This past week I've been playing phone tag with Chris the guitarist/ singer from Less Than
Jake, Gainesville's own ska punk heroes, trying to set up an interview for this rag. After
about ten tries we finally set up a time and a place this past Tuesday. Tuesday isn't usually
one of my favorite days- better than Monday, but it sure as hell ain't no Thursday. This
Tuesday turned out to be the shit. Early in the day I found a killer Mustard Plug tshirt at
Hyde N' Zeke's, a good friend of mine came into town, and finally I was invited to go to
LTJs warehouse to watch them practice before the interview! Fuckin A! I'm about the
happiest little shit at Camp Skapunk right now. I had to have my buddy slap me to get the
grin off my face when I told him how I'd be spending my evening. Anyways, I get to the
warehouse and the band ( minus Jessica and Buddy ) is getting ready to play, so they ask me
what I wanted to hear! ME! Little inconsequential Fly gets to make a request to my favorite
band. "Son of Dick, please", I say. And BAM! They play it. In the next twenty minutes they
go on to play two tracks off the upcoming Greece soundtrack cover album (CD ?) and about
4 or 5 unreleased songs. It was Fuckin unbelievable. So finally we get down to business as
Less Than Jake bare their souls to me. Among other things, I discovered that several band
members secretly wish to break up and reform as an 80's metal band, Derron is apt to not
say much, smokin out before an interview makes a band sound better than they really are
(just joking), and Less Than Jake is a buncha down to earth losers just like you and me. So
here we go, my little chat with Chris the guitarist/ vocals, Vinny the drummer/ pizza expert,
Derron the Baritone Sax player/ Team Citation race car driver, and Roger the bassist/ vocals.
Together they form

LESS THAN JAKE

Me: Okay, who the hell is Howie Reynolds?

C: Ooh, good start. Howie is our 73 year old neighbor in our apartment complex. He
rocks. Got the heart of a fuckin l 0 year old, he comes to our shows and crowd surfs.
He's gonna get on stage at the Dish and do something nutty. 
R: Do a monologue or something. He's a trippy old dude. 
C: You'll hear him talking on our new CD. 

Me: Besides your music, what's important to you guys?

R: That the van has oil! And we have shows booked somewhere.
V: And that the fuckin thing works.
C: Um girls.
R: We're pretty basic. Pez dispensers are high on the list.
V: TV is pretty crucial.

Me: In order of importance, how would you rate drugs, pizza, and 
Pez?

( long delay while the band members ponder this most cosmic of questions)
R: Pizza and Pez are pretty high on my list. V: Dude, I eat pizza everyday. I'm
serious. But I'd say Pez, pizza, drugs. D: Yeah, Pez, pizza, drugs. C: I think it's
unanimous.

