THE BIG FISH THAT GOT AWAY O.C.'S LONG-RUNNING SKA-PUNK ENSEMBLE REVELS IN BEING DROPPED BY RECORD LABEL.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

For most bands, the news they've been booted off their record label is grounds for disappointment and some collective soul searching.

When Orange County's long-running ska-punk ensemble Reel Big Fish got the news, they threw a party.

``It was the most excited the band has been in 10 years,'' recalled Aaron Barrett, the group's vocalist/guitarist. ``I've never seen the guys smile so much.''

The newly emancipated Reel Big Fish is now doing things its own way. The first order of business: last summer's specially priced double-CD and DVD set, ``Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album,'' in which the good-natured party band essentially re-recorded everything they did earlier and added some of the unexpected cover songs they're known for.

``When we're on stage, we just feel better about playing,'' Barrett, 32, said. ``This is an easier way to get into us so you don't have to buy a whole bunch of albums.''

Reel Big Fish -- which first swam into view in the mid- to late '90s in the wake of fellow ska-punk bands No Doubt and Sublime -- tonight appears in an all-ages show at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills on a bill with Suburban Legends, Army of Freshmen, and Starpool.

For the Huntington Beach-based band, the gig presents a first.

``We've never played there before,'' Barrett says of the Canyon Club. ``Usually, we play L.A. and Ventura, but nothing in between. But Agoura is right next to my in-laws, so I'll have a place to stay.''

Fans can expect a highly interactive, spirited show that takes in longtime faves ``Turn the Radio Off,'' ``Sell Out'' and ``She Has a Girlfriend Now'' alongside exuberant covers of Metallica's ``Enter Sandman,'' the Cure's ``Boys Don't Cry'' and A-Ha's ``Take on Me.''

After a show in Belfast, the BBC raved that Reel Big Fish can be counted on to ``provide a show more entertaining than most acts around at the moment.''

The band's emancipation party came a decade after the release of ``Turn the Radio Off,'' the group's second and most successful album, issued by a label that morphed into Jive Records, home of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.

``It was like `Reel Big Fish, hundreds of dollars, Backstreet Boys, billions of dollars,' '' Barrett said of his former label home.

When word came in via phone from band management during a 2006 tour stop in Salt Lake City, happiness was instantly in the air.

``Now, we're moving sideways into the world, which is very cool,'' Barrett mused.

Ska-punk, which fuses the upbeat Jamaican ska rhythm with punk rock, has remained in fashion with various groups of kids throughout the world since the late '70s, when Britain's 2-Tone label spawned such marvelous bands as the Specials, Madness, the Beat and the Selector.

Reel Big Fish's third-generation brand of ska-punk came after Sublime and No Doubt made an impact in the early '90s.

``Young kids keep getting into the band when they hit 15,'' Barrett said. ``They like it because it's wacky and silly and has a lot of energy to burn, just like teenagers. When you're 15, you're not angry and into metal and you're not depressed and into goth. You're just a normal kid.''

Reel Big Fish can certainly be relied upon to keep a happy crowd bouncing along. Armed with a tight-as-a-trampoline horn section and a tireless store house of stage action and funny quips, a typical show probably burns more calories than a StairMaster.

Over the years, the Fish crew, which has seen about 25 members pass through its ranks over the past decade, has gotten tighter.

``When we started, we sounded like a train falling down a hill,'' says Barrett. ``But the train's now like the bullet train in Japan. It's smooth, there's no noise and Mount Fuji is outside the window!''

Fred Shuster, [phone]

[e-mail]

REEL BIG FISH

Where: Canyon Club, 28912 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills. When: 7:30 tonight.

Tickets: $15 all ages. [phone].

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The good-natured party band Reel Big Fish -- Scott Klopfenstein, left, Ryland Steen, Aaron Barrett, John Christianson, Matt Wong and Dan Regan -- keeps its spirited sound going because ``it's wacky and silly and has a lot of energy to burn,'' Barrett says. The Orange County group plays tonight at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills.