Reel Big Fish tour kicks off New Year with worldwide dates

Ska-punk band Reel Big Fish will be going full-swing in the New Year, as the band supports its upcoming studio album with an extensive world tour. A leg of U.S. dates begins the trek on January 1 at the House of Blues in San Diego, CA, and continues through a January 25 gig at 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

In addition to the opening show, the high-energy band will also be hitting up several House of Blues venue locations across the country: January 3 in West Hollywood, CA, January 6 in Las Vegas, NV, January 12 in Chicago, IL, and January 14 in Cleveland, OH. Other highlights for the American dates include a January 4 gig at the Grove of Anaheim in Anaheim, CA, and a January 20 performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, NY.

The rockers will be accompanied throughout the tour by Streetlight Manifesto and emerging artists One Pin Short and Tip the Van. After completing the 19-city run in the U.S., the bands will head to Europe for more than 30 additional shows, beginning January 29 at Effenaar in Eindhoven, NET, and wrapping March 11 at Tochka Club in Moscow, RUS.

Reel Big Fish is touring in support of the band’s seventh studio album, “Fame, Fortune and Fornication,” which is set for release on January 20. Produced by band frontman Aaron Barrett, the ten-track cover album includes ska renditions of everything from Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” to Poison’s “Nothin’ But a Good Time.”

The album is a follow-up to 2007’s “Monkeys for Nothin’ and the Chimps for Free,” which peaked at No. 106 on the Billboard 200 — the same spot as the Reel Big Fish’s 1995 studio debut “Everything Sucks.” Over the years, the brass-driven band (now a sextet) has undergone many lineup changes and transformations to the point that Barrett is the only original member remaining.

Before kicking off the 2009 tour itinerary, Reel Big Fish will perform a few scattered North American dates before the end of this year. The shows begin with a November 4 show at Vive Cuervo Salon in Mexico City, MEX, before crossing the border into the States for one early November gig in Pennsylvania and two early December sets in Florida.

Reel Big Fish itinerary:
(Dates subject to change.)