Less Than Jake

For fans of catchy ska-slanted punk rock, it doesn't get much better than Less Than Jake. Straight outta Gainesville, Florida, this crew - consisting of Chris (guitars/vocals), Roger (bass/vocals), Vinnie (drums/lyrics), Buddy (trombone), Pete (baritone sax) and Pete (trombone) - has been putting on their wacky circus-style live show and making noise on record since around 1993 when Chris and Vinnie first hammered out a couple of demos. Less Than Jake's constant touring schedule and recent jump from major label sloth, Capitol, to indie punk force, Fat Wreck Chords, has highlighted a return to the DIY ethic and has helped serve to propel the band back into punk fans' favor. From early releases like Pezcore through their latest, Borders and Boundaries, they've combined crunchy punk guitar licks and lyrics about everything from friends named Cheese to the collectible candy, PEZ.

After much cogitation and three cups of coffee I still can't figure out what the novelty of PEZ is all about. First, the candy tastes like colored chalk, and second, those dispensers are so damned hard to load they're like leftover remnants from some Sudanese prison experiment. Sure I'm no confection elitist, but for a pure candy-coated sugar fix I'm going to plink my money down on something else.

Still, this PEZ fascination mocks me. For historical accuracy, I looked up a timeline of the PEZ dispenser and it turns out those devices have been around since 1948 when some German punter named Edward Haas first rolled them off the line. That's 52 years, folks, and in all that time they couldn't come up with a little PEZ magazine that you just shove in? One kind of like one of those AK-47 banana clips you see brandished by fashionable terrorists everywhere. Shit, I saw a motorized Blow-Pop spinner the other day in the candy isle - now that's progress. Just think how much caloric intake is preserved by not having to turn your lollipop by hand anymore.

What all this tangential musing has to do with the price of a lap dance in Bangladesh is anyone's guess. The point is that a PEZ fixation, in my humble opinion, is silly. Which makes some sense considering two of the cats in Less Than Jake are dedicated collectors of all things PEZ. I talked to frontman, Chris, the vocalist/guitarist from the Gainesville punk sextet, who explained in graphic detail the simple excess that is Less Than Jake.

What's with the new mullet fascination I see everywhere?

It's not a new fascination. It's been a fascination of mine since I had a mullet back in '89. I'm one of the pioneers of the mullet.

So everybody's following your trend? Because there's that mullet Web site and stuff…

Totally. Well I mean, I don't know much about the mullet Web site, but I do know that on our Web site we told kids that if they show up to the gig with a genuine mullet, we'll give them free stuff.

Really, what if they, like, super-glue a fake one on?

Nope. No wigs or hair extensions. It's got to be a real fuckin' mullet. The real deal.

What do they get?

We'll give them a free T-shirt.

When I first heard you guys were now on Fat Wreck Chords, my impression was that it was a step down, but in thinking about it more, I realize it probably isn't. It's actually a really good thing, right?

Yeah. It's going to be good. There's not much of a step down from Capitol Records. They're a shitty label and did absolutely nothing to promote us. So after five years of being with them, anything is better. I'd go with a label nobody's heard of before I'd sign with another major.

But Fat gives their bands a much better deal altogether, right?

It's an independent label so it makes sense that you're going to get a better deal. It'll be, like, about 50/50, and it's going to work out for us because, luckily, we have enough fans now that we can sell records and we'll make the money instead of Capitol making the money and not doing jack shit for us.

I caught you guys live one time in Santa Cruz and it was a show where there weren't a lot of people there so you were talking some shit to people in the crowd. Have you ever gotten into trouble doing that? Have you ever gotten your ass kicked?

No. Sometimes people get a little upset but I don't do it to be malicious.

It was more funny than anything, but I remember thinking, 'this guy is going to get clocked.'

The thing about it is most people don't take it seriously, but when they do I just tell them, "Dude, if you thought I was serious on stage than you don't know who I am." If you talk to people about it, then they're cool, but if you're confrontational with them then there might be a fight or something, but its never gotten to that point.

