After California natives Reel Big Fish ate up the success of its debut album, “Turn the Radio Off,” the band had to start thinking of ways to make its sophomore effort, “Why Do They Rock So Hard,” just as good, if not better.

“We wanted to make a better album than ‘Turn the Radio Off,'” horn player Tavis Werts said. “We liked that album, but there are a lot of things that if we could do it again, we would have changed.”

But members of Reel Big Fish couldn’t let pressure from fans, media and record companies,affect their creative process.

“There was pressure from other people saying that ‘this album has to be as good as the last one sort of thing,” Werts said.

One issue bands face during the time span between their first and second albums is making good choices in the area of song writing.

“Most of the songs from the first record were written two or three years before we recorded the album, whereas on this album, we wrote most of the stuff right before we went into the studio,” Werts said.

“So there was a lot of time in between where we were listening to different things and kind of coming from a different place.”

Recent influences encouraged Reel Big Fish to stem away from its more traditional pop sound, which might explain why “Why Do They Rock So Hard” took a turn musically from the first effort.

“As far as Aaron’s (Barrett, lead singer/guitarist) writing, he listens to a lot of the old glam rock: Poison and Motley Crue and Warrant and stuff like that,” Werts said. “Then there is more of the power-pop sound like Weezer.”

Members of Reel Big Fish describe their new album as a mix of ska and reggae.

The band feels that the popular definition of ska as “punk with horns” is inaccurate and doesn’t fit its style at all.

“The bands that are punk with horns are the ones who are the least ska of any of the bands,” Werts said. “Ska has been around since the ’60s and has a long, big past to it.”

When entering the studio, frontman Barrett, bassist Matt Wong, horn players Dan Regan, Scott Klopfenstein and Grant Barry, drummer Andrew Gonzales and Werts try not to focus on a particular sound, but instead put songs together with anything they can come up with.Ed.

“Most of the time we just go with whatever happens. Aaron will write part of the song and sometimes he’ll say this should be a reggae beat or we’ll just start playing it and trying different things,” Werts said. “But we never set out and say this should be a reggae song or this song we’re going to write a ska song or this is going to be a rock ‘n’ roll song. It just sort of happens.”

Those last five words basically sum up the short, but thick career Reel Big Fish has posted. The golden success of the hit single “Sellout,” which actually sparked the rumor that the musicians were sell-outs and hypocritical, boosted the group into the spotlight.

In a recent Rolling Stone article, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath claims that a band is sold-out as soon as it leaves the garage, while Reel Big Fish has a different definition to clear itself of the accusation.

“Our idea of a sell-out is someone who’s doing something that they don’t want to do for money,” Werts said. “A band who sells out is someone who starts writing music or playing somebody else’s music that they don’t want to play.”

But the controversy doesn’t end there with Reel Big Fish.

The group has to deal with the fans and media who accuse it of writing angst-filled music with songs like “Everything Sucks” and “Somebody Hates Me.”

“I’d say we’re more misunderstood,” Wets said. “A lot of it is just Aaron writing all the lyrics and just kind of gets sarcastic when he gets pissed off. So a lot of it is just him being pissed off about something, and the way he writes about it comes off as kind of funny.”

“Why Do They Rock So Hard?” hasn’t quite met the success of the first record. The first single, “The Set Up (You Need This),” has been getting significant radio play, but isn’t the ear-catching, money-making hit “Sellout” was.

Despite these factors, record sales and touring up to this point has been satisfying.

“The new record has been doing pretty well,” Werts said. “We toured from September through December, and we took January off to have some time to ourselves. And we just started touring again a week ago.”

Reel Big Fish recently hit the road with the fast-paced up-and-coming Zebrahead, with whom they will travel to Des Moines for a show at Hairy Mary’s (formerly the Safari club) Sunday night.

Werts and company are enjoying their time with Zebrahead because the two bands don’t necessarily bring in the same crowds.

“They like to do the same thing we do and that is put on a real energetic stage show that is fun to watch,” Werts said. “So I think we mix pretty well.”

Though the swing craze in ’98 lured many ska bands to switch to swing, Reel Big Fish stuck to its roots.

“We kind of did one swing song as a joke but we’ve never even considered becoming a swing band because it’s not where we are and it’s not what we do,” Werts said. “Most of the swing bands that are out there now, with a few of the big ones being the exception, really don’t know how to swing.”

In the future, Reel Big Fish just wants to keep touring and endorsing its new record, with hopes that it will gain the success of its last.

“Supposedly, we have a new single coming out pretty soon,” Werts said.

Though the band appears energetic on stage, Werts said the group has a different personality off-stage.

“We tend to be kind of boring,” Werts said.

Reel Big Fish and Zebrahead hit Hairy Mary’s Sunday night at 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance and $14 at the door.