Catching Reel Big Fish in Falmouth

The OC’s ultimate party band talks Wagamama, Golf and the Welsh with Chris Sayer.

For many people, the OC conveys spoilt little rich kids in their parents Range Rovers driving to High School. But little would you expect one of America’s most renowned ska punk bands to hail from the same area. With a new album just released, Reel Big Fish have ventured into Cornwall to play Falmouth Princess Pavilions and by the sounds of it are more hyper and excitable than ever. If you grew up in the nineties and have never heard of Reel Big Fish, then frankly, where have you been?

Your new album is called “Fame, Fortune and Fornication”. How did you choose this name?
Aaron Barrett (lead singer): We’re a band that loves alliteration. We’re famous, we’re rich, and we like to fornicate. It just seemed fitting. We actually got it from the film ‘Still Crazy’, and I was watching it, and said to myself: ‘Oh my God, that’s the best name for an album ever.’ It’s perfect.


We don’t usually see you in Cornwall. How often have you toured the UK?
Ryland Steen (drums): We come to the UK every year, some times twice a year.
Aaron: I’d say we’ve been to the UK about ten times.
Ryland: We tend to do extensive tours when we come to the UK, and we hit everywhere we can.
Aaron: Even Wales.


With such an extensive tour, you spend a lot of time on the bus with each other. What’s it like?
Aaron: Just imagine a really small flat with ten dudes, sleeping in bunk beds and with one bathroom. Not nice.


How do you calm down after your energetic performances each night?
Ryland: We usually hang out on the tour bus, or go round to a bar. But during the day you can walk around and generally see where you’re at. Today actually I went up to the [Pendennis] Castle. It’s pretty cool. It’s £5 to get in though. But it’s worth it. It’s cool.
Aaron: I don’t care about the scenery. I just care about the people. I just want to see the people.


Some bands when they come over say that their British fans are more receptive to their music than back in the States. Is this true for you?
Aaron: Lots of bands like to kiss everybody’s ass. But you guys are awesome. America is awesome too. For us, we got lucky and got famous in the UK, because we were on TV and got a big push in magazines. I don’t know, you all just took a liking to us. The shows are really big and fun and you guys are loud and crazy, so we love you. You’re our kind of people. Even Wales.


What’s on your iPod? What have you been listening to recently?
Aaron: I was listening to the ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?’ soundtrack last night.
Ryland: I was listening to Duran Duran earlier. I also like Elbow and Elvis Costello right now.



Aaron, some say you like your death metal. Do you listen to that a lot?
Aaron: I really love Cannibal Corpse. And I would put Slipknot into the death metal category as well.
Ryland: Really?
Aaron: Yea, they’re more like pop-death metal though. If I could put Cannibal Corpse and Slipknot together and make one band, it would be beautiful. We played some festivals with Slipknot, and they kicked everyone out of backstage.


You tour for so long, and you’ll inevitably miss your families. But what does the UK offer that the States can’t?
Aaron: I’m on my first divorce. But I like getting kebabs here. We don’t have kebabs.
Ryland: Double-decker tour bus. We never get those in the US. There’s no Wagamama in the US either.
Aaron: Yea there is?
Ryland: Sure?


When you actually get any free time, what do you like to do?
Ryland: I like to play golf. And I hang out with my dog.
Aaron: Oh, really Rock and Roll!
Ryland: Well, I’ve been surfing once.


What are the songs that the fans demand you play at every gig?
Ryland: Beer and Take on Me.
Aaron: Sell Out people like, but it’s not as worldwide. It was our big hit in America, but it’s been over ten years since it was a hit. So if we didn’t play Sell Out, it really wouldn’t matter. If we didn’t play Beer there would be a riot.


What’s next for Reel Big Fish?
Ryland: Reel Big Fish is always going to be touring and writing songs. So we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing. I think a goal for this year is to get a new record out. That’s our goal.
Aaron: He’s the straight man, giving all the answers.
Ryland: One of us has got to do it.
Aaron: I don’t care what you say, I’m hilarious.

Fortune, Fame and Fornication is available to buy in shops and for download now. To see the band’s further tour dates, visit their site www.reel-big-fish.com.

( Article published at: http://www.scene-magazine.com/musicscene.php?musicId=227&pageId=6&issuedate=1 )

Valkyrie: Near miss for the Fuhrer or Cruise?

For once, a Cruise display the public won’t be laughing about, writes Chris Sayer.

In recent years, his persona has spiralled recklessly out of control. From squirm-worthy displays of affection on the Opera Winfrey show, to his beliefs in Scientology and the validity of his relationship to Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, it is fair to say, hasn’t been taken all too seriously of late.

However, this year’s release of Valkyrie is a chance for him to claw back some credibility.

