18 Facts About The Aquabats

1.

Easily identified by their masks and matching costumes, the Aquabats are perhaps most recognized for their comedic persona in which they claim to be crime-fighting superheroes.

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2.

Musically, the Aquabats have continuously evolved over the course of their career, starting as an eight-member ska band before reinventing themselves in the early 2000s as a new wave–influenced rock quintet.

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3.

The Aquabats have released six studio albums, two extended plays, one compilation and one soundtrack album, among other recordings.

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4.

Each member of the original line-up had musical backgrounds in various genres, including ska, punk, surf and new wave, all elements which were incorporated into the band's music and aesthetic: for example, the name "The Aquabats" was created to sound like a classic surf band, while a shared admiration of Devo inspired the idea of matching costumes.

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5.

Nevertheless, encouraged by a positive audience reception, The Aquabats started performing more local shows, soon becoming familiar faces within the Orange County underground.

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6.

In 1995, The Aquabats independently produced and recorded their debut album, The Return of The Aquabats, pressing the CDs themselves.

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7.

The Aquabats spent 1997 and 1998 touring extensively behind The Fury, carrying out both supporting and headlining tours of the United States and traveling internationally as part of the 1998 Warped Tour.

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8.

Days after the album's release, The Aquabats headlined a successful 34-city tour of the United States with similarly theatrical bands The Epoxies and The Phenomenauts, followed by tours of the United Kingdom and Japan, the latter supporting Nitro Records founders The Offspring.

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9.

On March 17,2014, in celebration of their 20th anniversary as a band, The Aquabats announced the first leg of their "20th Anniversary Tour" for May, their first extensive headlining United States tour in years, covering fifteen shows in nine states on the East Coast.

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10.

On July 31,2018, after several weeks of teasing a major band announcement, The Aquabats launched a high-profile Kickstarter campaign with the goal of raising a minimum of $1.

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11.

Since the earliest days of the band, The Aquabats have earned a reputation for their theatrical live performances featuring a variety of comedic stunts and antics based around their superhero-themed persona.

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12.

Additionally, a few of The Aquabats' enemies are known only to be "defeated" by fans by being pelted with projectiles supplied by the band, usually large quantities of plastic balls.

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13.

Detailed in their lyrics, liner notes, website and television series, The Aquabats have developed a small but elaborate fictional universe surrounding this mythology, describing the band's fictitious history and outlandish adventures as well as conceiving an extensive roster of enemies and allies, many of whom are the subjects of specific songs and have appeared as part of The Aquabats' stage shows in mock fight scenes or comedic skits.

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14.

Fans of The Aquabats are referred to by the band as Aquacadets or the more casual "Cadets", a title which has held alternately official and unofficial status among their fanbase for most of the band's career.

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15.

The Aquabats held five such Cadet Summits throughout Southern California from 1997 to 2006:.

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16.

Roots of The Aquabats are usually traced back to GOGO13, a ska band founded by Christian Jacobs' brothers Parker and Tyler while they were living in St George, Utah in 1993.

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17.

In 1997, Parker Jacobs formed The Sandfleas as a side project to perform as openers at The Aquabats' shows, based on the gang of masked villains who had become a staple of The Aquabats' mythology and onstage rogues' gallery.

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18.

Shortly before Carbone's death, The Aquabats hosted a benefit show for Carbone in Pomona, California, where Deibert joined the band onstage during their encores.

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