You guys are known for doing the theme-costume thing at your live shows. Do you bring all that stuff with you or do you just kind of make it up along the way?

I just do whatever I find in town that day. I'll go to a thrift store and get something crazy to wear.

What's the trend lately?

There really hasn't been much of a trend lately, just kind of whatever happens. If there is any trend, I'm going more towards the Florida beach motif - like the father taking the kids to the beach on a Saturday. That's the kind of look I've been trying to encompass lately.

No more of the Richard Simmons afro?

He hasn't come out in a while but I'm sure we'll see him again.

Talking about the new album now, I read that you tried to move away from the ska deal, or that it's more melodic somewhat. Is that true?

I think it's just better playing overall - the musicianship. It's not any different than any of our other records except for the fact that I think we had better production and that we've grown as a band and thus are better players. People can say, "Oh well, they're less ska" and this and that, but we were never a ska band, ever.

No?

Since the very beginning we never claimed to be that. We got labeled by local 'zines and stuff because we had up-stroke guitars and horns and we did play with a lot of ska bands, so we got lumped into that but it was never a conscious decision, like, "We're a ska band." Because it's kind of insulting to bands that are traditional, real ska bands to have a band like ours come along and call themselves ska. So we never said that. And the songs now - even though some of them may not have the up-stroke guitar - they're still the same three chords and its still the same band so the fans that have been with us from the beginning, I think, will still like this album.

What's it called?

It's called Borders and Boundaries.

How did you go about choosing that name?

It's basically due to the fact that we've traveled so much over the past two years. We've been to so many places and crossed so many borders and so many boundaries and it just kind of ties in to the record.

You guys went to Europe last year after the Warped Tour, right?

We did that and then we also went back to England this last May and were there for a month.

You got any funny stories from that?

Ah, well probably the craziest was when we were in the middle of Germany and we were sharing a bus with the Suicide Machines and there was no place to shit and so I found this box that belonged to the Suicide Machines and I shit in that. Right then when I was done, Dan the guitar player, walked off-stage and he was walking towards the bus and I said "Hey Dan, your management sent you a box today." And he's like "Oh really?" And I said "Yeah, you better look in it, they said it was important." And he opens the box and of course there's my big turd in there. So that was probably one of the highlights.

Is it true about how you can only go Number 1 on the bus?

Yeah, that's true.

What's up with that?

If you want to shit on the bus you have to line the bowl with like a trash bag and shit in that. Its called trailblazing, because when you walk out of the bathroom there's all these people sitting in the lounge and you have to blaze a trail with your shit-bag as you walk through. It's pretty interesting, but I have no problem with it. I trailblaze everyday. It's better than trying to find a club toilet with shit and god-knows-what else all over it.

You have no humility.

It's hard to when you're on the road.

Does it turn into a zoo on the bus when you have what, six people in the band all on there?

No. There's 11 people on the bus.

What's that like? All the kids who've never been on one have to wonder.

It's hard, you know, like you wake up and since we don't get hotel rooms or anything, if you want to shower you have to rely on the club to have one. Usually they don't though, and if they do it's a moldy, friggin mess. So there's that, but it's a lot better than sleeping in a van. But still, 11 guys and there's a lot of guys in the band who smoke, so there's always cigarette smoke. It's interesting. You're driving around the country in a steel tube so it's kind of like you're time traveling, so to speak.

Now, I know the whole PEZ subject is like beating a dead horse, but I had an idea about PEZ that I thought I would bring up since there are a couple guys in the band that collect them. It's an invention, actually.

What is it?

PEZ birth control dispensers.

Wow.

How come they don't have that? Seriously, they could pass them out at like junior highs and shit.

They absolutely should have that, and I'll bring it up with some of the higher-ups at PEZ.

Could you do that?

I definitely will and maybe we could get you a little kickback from that.

You never know. If they get a patent on that then I want a piece.

We could do that.

Right on.

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