Cruise spearheads an all star cast as Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg: the brains behind the final attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Flanked by an array of British familiar faces, including Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Kenneth Branagh, the plot is laid out from the start. Germany is destined to lose the war as long as the Fuhrer is still alive.

Valkyrie revolves around the madness of Hitler’s leadership as the reason for the German downfall and the assassination attempts. Unlike most war recreations, director Bryan Singer omits any Allied responsibility for the disarray in the Nazi party, instead fronts it as an internal problem, giving the picture a fresh and unbiased stance.

The influx of multiple accents within the cast, however, hinders the suspension of disbelief and keeps the audience at arms length from becoming engrossed with the events. In fact most of the time spent during the two hours is thinking back to where you saw that actor or what she has been in before.

The majority of the audience will know how the film ends before they enter the cinema, posing Singer with one major problem: how to keep the audience sat in their seats. Cleverly, Singer chooses to involve Stauffenberg’s wife and very Aryan children as the subject of tension as to whether they escape Hitler’s grip. Maybe a weak way out, but perhaps the only option as the fate of the main characters is sealed before the title credits scroll up.

It seems a very risk-free role taken on by Cruise, with the blanket of respectable actors buffering any criticism with their far more charged performances. Nevertheless, it’s still a solid performance, but one not worthy of any awards. More notably is David Bamber’s extremely dark and twisted portrayal of Hitler, especially as former credits have only really come in the form of minor film and soap roles.

Singer and Cruise have obviously both played a safe card in a potential mine field of upset and criticism. It won’t be a film you have to see over and over again, but without doubt its underlying few-against-many message will have you thinking long after it is over.

Falmouth's RadioWave to relaunch

University College Falmouth’s student radio station “Radiowave” is re-launching in January with the intention to make the New Year a success.

“Radiowave” has been running for three years and features a mix of budding DJs from all years and courses at both of UCF campuses, playing a huge variety of music from dub step and indie to eighties and urban, all streamed online.

A launch party, set to take place on Thursday 22 January in the Stannery at Tremough is hoping to increase people’s awareness of the station and to increase listener numbers.

The event will start at 8pm, and play host to live DJs such as Ciaran McEntee, James Hawgood and FXU President Karl Shaddick, as well as food and drinks promotions being arranged during the lead up to the event.

On top of increasing listener numbers, the station is planning on receiving more finances for competition prizes, encouraging live music on campus and on “Radiowave” its self, promoting FXU events, and using the radio shows as a platform to encourage students to produce their own music.

All those involved at the station anticipate a huge change in the way “Radiowave” is to be received in the New Year: “I don’t think that its importance in the university is fully recognised and understood. I mean it is a form of mass communication, and that should count for something.” says Holly Horseman, a DJ at the station.

“Yes we have been away for a while, and yes last term wasn’t amazing, but we are back. It’s going to be a huge year.”

You can listen to “Radiowave” online at http://streaming.falmouth.ac.uk/fca_radio/.

FlyBe new year deal disorder

FlyBe’s New Year policy has been accused of attempting to exploit the financially unstable in a bid to increase sales in this year’s credit crunch.

FlyBe’s new “Book With Confidence” policy promises free redundancy cancellation insurance, meaning a full refund will be offered to anyone who has bought a ticket in January travelling before October 24, and been made redundant by an employer of two years or more.

However, action group “Plane Stupid” have criticised the new deal as “exploiting the vulnerable financial situation of those who can least afford it”.

Press Officer of the action group, Leo Murray, went on to say: “This sounds like more cynical profiteering of the kind that got us into this economic mess in the first place. It also smacks of the increasing desperation of the aviation industry as customers flock away from luxury goods and services”.

FlyBe, who are based at Exeter Airport, claim it has designed the policy to give unrivalled reassurance to consumers “looking to start the New Year with a well earned break”.

Mike Rutter, Chief Commercial Officer at FlyBe says “We know that holidays and breaks are important to our passengers, and that’s why we’ve introduced what we believe is a totally unmatched offer in the aviation world.”

Last January, founder of “Plane Stupid” Joss Gorman was named as one of The Observer’s “50 people who could save the planet” for his aviation campaign strategies.

The same month, FlyBe signed a franchise deal with Scottish airline Loganair, which saw Loganair aircraft flying in FlyBe colours on 55 routes from Scotland.

Found Somewhere Nice To Eat?

With everyday prices rocketing higher than a red bull fuelled sparrow, belts around the country are collectively being tightened, and shopping trips are becoming more and more menacing. The mention of anything going for free in Britain’s current situation is music to anyone’s ears. Food bills especially are universally increasing, with students and parents finding that open mouths are costing more and more to fill. Jamie Oliver’s arch nemesis, junk food, therefore seems like a cheaper, easier option to slap on plates, fuelling obesity, which ultimately creates the cycle of eating more, and costing more. There seems to be no hope.

