Perhaps more so for their music, The Aquabats are widely recognised for their eccentric, superhero identities following a comprehensive mythology in which the members are in fact a team of musical crime-fighters on a quest to save the world.
We spoke to the band’s drummer, Ricky Fitness, for a better understanding:
Do you get to pick your superhero names?
They are given to us by the chosen one.
Can anyone become an Aquabat?
At heart, yes, but you have to have a superpower and I imagine at some point we're all going to have to be replaced. So yes, anyone can become an Aquabat.
Are there a lot of homemade superhero costumes at shows?
Yeah, there are tonnes of them actually. The TV show has been out for a while and there is a lot more people coming to our shows, and part of the fun is there are a lot of homemade costumes and they are very creative with it... it's really cool. They seem to get more and more elaborate – we have this one character from an album called 'The Floating Eye Of Death' and it's basically a giant eyeball with giant tentacles. There was this guy and his daughter and they made this costume that looked exactly like the ones we wear on the show — that was probably one of my favourites.
What kind of a superhero leader is MC Bat Commander?
We're still trying to figure that one out. He's the only one that doesn't have superpowers.
Is he the chosen one?
He is the chosen one and definitely a great leader. He goes into battle without having a plan, ever, and we have to bail him out, and he's such a good guy that we have to bail him out every time.
When you joined the band it was pretty inactive at the time – what was that like to be joining a band that wasn't doing much?
It was weird but I always believed. I used to be in a band and we used to play quite a few shows with The Aquabats and the first time I saw them play I knew that I wanted to be in that band. They were just having so much fun. Years went on and I got in the band, but we were practising with three people, but it wasn't long until we started playing shows. I never doubted because the shows were always fun and people were always coming out and there was just a really strong vibe.
After Charge!! there was the success of Yo! Gabba Gabba and The Aquabats supershow which lead to Comic Con appearances and Blink-182 tour reunion support – what is like being at Comic-Con as a band?
We've been playing Comic-Con for quite a while, but we would never go to the actual convention; we would always play House of Blues or outside. So when we had our TV show and we got to speak on a panel and when we finally went in the convention it was kind of wild and really cool and magic. That's pretty much our fan base right there; so walking around was a lot to take in. We were doing autographs and signings for so many people all at once; it was very surreal. There's definitely an impact that Comic-Con has had on The Aquabats and our TV shows.
Is it good to be part of a festival like Soundwave when you come out?
Oh yeah, it's so good to be part of Soundwave. The festival is amazing; they treat you so good. Compared to how we tour here, it's like a vacation to us out there on the festival. They treat the bands really well and there are always people at the shows. Getting to play and interact with all the bands is really cool; it's a great festival.
Written by Benjamin Pratt
The Aquabats play Soundwave 2015
Brisbane – Sunday 1st MarchAdelaide – Saturday 21st February
Sydney – Saturday 28th February
Melbourne – Sunday 22nd February
