That snowball continues to roll on as the band is quickly approaching their 20th anniversary. For a band that had small time aspirations of getting gigs at frat parties at the University of Florida and playing neighboring cities and states in and around Florida, they have accumulated countless US tours as well as several overseas stints in countries including Germany, England, France, Japan and Australia.
“We’ve been going to Australia for about 11 or 12 years, so we’ve been lucky enough to build up a fan base down there.”
Only matter of days after this interview, Chris and the boys were off for Australia for the Soundwave Festival. The fest featured Less Than Jake as well as about 40 other bands, including some that have influence the band’s music style including Iron Maiden and Slayer. The tour spanned five different Australian cities, and between festival shows, Less Than Jake played some club gigs.
Over the span of 19 years, Less Than Jake have released a total of seven full-length studio albums, two live albums, and five EPs, including their newest release TV/EP. This latest record includes the band covering a wide range of TV jingles and television theme songs, something they’ve attempted in past releases. This was the first time the band focused an entire recording into the realm of theme songs and, according to Chris, the time was right.
“We’ve done covers before, [but] we hadn’t done them in a while and it was just time to do an EP and have some fun.”
It’s been nearly three years since Less Than Jake have released their last full-length album GNV FLA on their own record label Sleep It Off Records. Talk of a new record has come up here and there within the band, and while nothing has been announced yet, it seems the it’s only a matter of time before something will be recorded and released.
“Everyone’s got ideas. Roger has a ton. I know Vinnie has ideas. I’ve got so many ideas I can’t keep them straight — I’ve got to go home and put some of these down. I think we are trying to shoot to record in May and have something out for Warped Tour this summer but that’s up in the air. There’s a lot of talk, but we are hoping to record sometime this year.”
When this new full-length album eventually gets released it will be the second LP released on their own record label, Sleep It Off Records. The move to create their own label came naturally to the band. They had played the major record label game throughout their career, spending a few years with Capitol Records in the ’90s and then moving to indie mainstay Fat Wreck Chords for one release, Boarders and Boundaries, only to go to Warner Bros./Sire before founding Sleep It Off after two full-length studio albums. After a failed relationship with Sire (which included the label editing out the horn section for the song “She’s Gonna Break Soon” from the single and music video), the move to self-release their albums was the only option that made sense.
“It’s just the five of us. We don’t have an office. There’s no one working for us, so it’s just a way for us to put out all of our products. We’re slowly releasing our back catalog, and anything we do musically now is going to come out under it [Sleep It Off]. We don’t have to deal with anybody, and any physical CD sale we can get is going to go into our pockets now,” said Demakes. “There was really no reason to go with an indie label and give someone money. That wasn’t going to happen, and no major label were going to throw any more money at us probably, nor would we want to go that route at this point. So it was kind of like, ‘Let’s do our own thing.’”
Currently the band is promoting the reissue of Losing Streak and Hello Rockview on Sleep It Off. The albums feature the original studio recordings with some new versions of the cover art. Included in both albums are DVDs of live album shows recorded in Florida of the respective albums in their entirety.
While many of the third-wave ska acts of the ’90s have either disappeared into the oblivion or scaled back their touring to selective dates scattered across the nation and limited new albums, Less Than Jake have continued to push on with a strong fan base that have sold out venues across the world for years now. What brings out the legion of fans who have been with the band since their first full length release Pezcore? What brings out new fans who have joined the Less Than Jake fan base within the past few releases?
It could be their live shows, which could be described as an Aquabats show meets Mardi Gras — although their shows in recent years have toned down in the theatrics. Most notably missing from their shows for the past 10 years or so: Skullman. Less Than Jake’s version of a dancing “Bosstone,” Skullman would dance around on stage in a tuxedo for the entire set and would usually end the show by blowing a fireball from his mouth. Apparently, Skullman is now retired.
“He can’t fit in the suit anymore! That’s the God’s honest truth, man! He’s not a 22-year-old kid anymore and he can’t fit in the suit. We call him the fat clown now.” Chris asks Vinnie, “What Warped Tour was that?”
Vinnie answers, “The Houston one. It was like seven years ago — he had been retired for a few years by then and he wanted to make a reprise. He almost got sent to the hospital. Yeah, it was about 104 degrees and in that mask it was about 120 degrees. It was a half hour set and he almost died.”
Recalling some of Skullman’s glory day’s, Chris adds, “He would come offstage and he would take off his shoes and dump like a cup of water out of it, but it was sweat.”
Another signature trademark of Less Than Jake’s career is their line of ever changing merchandise. From bobble heads and pizza boxes to a cereal box contest, the visions for new and interesting collectibles for the fans come mainly from Vinnie, the drummer of the band. But ever so often, a new idea doesn’t jive with the Less Than Jake faithful.
“Sometimes we’ll take a design out on tour that we thought was really cool and it goes over people’s heads…at the end of the tour we’re like, ‘How did that one not sell but the fucking generic star with Less Than Jake sold?’”
With their 20th year in existence rapidly approaching, there is no sign that Less Than Jake is going to quietly fade into the musical past like so many of their counterparts. They are getting set to head out for Warped Tour 2011 and, as mentioned earlier, expect a new full-length before the end of the year. There also could be some surprises in store for fans in the year 2012 as well.
“What would be cool is if we did our 20th anniversary and we sent out younger versions of 20-year-old hot looking dudes that can rip Less Than Jake songs. We sit home and collect the fucking money, you know? I’ll get a new teenage girl fan base!”
Whether it’s pulling a “Milli Vanilli” or releasing some crazy off the wall merch, you can count it’s going to be in typical Less Than Jake style.