When it’s game over, return to the start. The answer to food expenses could be simply returning to nature: foraging the forests, reaping the rivers. Nature can provide more food than any McDonald’s menu could ever dream of – healthy, easy food for free. Of course, it’s not going to be as easy as sitting in your armchair ordering a take-away. But there is only so much Korma a man can take.

Here in Cornwall, we are gifted with three sides of the county being kissed by the ocean. Conveniently the sea has an almost identical mineral balance to the human body. Any fan of the Chinese menu will know seaweed as the crispy, greasy starter. Seaweed from the beaches though has all the minerals from the sea, with very few toxins absorbed, making it perfect for the body to top up any imbalances. Different types of seaweed can be dried out, boiled, and even uncooked, depending on how you want to use it.

Crab is often associated with expensive restaurants and people who can afford to spend the time picking the rich fleshy meat from inside the shell. But having such a pricey source of food on your doorstep for free is more than inviting. “With increased prices in fuel for boats, the cost of crab has increased.” says Arwenak Fish of Falmouth. “For handpicked Cornish crab, you’re looking to spend a minimum of £17.30 a pound.”
Scattered along the shores of all the world’s oceans, no permit is needed to take crab, as long as it is under fifty a day, not carrying eggs and are over 4 1/8 inches wide. Using pots are obviously the easiest and perhaps most effective method, but without them it’s a case of risking your fingers and diving for them.

Falmouth is abundant with fish, mainly due to the port being the third deepest in the world, is rich in variety. “This time of year, bass seems to be the most popular fish we are selling.” Arwenak say. But at £6 a lb, equating to £24 on average per fish, catching and cooking your own seems the clever option. Just off the Prince of Wales Pier in Falmouth, you can expect to hook pollack, mackerel and flounder: all a very good source of Omega 3, which seems to be getting as much media coverage as ITV reality TV shows.

If you prefer not to get wet however, foraging through forests could provide an endless bounty of food. The season for mushrooms is just coming to an end: it starts in September, but only lasts a few weeks. Obviously, some varieties are going to play havoc if you eat them, so the best idea is to fully research the mushroom you’ve picked. There are numerous B vitamins in mushrooms and also contain a powerful antioxidant. Locally, the best place to spot them is in grassy areas beside beaches, in woodland areas and in fields and parks. Remember to thoroughly check which mushroom you’ve picked before you eat it. Could turn out to be the last one you eat.

Very few times is there a possibility to eat something that you feared as a child. Unless you had a very irrational fear of say, cucumber. But nettles, which contain 40% protein, are the original super food. In fact, you’d have to eat a sink full of kale to get the same amount of protein from one serving on nettles. Lyn Pollard, of Courtyard Deli, Falmouth advises to “treat nettles like spinach: although a totally different taste, they are great as soup, in quiche, with cheese or as drinking tea”. To get rid of the sting, boil or steam them, which also unlocks their nutty flavour. Count yourself lucky though – at the Nettle Eating World Championships contestants have to eat nettles straight from the plant, which turns their tongue black.

Bravery may have to play a part in the final menu idea. Garden snails. If you haven’t run a mile at that thought, then it is a good idea to feed your freshly caught molluscs on fresh vegetables, or even porridge, for a few days to flush any potentially harmful toxins and contents of their stomach. To cook them, plunge them into boiling water, wine or cider and removed from the shell. If you fancy serving them in their shell, boil them separately, and then perhaps stuff them with a flavoured butter and return the flesh to its former home.

The key to foraging is eating the right things. There is no fun in going home with a twisting stomach, puking up what you’ve spent all day trying to find. If in any doubt as to the suitability of a food, “Food for Free” by Richard Mabey will tell you what’s going to do more good than harm.

For the brave and hungry, the outdoors provides an endless menu full of versatility and nutrients. The satisfaction of finding your own food, cooking it and eating it is a feeling matched to none. And it’s a sure fire way to impress friends and family. So the next time you go out for a meal, don’t take your wallet. Ray Mears would be proud.

Falmouth Set To Sparkle (Christmas 2008)

Falmouth Christmas lights are set to get switched on at the end of this month, much later than other areas of the country.

The lights, supported by the town council and local businesses, will be illuminated on the November 30.

Emily Middleditch, from Falmouth Town council, said: “A parade will depart from the Event Square at 4pm to the Moor Piazza, where the light ceremony will take place at approximately 4.45pm by Radio Cornwall.”

Falmouth council have agreed to double any amount that local businesses raise for the Christmas lights fund, and anything up to £12000 is available.

