Interview Date: Jan 21, 1996 after a show at RSC in Miami

I used to think Less Than Jake was an awesome band. It wasn't, however, till I saw them live, that I realized their true greatness. Not only is the band great, but the members are the nicest, most down to earth chaps you'll find. They are totally appreciative of their fans and exemplify humility - not something you'd normally find in a band on the verge of becoming huge. With a six album deal on Capitol Record in the sack, the sky's the limit. As a child one of the Jake - sters had a dog named... you guessed it Jake. The dog would always be the best fed in the family, putting down T- bones every meal. The kids, however, got 'less than Jake'. It doesn't seem that they'll be getting the short end of this bone for much longer. With roughly thirty releases to their credit, you might want to listen to them now. Almost everything is sure to become a collectors item and you can say you heard em before Rolling Stone shoved them down your throat. Mark my words ska-punk is the next "big thing" for the alternative media to exploit. Enjoy. Fuck you.

RI: Not that you guys really need an introduction but why don t you start there and mention the other members that are not present here?

Chris: I'm Chris. I play guitar and I try to sing. Vinny's next to me.

Vinny: I play drums.

Chris: We got Roger on the bass, buddy on the trombone, Jessica on the alto sax and Derron on the baritone saxophone. That's at the present moment.

RI: How did you guys actually form? How long have you been around?

Chris: I knew Vinny since high school. We had a band back home together. We used to live 100 miles outside of Tampa in this small little shit town. Then we went to college in the summer of '91 and we kept in touch. We'd go home and we'd do demo tapes on a four track. We'd keep in touch all the time. We got together with another bass player in the summer of 92 that we'd get together with and start jamming. That's basically when we went out and played live as Less Than Jake. That was in Gainesville.

Vinny: We were Less Than Jake before that...

Chris: But only as a name itself. We only had a few free demos but we had never played out live. The band really came together in January of l993 when we got Roger and Jessica.

RI: Did the band start out initially as a ska/punk band or was it one or the other?

Vinny: Not really. We started out as a three piece power pop band but on our demo tape we did one ska punk song. We never thought of doing ska at all. We thought of doing pop punk with horns like Snuff. When we first heard Snuff with the trombone we realized that's what we wanted to do.

Chris: The last songs on the CD are actually on a four track with me and Vinny. I played the bass and did all the guitars. That's how it was initially.

The first incantation of the band never had horns. It was just me and Vinny. There's that one track on our new CD and a 7 to be released by our friend David [Hayes] from Too Many Records out of Spokane Washington with some of that stuff. It sounds pretty true to where we're at now with our stuff without the horns.

Vinny: If you listen to Too Many Records releases you'll realize that there are two things that he likes. There's the East Bay style of pop punk and the crazy Scholong grindcore-to-folk music type of stuff. That's basically what it sounds like, basically. It sounds like the whole Easy Bay pop punk from the era of Crimpshrine, its really fuzzy because we recorded it on a four track. If he likes it enough to put it out...he'll probably do only like a thousand 7"s [Look for those ads collectors, and get ready to order:ed]

RI: You guys have done like a million releases. Is there an exact figure as to how much stuff you actually have put out?

Chris: There's thirty releases as of...[the number has increased as of the printing] Including comps and everything there have been 13 labels not to mention that is Gainesville we found that someone had taken a song off a record and put it onto a CD. That's probably not the only bootleg out there. I don't really give a shit. All it does is create an awareness somewhere that you're not know. Not only that, but this person actually did this because he likes you.

Vinny: There's thirty releases as of our Losers. Kings CD which is the Comp on No Idea with all our 7" and stuff. That was our thirtieth release including comps of all the stuff we had put out. Over the next two months we have Crash Course in being an Asshole, which is a covers 7" coming out on Rhetoric Records. He's also doing a Pezcore picture disc as well as the regular vinyl version. Then we're going to have a free 7" that we'll be giving out at our shows. There's 2000 of those. It's a split 7" with a band called Pung from Gainesville. It'll also go out to people on our mailing list. Then there's Rock n Roll Pizzeria, which is a one sided 7", etchings on the other side, and comes in a pizza box. After that we're going to do the Grease soundtrack on an LP. We won't do the whole album, but we're going to do the hits. We'll take out the Shanana stuff.

