I have so much to write about after an awesome day meeting with entrepreneurs in SF, San Bruno, and eventually back in Palo Alto. But I had to stop and share this after seeing an article about the Aquabats. I know they have nothing to do with technology, but their journey and disregard for giving up is relevant to founders.
The founder of the wacky Aquabats is frontman Christian Jacobs. He had stints with his siblings as child actors in movies and TV shows and entertainment seems to have been implanted LA-style straight into his blood stream. Eventually he founded Yo Gabba Gabba! a popular and quirky children's television show now in it's all-important 4th season.
In 1994 he co-founded the punk rock/ska band Aquabats, a massive group of weird older guys dressed and dancing in sweaty tights. Christian's alter ego on stage became known as the "The Bat Commander". In high school I went to a half dozen of their concerts. The first was when they were the opening act for a little known band named Blink 182. I remember thinking this is the craziest and funniest thing I've ever seen. They had what seemed like 15 guys on stage in costume including a guy in a lab coat named 'the professor' and a lifesized chicken. Their drummer for a while was also Travis Barker, who would join Blink and eventually get his own reality show.
My most vivid memory which I must share was at another concert at a little club called DV8 in Salt Lake City. Their punk/ska music was weird, but it was just pure clean fun. During a song entitled "Magic Chicken" the life sized chicken and the professor emerged on stage and proceeded to open up raw chickens and throw them into the packed crowd and mosh pit. It was disgusting - but awesome. Later that night someone in our group overheard the club manager yelling belligerently at Christian about the raw chicken ruining the new carpet. His simple and controlled reply went something like this, "It's ok. We'll pay for it. It is part of our show. This is what we do." Considering they probably had to split their little earnings about 12-15 ways to support everyone, even at the time I was impressed that they put their brand and product first. While they eventually performed on the Warped Tour and on their own tour throughout the world, I can't imagine any of them ever made any money. But that didn't stop them.
You'd think after the success of Yo Gabba Gabba that they could raise money and support for their show no problem. Not the case. Two years ago I spoke with a potential investor that was pitched on the Aquabats show earlier that day. His comment was that he thought the founders were on drugs because the show was just crazy. These guys are most definately not on drugs - but the are crazy.
"After 16 years of being a band and so many doors slammed in your face, here's what we wanted to do."
Stephen's vision for the product after all these years has finally come together. The show he always wanted staring his Aquabats begins March 3 on The Hub. The show is called The Aquabats! Super Show! and features the last men standing from the band. A clip of it is embedded below.
As I'm typing this story and listening to their music for the first time in 10-years to honor their new announcement, Erica leans over and says, "I went to an Aquabats show one time. They threw raw chicken into the crowd. It was gross." It was gross. But it was awesome too.
A clip from the upcoming show. WARNING: It's about to get weird.
A song from one of their first albums.