Truro lights will be lit on the November 19, accompanied by the City of Light Lantern Procession. The lights will be turned on by a “special lantern” according to Truro City Council, on Boscawen Street.

The Plymouth switch will be turned on the November 13 by X-Factor contestants ‘Bad Lashes’, who have also promised to produce a live performance to entertain the crowds after the £450,000 lights go on.

However, in other areas of the country, Christmas decorations have been up for weeks already. In Coleford, Gloucestershire, the lights £7000 have been on since early October, prompting annoyance amongst local residents.

Becky Borch, from Coleford, told the Telegraph: “The lights look lovely, but everybody is saying they’ve been put up far too early.”

Also, in Bury St. Edmonds, the lights were illuminated for the first time on the October 3: over 80 days before Christmas.

Mighty Boosh @ Plymouth Pavilions November 18

Anyone who happened to walk past Plymouth Pavilions yesterday evening would have thought something was very wrong within our society. Green faces, spherical paper cup heads, and even gorillas paced impatiently outside the entrance, waiting for the night to begin.

The Mighty Boosh was in town. The BBC cult comedy, which has had unlimited success since their roots as a radio show, was back with another hotly anticipated live performance, brothering their last tour-come-DVD two years ago. But anyone expecting the same show as last time would be very disappointed.

With “belt hole eyes and a Bovril stained upper lip”, Howard Moon and partner Vince Noir, the glam rock modern day Freddy Mercury look-a-like played by a Lemsip powered Noel Fielding, met the crowd to a swarm of applause and screams. This was a theme carried throughout- even the cast showing their faces on stage sparked hysterics in the crowd at every stage of the evening. This did become slightly tedious, although only accentuated the cult status the five man cast have adopted.

The first half of the show was sure to be a crowd pleaser. The introduction of the other three main characters, Bollo; the talking ape, Naboo; the half pint stoner shaman, and Bob Fossil; the sex crazed, outlandish American zoo keeper were all met to yet more unstoppable penetrating screams from the audience.

Whereas the previous live tour incorporated a lengthy narrative with visits to only a handful of characters, this time round the first half of the show concentrated more on reintroducing the favourite personalities from all three series of the ‘Boosh repertoire. From the bladder headed, tentacle laden Tony Harrison, to the cunning schizophrenic drug pusher Crack Fox, almost all of the favourites were covered, and each given a twenty minute slot to fill with their own catch phrases and humour. However, the introduction of Krakow, the Latvian speaking comedian, really didn’t impress and was perhaps the least stimulating section of the entire show.

The second half was meant to be dedicated to Howard’s sombre environmental play ‘No Future?’ tackling the issue of the impending apocalypse. In true style, it was riotously sabotaged by Vince. Dressed as a cross between Flash Gordon and Graham Norton, he enforced a very different message to reform a population and society: fashion accessorising.

The most impressive part of the night was the quick wit and impromptu heckling with the audience members who almost seem to be challenging the characters to provide hilarious comebacks. A challenge met superbly every time. One member of the front row fired an indistinguishable put down Howard’s way, to which he replied asking for her name. Mid flow of her reply, he simply looked at the sea of expectant faces, and returned “Not interested”, sending the audience into fits.

There also was a lot more emphasis on the music of The Mighty Boosh, the small random songs known as ‘Crimps’ to any ‘Boosh fan. Although very obviously plagued by a nasty dose of Flu, Vince Noir took the lead as part of the six-strong band, and ended with a grand finale montage of the most memorable crimps from all series, accompanied by Charlie, the oversized pink bubblegum “Hubba Bubba nightmare” vacuum cleaner from series one.

As unpredictable the nature of the ‘Boosh is, not one fan could have predicted the finale they were about to encounter. In response to real life plagiarism accusations against the Sugar Puffs cereal, who used their own ‘crimp’ to advertise the brand, the head of the Honey Monster is severed and put onto a spike, only to be later molested by the pink blob Tony Harrison and ridiculed by all the cast and jeering audience.

The problem with the performance is, quite ironically, the success of the TV show. The feeling through the night is that the cast could literally have sat on the stage all evening and the crowd would have screamed and clapped uncontrollably for the full three hours, and left content. This is the idol like status the five men have in today’s teen, and increasing adult, society as cult figures.

Regardless, the show was a true spectacle. The hoards were in stitches throughout; the heckling was that of true professionals; the audience participation and effort in dressing up was phenomenal and the connection between the cast and fans was almost tangible.

The evening was definitely a performance that should be considered for DVD release. It would be disappointing if it couldn’t be relived over and over again. The fans may be, as Howard so delicately put it, “f***ing wierdos”. But they’re weirdos who unarguably idolise the five freaks on stage like Gods.