RI: You're making it really hard on collectors! Is there a reason why you've dealt with so many labels?

Vinny: It's the best thing to do. You don't understand...When you go on tour...An example: Whirled Record from Richmond, Virginia...we never played in Virginia before. But this summer we played there for the first time and there's over a hundred people there and they know are stuff, and they were singing our songs. It's weird that this one guy had been promoting us in the area. Now when we go back, more people will will be there. We've gotten to sell our stuff. A lot of songs were duplicates. When we were first starting out, we didn't have that many songs under our belts. I think Liquor Store is on about four or five different comps. If they're paying for it and they like you enough to be on their comp...statistically, if you figure that a thousand or so records get sold, you have to realize that countless other people are listening to this. How many comp tapes did this person make? How many friends did this person play this record to?

Chris:As far as I'm concerned, the more labels the better.

RI: Do you guys have a favorite release?

Chris: The 7"ers are my favorites. A lot of it is the cover. I like the artwork on some of that stuff. The Pez Kings 7" is one of my favorites.

Vinny: I'd have to say that my favorite is the Songs About Drinking on Too Many Records. Its a double LP. Each package was different and that was really cool.

[Side note by cariaso: I've only seen one of these, but it had a puzzle of Erkle (everyone's favorite tv nerd) as the cover. SO DAMN COOL!]

RI: By everything you tell me, I would imagine that you guys are record collectors...

Chris: I buy most of my stuff on CD. Roger is.

Vinny: The most collectible thing we have is the ray gun that we gave you. We only gave some out on our tour and at shows, but most of them are going to college radio.

RI: In other words, my sealed copy in a couple of hundred years should net a couple of hundred. [laughter] Having several members more than your average rock band, how do you guys go about writing music?

Vinny:I write all of the lyrics...

RI: Yet you don't sing them. Is there a reason for that?

Chris: He's tone deaf, basically (laughter)

Vinny: I've always written the lyrics since we started the band. It just never changed.

Chris: I'll come up with a line and then it'll get a perverse and twisted. So basically I just can't write lyrics.

RI: So basically, what you're saying is that it's the ignorance of the other band members that has led you to take up the writing task.

Chris & Vinny (laughter): Basically!

Vinny: I like writing the lyrics, and thankfully, they come out with the intention and emotion that I wrote them with. Chris: We talk about them ahead of time, also. I never go into a practice not knowing a thing of what we're going to sing about. We throw around ideas and discuss the ideas and then work something out.

RI: Has there ever been the case where you've said "No, I won't sing that song!"

Chris: No. Though he writes 99.9% of the songs, I have the freedom to fuck up that .1%. We change things around sometimes to make things fit.

RI: The grapevine has it that you'll be releasing a full length on the Beatles record label, Capitol. Could you elaborate?

Vinny: We are going to. Rumors have been flying all over the intenet and punk/underground scene, but most of it is hearsay. On our recent tour, pretty much atevery show we were ask about it. I'm kind of tired of it.

Chris: Some zines have already printed it. Rumors fly. We haven't really had that many negative reactions. Anybody who has wanted to come up to me and talk about it, I've been more than happy to talk about it. I don't even pay attention to the rumors, because there are too many people who are going to do that. Basically, we got a lawyer and worked everything out. We never went out looking for them. We don't have a bio or anything like that. It's not in us. Its always been pretty much a hobby, and it always will be to us. Its something we love to do. To make a long story short, this guy from Capitol named Lorne, who's an understudy to our A&R guy who signed us, is a scout who goes out...He knows every zine out there. He knows zines done by kids with a run of 30. He's a hard worker, and he's amazing. Anyway, he kept seeing reviews of us in zines. He called around and in Atlanta got our 10 song sampler from Dill records. When he listened to it, he gave it to Craig, our A&R guy, and told him he should hear this. Though he didn't like ska. he ended up listening to it, and liking us. So in June of '95 he flew out and saw our show in Gainesville. Thats's pretty much how it started, and he pretty much started talking to us then.

