Hi-Five Soup! is the fifth studio album from American band The Aquabats, released on January 18, 2011 by Fearless Records. Overview In interviews leading up to Hi-Five Soup!s release, lead vocalist Christian Jacobs (The MC Bat Commander) described the album as "Yo Gabba Gabba!-meets-The Aquabats", noting "[the] themes of the songs are just kind of silly and stupid...it's less trying to appeal to a little bit older crowd and just trying to appeal to the Halloween costume crowd". Of the album's music, he mentioned "there's more stripped down punk kind of sounds" and "we have been relying a lot more on the keyboards and there's a lot more electronic stuff in there, but I think kids will be surprised that there are some songs that sound a lot like old school Aquabats". Musically, Hi-Five Soup! continues in the guitar and keyboard-driven rock and new wave sounds that The Aquabats established on their previous album Charge!!, though incorporates slightly stronger elements of synthpop and electronica. The album also includes touches of hip-hop, present on songs such as "Hey Homies!", "Luck Dragon Lady!" and "Radio Down!", the latter featuring an appearance from Biz Markie, as well as a ska song, "In My Dreams!". Lyrically, the album makes no deviation from The Aquabats' trademark style of comedic comic book-influenced narrative songs (most notably on "The Shark Fighter!") and pop culture homages (such as on "Luck Dragon Lady!", which is based on the 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story and directly quotes a line from "Girl U Want" by Devo), while also retaining some of the geek-centric social satire present on Charge!!, as heard in "Pink Pants!" and "Just Can't Lose!". Hi-Five Soup! is the first Aquabats studio album to feature guitarist Ian Fowles (Eagle "Bones" Falconhawk), who joined the band in 2006. Thus, it was also the first not to feature Falconhawk's predecessor Corey Pollock (Chainsaw, the Prince of Karate) as an official member, though Pollock did contribute guitar tracks to the album under the credit of an additional musician. Production history In March 2010, after almost five years of minimal recording activity since the release of Charge!!, The Aquabats announced plans on their website to hopefully release a new studio album by the end of the year. The project went entirely unmentioned until October, when the band confirmed that an album had in fact been independently recorded with producer Cameron Webb and