Aquabats

The Aquabats
The Aquabats performing in Anaheim, California in December 2012.
Background information
Origin	Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Genres	Rock, new wave, pop punk, ska
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Horchata, Goldenvoice, Fearless, Nitro
Associated acts	Bad Credit, Bikeride, Blink-182, Digital Unicorn, DJ Lance Rock, GOGO13, The Goodwin Club, Moon Monkeys, The Sandfleas, Supernova, Gerard Way
Website	theaquabats.com
Members	The MC Bat Commander Crash McLarson Jimmy the Robot Ricky Fitness Eagle "Bones" Falconhawk
Past members	See: The Aquabats former members

The Aquabats are an American rock band formed in Orange County, California in 1994. Throughout many fluctuations in the group's line-up, singer The MC Bat Commander and bassist Crash McLarson have remained the band's two constant fixtures. Since 2006, The Aquabats' members also include keyboardist Jimmy the Robot, drummer Ricky Fitness and guitarist Eagle "Bones" Falconhawk.

Easily identified by their masks and matching costumes, The Aquabats are perhaps most recognized for their comedic persona in which they claim to be crime-fighting superheroes. This theme serves as subject for much of the band's music and as part of their theatrical stage shows, which typically feature various stunts and fight scenes with costumed villains and monsters. Musically, The Aquabats have continuously evolved over the course of their career, starting as an eight-member ska band before reinventing themselves in the early 2000s as a new wave-influenced rock quintet. The band's current musical style mixes rock and punk with elements of new wave, ska and synthpop.

The Aquabats have released five studio albums, two extended plays and one compilation, among other recordings. From 2012 to 2014, the band also created and starred in The Aquabats! Super Show!, a live-action musical action-comedy television series which aired on American cable channel The Hub. The series ran for three seasons, earning a total of eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations and ultimately winning one.

In the early 1990s, musicians Christian Jacobs, Chad Larson and Boyd Terry met and befriended each other while living in Brea, California. Having all been active in various local punk and alternative rock bands, the three eventually conceived the idea of forming a joke band satirizing the Orange County punk scene, which Jacobs described at the time as being overwhelmed with "testosterone, beer and people fighting". The concept was to start an unabashedly silly punk band as a complete antithesis to the genre's more aggressive and humorless bands, with the intention of performing at punk shows to poke fun at the scene. While later attending a ska show in Orange County, Jacobs was exposed to the area's burgeoning ska scene and was impressed by its ethos: as he recalled, "No one was fighting or pushing each other but having a good time". It was then decided that they would start a ska band instead, "to be part of the fun".