Vinny: to clear thing up and to make things easier for the people reading this, we have no problem taling about what's in the contract. We have no problem with it. We don't want people to have misconceptions of what goes on. The contract basically boils down to the fact that Capitol touches NOTHING. That means that they don't touch tours, they don't touch our merchandise, they don't tell us what to do, when to do, or how to do it. Basically, they say that at this point you [LTJ] need an album. We're going to promote and distribute that album. We're allowed to do independent releases. Basically, we're an independent band that's on a major label that gives us good distribution.

Chris: There are limits, also. There's also the fact that if they don't make money, "Bye, see you guys the fuck later. We know that. They're are a corporation...

RI: Are you guys on a one album deal or...

Chris: No. This is going to sound crazy, but...we're not going to make it to six albums. It's a six album deal. That's the way they sign contracts - six album, ten year deal. But after two albums, if we're not selling, they're going to say good bye to us fast.

Vinny: We have a running count. We'll be off of Capitol in two years. We can release an album as quickly as we can write it.

Chris: We're going to record as early as April, but more along the lines of May.

RI: Will they help you in touring?

Chris: If we want them to. It all has to do with advances. All these bands, like the early eighties metal bands that did al the hotels and hooker thing and getting two hundred thousand dollar advances owe the label all this money. They didn't know what they were getting into. They have to pay for all of that. We asked the label every question imaginable, and we went over this for seven months before signing the contract, and we got what I think was a fair deal.

Vinny: We got a deal that no one else that I know got. We're allowed to do independent releases. We can take the Capitol album and put it on vinyl on an independent label. That's unheard of. I don't know why they gave it to us, but they agreed to it. People are saying that Less Than Jake soldout. We just did a tour that had 5 and 6 dollar door charges. We sell our stuff and will continue to sell our stuff l really cheap.

Chris: Bands out there on "the circuit" have a mentality that since they are now playing to 800-1000 kids a night, they can sell their shirts for whatever, regardless. We know how much the shirts cost. Our short sleeve shirts cost about $5 with shipping and the long sleeve cost around $6.80 and we sell them for $7 and $9. We make around $2 a shirt.

RI: Let's say that theoretically you do sell 1 or 2 million record like Green Day...In Punk Planet, this woman who was doing this punk video show tried to interview Green Day, and they said, "No, we've been told by our label to 'lay low'." They can't do interviews with zines. I can see how that would piss punks off because these are the people that actually "made" them and put them in the position to be where they're at, and they're turning their backs on them. Now they have no control to talk to who they want to and when they want to. Consider you sell a million records, how can you guarantee your fans that something like this won't happen. Can your fans be sure that they won't be shit upon?

Vinny: We have 100% creative control. We can do whatever we want.

Chris: At the same time, you really have to think.. .Some of these bands go to Europe for two months and then come back and find this huge amount of business. Trying to maintain that level would be difficult. There's no doubt about it I'd just hope that we can maintain it. We were in Wyoming, and this kid set up a show. He's 16 and totally into DIY he runs a label out of his house. His parents are supportive and cool. He also does a zine. When we were driving to get something to eat, he asks us whether the rumor of our signing was true. He shit in his pants. He was really put off by it at first. We hung out with him that night. Turns out that he got ripped off at the door and only had like $80. We had a guaran- tee that night of $200. We told them that we understood and weren't biting his head off.

Vinny: You see, that's independent from Capitol. Capitol has no control of that.

RI: But let's say you're selling a million records and your shows are no longer 200-400 people shows, but rather 10,000 seat shows

Vinny: We've been through that and have thought about that. In Chicago we played this place called the Fireside Bowl and sold it out. The guy who did the show asked us what we were going to do the next time around. He didn't even promote it and this many people came out. What's going to happen, and we discussed this while on tour, is that we'll just do two or three shows at that venue.

