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The Hippos was a third wave ska-punk band from Southern California. Unlike other typical bands of the genre, The Hippos employed heavy use of a Moog synthesizer, which was seen by many as a re-revolutionization of the instrument in the current trend in pop-punk and emo. more...

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History

The Hippos's first full album release was Forget the World, released in 1996. Interestingly, many of the songs on Forget The World were written when Ariel Rechstaid, the band's primary songwriter, was only 15 years old. This album employed traditional ska-punk songwriting, including upbeat tempos and heavy brass instrumentation. Additionally, various percussion instruments were used, such as bongos and wood blocks. The next album was Heads Are Gonna Roll, released in 1999. A transitional album, a balance of horns and synthesizers is found on this album. Commercially, this album was the band's most successful; it is the only album to be fully produced by a large record label and thus is assumedly the most circulated and heard of the three albums.

The Hippos, a self titled final release, was released in 2003 after the band's break-up. This album completed the gradual transition from traditional ska-punk to the unique, original synthpop sound exhibited here. Ties to the ska-punk scene from which they began had been all but completely severed. In fact, only one track from this album uses horns at all, an essential element of ska. Much of the Hippos's fanbase was initially reluctant at such a different sound, but for the most part, this reluctance gave way to admiration. To some fans, the Hippos's final album was their best written and most enjoyable, despite its limited commercial success.

Recently

The members have currently moved on to other avenues, but all of which are musically oriented. In 2001, 3 of the original members, Ariel, Louis Castle, and James Bairian, teamed up to form the band Dirty Little Secret, a garage rock-post punk band. Although Rechstaid traded the duties of song writer / front man status with Castle, he was heavily involved in shaping the band and developing it's popularity, even producing many of the early recordings of the band's demos. In 2004, Rechstaid, split off from Dirty Little Secret to form the band Foreign Born, where he's also deferred his front man history to play Bass and sing the occasional back-up vocal in their Joy Division-esque post punk outfit. Both bands have developed a pretty impressive following in Southern California and other regions in the US.

There is much speculation on the reason Rechstaid made the decision to break off and spawn another band, but what is known is Rechstaid, Castle, and Bairian continue to be good friends and work together on various projects. While Rechstaid has built an extensive resume of producing commercial recordings such as up-and-coming bands Taking Back Sunday and the latest We Are Scientists debut album, Bairian and Castle have paired up to produce a fair share of recordings as well. They've recorded the popular duo Giant Drag's debut album released in 2005 on Interscope Records along with the young pop rock band Nathaniel's Endeavors' debut album.

Read more at Wikipedia.org