( the conversation steers to Pizza for a while as I try to discover which states have the
best and worse. It looks like New York is where the good shit is at. Frozen wise,
our uncontested vote goes to Totino's. 4 pizzas for 5 bucks. Can't be beat.)
Me: Which would you give up first, smoking or drinking?
C: Drinking.
R: Drinking.
V: Drinking anyday. I'll never give up cigarettes.
Me: Okay, how about Star Wars vs. Star Trek?
D&C: Star Wars!
R: Probably 70/ 30 Star Wars, but Star Trek kicks ass in a totally different way.
V: Cartoon Network. And 80's TV over any of that.
R: Dukes of Hazard!
C: Boss Hog rocks.
Me: So what have you guys been doing lately?
R: Doin nothing.
C: Well, we recorded for a month and a half, some other shit like answering mail.
Me: Any tour stories?
R: Where do we begin?
V: Dude, weird shit happens everyday on tour. The best was Kansas City.
C: Yeah, some guy in the back of the club, just some guy off the street, I told him to
get on stage and he totally got up and danced for a whole song and just rocked out.
V: He got all emotional on us!
C: He told us that it was his birthday so we got the whole crowd to sing happy
birthday to him. It was awesome! And I airplane spin alot of people. Like bums
that want change, I tell em they can have a dollar it they let me spin em. One guy in
St. Pete made me go up to 3 bucks. Then he passed out after I did it.
Me: Who were your favorite bands you played with on tour?
C: Mostly local bands. The last half was with the Supermarket Allstars, some shows
with Skankin Pickle
V: The Readymen in Oregon were really good. Slapstick, MU330.
Me: How's the label going?
V: Basically just doing some 7" 's, coin whatever we have to do to put some records
out.
ME: Any of your songs or all other bands?
C:Maybe someday we'll do some of ours, but mostly its just our friends' bands, ya 
know people that have helped us along the way.
R:Its just fun to put out records. We've got the energy for it.
C:It's called Fueled by ramen (yes as in the noodles. 6 for a dollar at Publix)
Me: Any bands you want to mention on it?
C: Supermarket Allstars, Boxcar, the Hippos from LA
V: Bigwig
Me: Do you guys have the inside scoop on Bruce Lee leaving DILL7
C: Yeah, he left DILL and Skankin Pickle. He's wanted to do his own label for a
while and he just didn't want to do the band anymore.
V:It got to the point where he was flying to shows because he was sick of being in the
van.
C: He was sick of being on tour all the time.
D:Mike's too antsy, he can't sit still in a van for so long.
Me: Any more Bruce Lee Band releases?
C: Maybe.
R:Maybe. the problem right now is time.
Me: How's Gainesville been to you?
C:Awesome. I love it here. There's always assholes though. Like this guy Fly.
R: Yeah, he's a cock.
C: He's always calling us and harrassing us. He kept asking me out Seriously,
there's no place I'd rather be, it's quiet and calm.
R: There's a Walmart, a record store, and a Mcdonald's. That's all we really need.
( At this point the conversation gets ugly as we discuss the relationships between
the ska and punk crowds and how alot of times there isn't a difference anymore-
which isn't a bad thing. Basically, music is music and people are people so
listen to what you want and go to whatever shows you want and fuck what anyone
else has to say about it. Amen.)
Me: About the new record, what's it called and when will it be out?
C: It's called "Losing Streak" and it should be out October 29. It might be pushed up
a little though.
V: No Idea from Gainesville is doing the vinyl. Var is the shit.
R: No Idea is just sick when it comes to putting out records, disto, art & graphics.
V: No Idea rocks. Var is the hardest worker. Being in a band is alot easier than
runnig a label. In a band you've jsut got to please yourself, in a label there's twenty
odd other people you've got to please.
D: I like it best when Var pleases me.
V: Wow.
Me: Well how about future shows or tours
R: We're playing like hell!
V: We're leaving in the middle of September until the middle of October and then
leaving again the second week in November until the middle of December.
C: We'll only go as far west as St. Louis at first.
Me: What's the Greece soundtrack about?
R: It's about getting silly with fuckin three chords and some catchy ass songs!
V: It's just gonna be fun.
C: And we got a Slayer-cover 7" coming out on blood splattered vinyl!
It'll say Less Than Jake in the Slayer font.
( We start chatting about their live shows and their favorite places to play and
about all their silly antics on stage)
C: I just wish there would be more hecklers or animosity or something at the shows.
R: There's some people with balls in Gainesville though. Like Mike Cariaso, that
fucker'll show everybody his asshole!
C: He's the guy that does our homepage and he's got this fetish with wearing his
girlfriend's G-strings.
V: Our first show back in Florida was in St. Pete and he showed us right before the
show that he was wearing the shit under his clothes instead of boys underwear!
C: 3 songs into the set we look over and he's got nothin else on and he starts dancin
all over the stage
V: A maroon, velvet thong! !
R: Then he starts running around more and stage dives!
Me: I'll bet nobody wanted to catch him!
D: (laughing) Yeah, he fell.
V: All I want for the future is for our shows to get crazier and crazier.
R: We crave insanity. Come to the show in a fucked up costume!

	With that, our story ends. Afterwards they played the hell out of "Black Coffee" for
me which ruled cuz they don't play it live that much anymore. Huge Thanks to Less
Than Jake for going out of their way to help me with the interview! Look for "Losing
Streak" out sometime in late October and don't miss these muthafuckas when they come
to your hometown. Drop em a line at LTJ PO Box 12081 Gainesville FL 32604 or
transmit your favorite computer virus to ltj@atn.org OR http://www.afn.org/~ltj

Take me back
Cause there's no place like home.