Opening up for Badfish: themselves?

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By Jason Andreasen

Do the guys of Badfish have split personality syndrome?

When Badfish hits The Varsity on Thursday, Feb. 7, you’ll hopefully notice that their opening band, Scotty Don’t, is made of the exact same guys. Scotty Don’t is the original project of the Badfish guys who finally got off the ground about a year ago.

“I wonder how many people don’t realize it,” joked Badfish bassist and founding member Joel Hanks. “Every night, we get to see both sides of the coin. We get to see how hard it is to be an original band and go on tour and make fans every night. Then we get to see what it’s like to be the headlining act where everybody knows every one of your songs.”

The immensely popular Sublime tribute band has toured the nation, hosted their own outdoor festival and grossed more than $1 million a year, yet their opening act is the most puzzling part of a Badfish show.

“We’ve been doing Badfish for about seven years now,” explained Hanks. “The idea from the beginning was, ‘We’ll use this as a way to get our originals out there too.’ We used to play some originals in the Badfish set. Once Pat [Downes] became our lead singer, he started bringing songs to the table. That finally got Scotty Don’t going.”

As for Badfish, Hanks explained that the idea for the tribute band resulted from the droves of Sublime fans who never saw the iconic band perform.

“We had this idea to do a Sublime tribute show,” explained Hanks. “We knew they never really got to play where we lived. We did it and it was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s 300 people here. That never happens for one of our original bands!’ Slowly, we left our original bands and made Badfish more of a priority.”

With Scotty Don’t, the band has returned to making original music. From the upbeat, contemplative “Back Porch” to the reggae-rebellion of “When I Say,” it’s clear that Scotty Don’t claims the 40-ounce-drinkin’ boys from Long Beach as influences on their self-titled EP. However, Hanks is quick to point out that Scotty Don’t is still finding its voice.

“They’re both kind of windows-down-summertime-party music,” Hanks said, searching for comparison between Sublime and Scotty Don’t. “We’re still in the process of figuring out what Scotty Don’t is going to be.”

Without question, Scotty Don’t is fan-friendly. According to the band’s Web site, ScottyDont.com, if you go to the Badfish show, you can visit the merch booth, say the magic words, “extra medium,” and you’ll get a free Scotty Don’t CD.

“It’s like an investment,” said Hanks. “We’ve got all these people that are coming to our shows, paying whatever to see us play Sublime songs; why not give back by giving them a CD of our original stuff?”

Currently, Badfish is gearing up for a show in Las Vegas where they will co-headline with Del-Mar, Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh’s new band. Gaugh has supported Badfish for years.

“[Gaugh] said he wanted to do it to thank all the Sublime fans and thank Badfish for keeping Sublime alive,” said Hanks. “It’s unbelievable. Seven years ago, who would’ve thought?”

As for the future of Scotty Don’t, the band is building a studio within which they plan on recording a full-length album. They wish to give that away at shows in the fall.

“The hope is to do as well with Scotty Don’t as we do with Badfish, for sure,” said Hanks. “I think Badfish has become something we’ll always have to do, as long as the fans keep coming.”

Tickets to see Badfish and Scotty Don’t are available at the Chimes for $10. The show’s doors open at 8 p.m. February 7. For more information on the biggest Sublime tribute band in the land, check out Badfish.com.

E-mail the author at JasonAndreasen@tigerweekly.com

Originally Published: Issue 595 - January 30, 2008

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