The Tuna Helpers - Recordings

Recordings

Their first album, starring in... The Suspicious Fish, was released in 2002 by Monkeyboy Records. "Vanity Girl" of Citizen Snob found that the music lost little more than Bethany's sign language when stripped away from the stage show. She described it as "akin to watching children play--equal parts innocence, malice, curiosity, fear, and bravado," and said that as much on album as live they would remain one of her favorite bands. Shannon Lavine of The Propagander said "they incorporate current subject matter with old-fashioned folklore" and "Let them play for your two year old on her birthday", while several reviewers noted the prurience of "Bicycle", including The Austin Chronicle. The album is not, as the title may indicate, a rock opera or concept album, as it has no overarching narrative or continuity; however, as the Chronicle put it, "The Tuna Helpers have crafted their own vague mythology revolving around tuna and other sea creatures (along with all the double-entendres that may apply), but their treatment of it is too sophisticated to come across as pure schtick. Which isn't to say it's not super-fun." The album also contains a performance of Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home" including a surrealistic interlude written by the band fraught with food metaphors and imagery from the Easter story.

Adrienne handed a press kit to Trey Spruance at a SXSW Festival and invited him to an unofficial women's rock showcase. Although both Sneeds were ill at this performance requiring Quinones to emcee, which none of the members were happy with, Spruance loved the show, and a month later e-mailed that they were in the Web of Mimcry.

The band's second album, I'll Have What She's Having, was released on March 15, 2005. Spruance flew to Austin to record the band, and Adrienne flew to Spruance's home in Santa Cruz for album production. The new label got them into stores throughout North America, Europe, And Australia. Writing of the second album, Anna Breshears of Bitch describes their live shows as being full of puppetry and stage effects, described Sneed as having "operatic range and precision," but also being capable of "whittl her voice down to a warble of petulant protestations", and describes Quinones's drumming as "expressive." She contrasts their work with teenage gothic music, describing it as "smarter, prettier and ha a sense of humor." Dead Earnest called the album "unique, accessible, original, quality and close to brilliance..." and "a rare gem." Anna Maria Stjärnell of Collected Sounds Women in Music said she was "so impressed I'm at loss for words." Matt Wake in The Huntsville Times described their music as "something akin to nursery rhymes on acid."