So what happens to a smart young band with an enormous following and a reasonable grasp of the ever-so-subjective punk-ethic? What can the suits working the machines called Capitol, Atlantic, and Warner tell them about reaching their peers?
Just ask Gainesville's Less Than Jake. The punk-ska quintet is redefining the artist-label relationship by retaining an unorthodox amount of control over their own product. A degree of control that, until now, was inconceivable in the recording industry. They are schooling the label in making records and kindly accepting the cash, all while keeping true to their own values.
Less Than Jake landed a record deal without lifting a finger--quite ironic considering this band has a do-it-your-self technique that has succeeded well enough that the decision to sign wasn't made out of desperation.
According to LTJ drummer Vinnie (no last names, please), it's no different than anything else they've ever done and been respected for. "We're on Capitol records, we're on No Idea Records, we're on Far Out Records, we're on Too Many Records--I can go on forever. We're just on a lot of labels," he says. Less Than Jake's practices remain the same but there are still some skeptics who argue against the decision to sign with Capitol Records.
For Less Than Jake's ideology, signing wasn't an option at first. Why take on an all-encompassing contract when independence has proved so advantageous? But a trip to Capitol was nearly enough to change their minds and a hands-off contract was just the push they needed to agree to the deal.
"Less Than Jake doesn't rely on the record company to break them--they're going to break themselves," says Capitol A&R Rep Craig Aaronson. "They're like a well-oiled machine that's been doing this for a long time. They know how to tap into their audience much better than we do. What we're going to try and do is spring off from the base that they've laid and try to take it to the next level. But the hardest fans to get are the first 25,000 and they've already got them on their own from three to four years of hard work. We're following their lead.
They have a lot of freedom on this contract."
After hearing a Less Than Jake demo acquired through a friend, Aaronson followed Less Than Jake around the country for nearly seven months before asking them to sign.
"He's an okay guy so it was easy to be cool and not try to play up to him," says Vinnie. "We're all pretty down-to-earth people and it was more of a hindrance than anything else. It's nerve- wracking to have somebody around who you
know is watching you for a specific reason. So it wasn't like, 'you're from Capitol and what can you do for us.' It was more like, 'that guy from Capitol is here and it's kind of creepy because he's watching us."'
Not only has the band earned the coveted major label contract, they've proved that a grass-roots college-town band can both break out and succeed on their own and spark the big gest in the business to learn from their work.
Don't attribute Less Than Jake's success to rocket science,
though. "We're not doing anything amazing," says bassist Roger. "Anybody can pull off the stuff that we're doing, it's just that we have the motivation for it."
"It's about having a clue," adds saxophonist Jessica, "and having the resources available to you that you can tap into."
Less Than Jake plans on taking advantage of the freedom of their new-found status by keeping ticket and merchandise prices down and continuing to play all ages shows. The biggest problem. many fans have with their favorite indepen dent bands hitting the main stream is the overall rise in prices, and Less Than Jake have addressed that prob lem from the get-go.
"I can cite bands that, when they were on an indie label, were doing $5 and $6 shows, selling their T-shirts for $7 to $10, and being down-to-earth. As soon as they signed to a major label, they're doing $13 shows, selling their shirts between $15 and $18, and they weren't down to earth," explains Vinnie. "So their music may not suck but their business practices and the way they handle themselves sucks. If someone says, 'they suck' then I can say, 'yeah, they do.'
"It's not heavy-handed punk, it's just smart to help people who want to come see us."
There are still those who complain because, suddenly, what they've held so sacred has become part of the mainstream. Although several of Less Than Jake's friends urged them to go with the deal, some fans discount them.
The D.I.Y. ethic has never been clearly defined. While die-hard punks preach unity, they often alienate themselves in the process. Less Than Jake's attitude pushes towards unity by extendmg courtesy towards their existing fan base, allowing fans to obtain the upcoming release through mail-order or at shows for a cheaper price. As for the label, Aaronson claims that Capitol is keeping wholesale prices down for now, so CDs should remain under ten 30 dollars even through retail. "The people who scoff at us now because we've got a wide audience, because we appeal to more people, then screw them," says Jessica. "They're elitists and I'm not going to be part of some elitist, separatist crowd. One thing I'm proud of is that we do have so many different kinds of people that listen to us."
Separatism hasn't gotten Less Than Jake to this point, proving that this one alleged form of idealism crumbles in the face of reason. So, basically, all that's left is fan loyalty, do-it-yourself ideals, and three power chords.
Less Than Jake arose as a punk trio with Chris on guitar and vocals, Vinnie on drums, and an now-departed bass player. Roger eventually took over on bass and the group veered to ward punk-ska with the addition of a horn section consisting of Jessica on tenor sax, Buddy on trombone, and Aaron on baritone sax. Although the current resurgence of ska may appear to have influenced Less Than Jake, they insist that it hasn't played such an integral role.
"It's three chords that has punk, that has ska, that has pop sensibilities, that has a bunch of horns," describes Vinnie. "There's no real ground-breaking--it's just the songs we play. It's Less Than Jake."
Less Than Jake has evolved since the three piece days, both in their live performances and in their recording practices. The process of building the songs from a strong base has remained the same, but these days they're gaining the opportunity to produce the quality expected of a "national" act.
The group's first release of four power-pop songs and one ska song was recorded in one take and finished in six hours. The band quickly agrees that record ing has proved a learning experience every time from that first one-take release, to their independent full-length CD on Dill Records, Pezcore (completed in five days), to their Capitol debut, sardonically titled Losing Streak.
"No matter what, the first thing any band should do immediately upon writing songs is attempt to release a record," advises Roger. "It doesn't matter if a label does it for you, just to go through the process of recording and sticking to gether through all that- that's the most important thing you can do as a band."
Less Than Jake didn't wait for a label to help them. In fact, they started their own label to get their music out. Aptly named for a band hailing from the college-oriented town of Gainesville, Fueled By Ramen is Less Than Jake's collective brain
Since the label's incep tion, however, Less Than Jake has released a variety of tracks on a number of local and national indie labels and will continue to do so even under its contract.
"We've signed to Capitol for more than one record, that's for damn sure," says Vinnie. "It's one record at a time and we write songs a lot and we fill the gap be tween records with other singles."
"Their deal is very unique," says Capitol's Aaronson. "They can put out a certain amount of 7 inches and compilation tracks every year on their own, as long as it doesn't compete with the current records that we're market ing. The reason we did that is because they felt it was important for them to stay true to what they've been doing so long, so well, and continue to sell to their base audience... and we think that's the right thing to do."
As for the future, Less Than Jake subscribes to a very realistic outlook. The group understands that any trend--punk, ska, etc.--is destined to fade. The band even tends to have a sense of humor about the possi bilities.
"When it gets overblown it'll be just as cheesy as Poison," says Chris, "and everyone will know it and we'll get kicked off the label and we'll be sitting here with our thumb in our ass collecting unemployment. If you over-saturate anything it's just gonna die."
Bordering on the negative, Less Than Jake doesn't even see itself getting the opportunity to put out six records with Capitol. In fact, they don't see Capitol stick ing it out for more than two.
JAM MAGAZINE (N) October 25,1996