Less Than Jake

Frequestly Asked Questions

What does the name mean?
Vinnie's family had a dog named Jake. When his parents would go out for dinner they brought home Red Lobster leftovers for the dog, while he was fixing Mac and Cheese for himself. So he felt like he was "less than Jake". Also as a phrase, 'everything is jake' is term 1920s gangsters used to suggest that everything was cool, no problems. So Less Than Jake implies that something is wrong or uncool.
How long has the band been together?
The first show was in March of '93
Who plays what?
Chris does about 3/4ths of the vocals and playes guitar. Roger does the remaining 2/5th and plays bass. Vinnie plays drums and writes the lyrics. The horns are Buddy (aka goldfinger) on trombone, and Derron on tennor sax and skin flute. Until Fall 97 Jessica was also with the band on alta-sax. Since she left Lars of Skanking Pickle and 78 RPM has joined them one one tour, and Pete of Slapstick has played Tbone on several Florida shows.
How many releases do you have?
As of 10/96 there are 13 releases, but we appear on 51 albums when compilations and such are counted. Vist the discography for a sampling.
What's up with the Pez thing?
Vinnie is a serious, hardcore pez collector. HUGE collection. Loves the stuff, visits the pez factory, reads the pez books, has Pez tattoos. Since he writes the lyrics, this fascination occasionally creeps into the songs. Roger also has lately become a hardcore collector and has a Pez tattoo as well.
Who/where is Mike Sinkovich?
Vinnie - "Well, I'm 16 years old on a rooftop overlooking Jersey city. My friend Mike says things aren't going well with his life and our conversation lasts 5-6 hours. The next day he runs away from home to NYC never to be heard from again"
Who is Doug Hastings?
Vinnie - "At 16 I moved from NJ to FL. In Fl I met a bunch of insane local surfers whose hobbies included throwing rocks through windows, pissing over overpasses onto cars, drinking beer, and all around raising hell. Again its a true story about one night, and my thoughts about not following the crowd."
Who is Jen?
Vinnie - "I wrote this one about a girl that liked Chris. Her wacky attributes:

a father who had a photo album of picture of people in the bathroom. He'd kick in the door and take a picture while they were taking a shit or whatever.
her having sex with her cousin.
Eating all my Ramen and Kool-Aid.
"
Who is Johnny Quest?
Chris: Ha. Well, he's a friend of mine, I've know since elementary school. He's an architect student at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, Florida, where we're from. And we played this show in town, it was a battle of the bands and we won, and we got to play at the great opening of this record store, and this guy wrote in his work office at the Architect School, "Less Than Jake are sellouts". And as for the name Johnny Quest, that was his moniker, his nickname, he never heard us before or anything. He just wrote it just because. So we just shrugged our shoulders and decided to write a silly song about it.
Where is the hidden track on Losing Streak?
Put in the CD. hit play. hold down rewind. it will rewind by seconds rather than by tracks. continue to hold it down as it goes past 0:00 into 'negative' time. at roughly -1:40 it starts. warning not all CD players supports this.
But realize, the contest was over ages ago. Please stop sending in mail saying you found it.
Do you allow shows to be taped?
Videos - Yes. Feel free, provided that you do not sell copies for more than $2 over the cost of the cassette. And If you've got a cool tape, let us know we'd love to see it.
Audio - Yes. Feel free. But we would prefer if you didn't try to do soundboard connections. If you're sharing your copy please keep the price low, No more than $2 for audio cassettes, 3 for burnt CDs.
Why are all shows all ages?
. (Waiting for the band)
Why did Jessica leave?
. (Waiting for the band)
How can I interview the band?
If you want to do it at a show call (352)372-6465 before they leave for tour, and explain the situation, what town, etc. They will call you back to work out details. If the band fails to call you or you can't arrange it before they leave, just come to the merch booth at the show. When convenient someone will tell a band member and you can do an interview when they get off stage.