to large independent labels and major music conglomerates, the band has always been more than the sum of its parts. Now more than ever, though, they espouse their stature as a DIY collective that works together – or at least in tandem with a few trusted allies – on every element of their creative output. Drummer Vinnie Fiorello recalls, “We started out very internal, and nowadays we handle a lot internally again.”

The result of their old school approach is the old school sound of See The Light, created without any external meddling from corporate lackeys. “Everyone had their alone time with chords and some quick structures; we all put our ideas down before we got together,” says Vinnie. “Then we sat at an octagon table in our warehouse and went through: this is what we think about this song, maybe we should do it ska, maybe we should do it punk – true band songwriting in essence.”

REEL BIG FISH was one of the legions of Southern California ska-punk bands to edge into the mainstream following the mid-’90s success of No Doubt and Sublime. Like most of their peers, the band was distinguished by their hyperkinetic stage shows, juvenile humor, ironic covers of new wave pop songs, and metallic shards of ska. The group cultivated an underground following that broke into the mainstream in summer 1997, when their single “Sell Out” became a modern rock radio and MTV favorite. Their appearance in the movie “Baseketball” as the halftime band also gained them more fans and helped the bands popularity to grow. Still fronted by original lead singer and song writer Aaron Barrett, they continue releasing albums and touring relentlessly, playing more and more countries and bigger venues all over the world.

Reel Big Fish recorded its self-released debut album, “Everything Sucks”, in 1995. “Everything Sucks” became a word-of-mouth underground hit in ska-punk and college circles, which gave the band enough leverage to sign with the indie label Mojo Records. The label’s president, Jay Rifkin, and former Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila coproduced “Turn the Radio Off”, which marked Reel Big Fish’s first album for Mojo. “Turn the Radio Off” was unleashed in August 1996, and over the next year, the group continually toured in support of the album’s release, expanding their fan base all the while. In spring 1997, the single “Sell Out” began receiving heavy airplay from several influential modern rock stations in the U.S., which soon translated into MTV support for the song’s quirky video. By summer, the song had become a moderate modern rock hit, and the album had charted in the Top 100.