Based in University City, Fish Out of Water was founded in 2000 by cousins Kyle and Brandon Moon.
Originally from San Luis Obispo, they relocated to San Diego in 2008. Kyle describes the band's sound: “It’s as if Led Zeppelin, Bootsy Collins, Bob Marley, and Ice Berg Slim were wrapped up into one bad-ass persona.”
No stranger to bad-assery, Kyle once reportedly jumped off a two story water tower stage while still playing his solo in Key West, Florida, and is known for stage antics like costume changes during their drum solos.
After releasing three full-lengths, RoPhunk RaeHop, Harvest Your Thoughts, and the Dream, they released an acoustic full-length in 2011, Heart to Hand, mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Wyn Davis of Total Access Studios. The group has completed several national tours, as well as an Australia tour in 2011.
They spent the first six months of 2012 playing shows from Key West, Florida to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as well as adventuring during their downtimes.
"Our good friend and eccentric pirate Captain Jack took us snorkeling in Key Largo," says Kyle Moon. "He is a complete character straight out of a really really good book. He is a 5 foot three inch ball of muscle and energy that cannot be sedated with any amount of marijuana. As a great captain should, he has a million stories and the most intense way of telling them."
Moon reports that most of the shows went well, though there were some hitches to their South Carolina appearance at Hot Fish Club in Murrells, on "a dead Thursday" that saw the band doing their infamous “Pants Off solo,” during their song "The Newbie."
According to Moon, "While we were packing down, I was informed by a mildly retarded, compulsive liar named Natalie that ownership had changed hands and that our June shows were double booked and we were going to have our dates cancelled. Later, I was informed by the original owner that Natalie was in fact lying and that the new owner didn’t like the Pants Off solo. I mean, come on, I have boxer briefs on underneath. You could go jogging in boxers and no one could stop you."
Not that it's all about being goofballs. Socially conscious, "Fish Out of Water strives to use our music to raise funds and donate our talent in support of such causes as hurricane relief, the Gulf oil disaster, breast cancer, and foster care," according to Kyle. "We hope our actions will one day inspire the rest of the world to give what you can, with what you have."