The Aquabats - Musical Style

Musical Style

Over the course of their nearly two decades-long career, The Aquabats have experienced several radical evolutions in their sound and musical style.

Having originally formed as part of Orange County's burgeoning third wave ska scene, much of the band's early material was rooted in such. Boasting an eight-piece line-up featuring two lead guitarists, a keyboardist and a horn section consisting of two trumpets and a saxophone, The Aquabats' style of ska was primarily driven by brass and guitar, incorporating elements of surf rock and punk rock. Their second album, 1997's The Fury of The Aquabats!, while predominantly ska-based, found the band starting to expand their sound into newer territory, featuring more pronounced punk and surf influences and tongue-in-cheek experimentalism, including instrumental songs, eccentric parodies of ragtime and tango music, and utilizing such genre-unconventional instruments as clarinets, electric sitars and even manualism.

In 1999, The Aquabats underwent a significant shift in style for their third studio album The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death! and its companion piece Myths, Legends and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 2, further exploring the multi-genre eclecticism which had been hinted at with The Fury. A conscious decision by the band to write more diverse material, these albums saw a complete forfeit of the brass-driven ska of their previous albums in favor of more guitar and synthesizer-structured songwriting, embracing a punk rock and New Wave sound greatly influenced by Devo and Oingo Boingo, two of The Aquabats' biggest inspirations. The band also began widening their genre experimentation to encompass such disparate styles as electronica, synthpop and even hip-hop, elements which persist in their sound to present day.

During The Aquabats' career lull in the early 2000s, several of the band's key members departed from the line-up, eventually reducing the former octet down to a mere quintet of vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass and drums. This understandably had a profound impact on The Aquabats' sound, in particular the complete loss of their once characteristic horn section. 2005's Charge!!, the first release featuring this reduced line-up, marked an abrupt shift from the eclecticism of their previous records, firmly establishing The Aquabats' current rock-based musical style, a sound also incorporating elements of punk, New Wave and ska. In recent years, The Aquabats have introduced a stronger presence of synthesizers into this style, with critics noting their 2011 album Hi-Five Soup! as featuring stronger elements of synthpop and electronica.