Let’s just say that if it weren’t for the ‘80s hair-metal rockers of Poison—especially guitarist C.C. Deville and his dangerously flamboyant licks and neon-lime painted axes— these legendary Orange County ska-rockers probably Full Bio

Fame, Fortune and Fornication Let’s just say that if it weren’t for the outlandish ‘80s hair-metal rockers of Poison—and more specifically, guitarist C.C. Deville and his dangerously flamboyant licks, leads and neon-lime painted axes—legendary Orange County ska-rockers Reel Big Fish probably wouldn’t have ever existed. Now, one might have a disastrous time in attempting to establish any semblance of a connection between these two seemingly disparate musical entities. But as RBF frontman Aaron Barrett explains, the two are intimately intertwined in more ways than one. As a young, insanely impressionable teenager watching MTV non-stop, Barrett had taken an extreme liking to Poison and all they’d presented in their music videos. “I was in junior high, I saw the Poison videos come on, and they were so bright, colorful and fun,” he recalls. “And they were playing all these guitars and it looked like the most awesome, fun thing ever. I was like, ‘I want to do that.’”  Fast-forward that VHS tape a couple decades later (adjust the tracking control, too): Barrett’s on the summer musical extravaganza more intimately known as the Vans Warped Tour. Though he’s been a full-time touring musician for the better part of a decade, it’s during this particular mega-musical journey that inspiration strikes him like none other before: A fervent follower of Brett Michaels’ VH1 celebrity reality television contest, “Rock Of Love,” Barrett realized that he just had to cover some Poison songs. In fact, since Poison’s such a party band, he originally wanted to embark on a party anthems cover album, with some 40 songs under his belt.  Alas, after scrapping attempts at Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and the Beastie Boys’ “Fight For Your Right to Party,” Barrett and company reconvened to make a second attempt — an all-Poison covers album. “It was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do an album of Poison songs, ska versions!’ But nobody else was excited about it, just me,” says Barrett.  Third time’s the charm, and armed with another arsenal of other peoples’ material, Reel Big Fish decided to track a theme-less covers album. “It’s just a disc with a bunch of random songs,” says Barrett. “That’s usually what happens with us. We’ll pick a theme and then don’t go with it. ‘Let’s do this!’ ‘OK, no!’”  The successful result is Fame, Fortune and Fornication, boasting a bevy of familiar hits, including two tracks from the aforementioned Posion, most notably “Talk Dirty To Me,” featuring a duet with Tatiana DeMaria from London-based punk trio TAT.  There’s also the long-requested cover of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.” Barrett says that he never really intended to cover “Brown Eyed Girl,” but that he had to include it on the album — well, via wrongful popular demand. Rumors have persisted for several years about Reel Big Fish covering the classic rock track — and Barrett decided to make reality out of such false flack.  “I’ve heard it before and it doesn’t sound anything like us at all, but every day of my life, it’s like, ‘Are you going to play “Brown Eyed Girl?”’ ‘I love your version of “Brown Eyed Girl.”’ And it’s like, that’s not us. And now it’s like, hey, let’s do it! That’ll confuse people.” “Mama We’re All Crazy Now,” made famous by both Slade and Quiet Riot, also made the cut. While Barrett acknowledges both bands’ versions, he admits that Quiet Riot’s rendition was the model, as their track was one of the two songs Barrett would listen to every day before heading on stage for the Warped Tour. “People like it ‘cause we make it our own,” says Barrett of Fame, Fortune and Fornication. “That’s the most important thing about doing a cover is that you need to make it your own song, almost like you wrote it, like you’ve got to love it that much. A lot of bands I see, they do cover songs and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I know that song.’ They just seem to do it for the wrong reasons. But I just love other people’s songs. I just love music.” “It’s so easy to do cover songs ‘cause they’re already there, they’re already written and everything,” he adds. “They’re like ripe apples on a tree — you just pick it and eat it. But like with your own songs, you’ve got to wait for inspiration and stuff. You’ve got to figure the arrangement and play around with the parts. I don’t know, that’s fun, too.”  Hide Bio