Chris: A lot of times we have to leave immeditaley atfer a show. But if I have time, I'll do as many interviews and talk to as many kids as I can. We won't be off hiding in the dressing room. I'll talk to anybody. It's going to do nothing but help us and benefit the scene and this kids magazine. These people are taking the time out and actually want to interview US, for chrissake. Who are we to shrug them off. Just because he's doing a hundred copies and giving them out throughout his high school ..

Vinny: ...or have a label tell you that you can't do interviews because you're just flooded.

Chris: Fuck that! We can talk to whoever we want to. They have no control over that.

Vinny: It says it in big bold letters on the contract that we have 100% CREATIVE CONTROL ON OUT SIDE THINGS. It's in good faith, meaning that if we stick something in there like, "I'm going to slit someone's throat" or something crazy like that, they'll sit with us and tell us what they think of it. They can give us their opinion and tell us they think we wrote a shitty album. We can floor it, or ...ultimately it's up to us. lt's our choice of producer, also.

Chris: Right now we're kicking around a few ideas. Ultimately, I think we can produce the album ourselves, but we don't know what we're going to do yet.

RI: you guys play a lot with ska bands and punk bands. Do you consider yourselves one or the other? Who do you like to do shows with more?

Chris: I like to play shows with everyone! We've played ska fests with eight other ska bands, and they get annoying sometimes - hearing eight bands with horns is a little too much. We've played with rap bands, hardcore bands, straight edge bands, a Christian ska band in Denver. We've also played with big band sounding ska bands.

Vinny: We play with an array of bands. I like it that way.

Chris: As far as the label of ska or punk... to tell you the truth, I don't have much of a background in the Jamaican or two tone stuff. We don't really think of it or plan it to have a ska sound. It just comes out. We just sort of shit it out.

RI: Who's the computer geek in the band? I noticed you guys have a home page and do a lot of stuff on the internet.

[Yeah! thats me!]

Vinny: As far as the home page and stuff... those are just friends of ours who like us. At home we just have email that we check up on, but the other stuff is done by friends. Adam is the guy who did the home page. Mike is another friend of ours. When we got back from tour, we found out he had started a computer newsletter. Adam and Mike are insane. They're full time students at the University of Florida, and somehow they find the time to do this and have never asked for a dime. They just like doing it. They're totally supportive of the band.

RI: What has been the most helpful for the band? Have you guys gotten a lot of fanzine coverage?

Chris: It's a combination of all our releases, comps, and zine reviews. Sometimes we'll play some places where they don't even know we have a CD out. They just know us from a comp and only know those couple of songs.

Vinny: As far as zine "coverage"... interviews have been very sparse. This last tour we did the most interviews. I guess it remains to be seen if within the next couple of months these people get their shit together and put something out.

RI: Vinny, I know you started a record label. You could tell us something about it and the reasons for starting it? Vinny: Actually, it's not mine. It's the band's. That's one of the things we've always wanted to do, and why not. I know a couple of people who do decent distributions, and putting out a record by a band you like something I've always wanted to do. I'm not expecting anything huge out of it.

Roger:It's the beauty of finding a band you truely love and having the privilege of putting out their record. That's what it boils down to. We played with this band called the Hippos, and they're rad! I want to put out their record! We all want to. Its the simple joy of helping a band.

Vinny: Its the same thing that No Idea did for us. It took faith.

RI: Do you plan on recording anything by yourselves on your own label?

Chris: Probably not. Maybe something live and collectable.

RI: Will the label be hands off of Capitol, or is it going to be like Apple Records was for the Beatles?

Chris: No I mean it, if ever came to that point we'd discuss it, but it'll never get to that point. We're just going to release 7"ers.

RI: Has Gainesville been supportive of you guys? Chris: For the most part. That's a touch subject. Vinny: Some of the punk elitist crowd won't come to see us. It's not because of Capitol or anything, its because we play ska. they weren't coming to our shows since way before we were talking to Capitol.

RI: So what's your crowd like? Is it mainly ska fans? Vinny: Its a total mix. Last time we played Gainesville, it was everything from frat guys with polo shirts to crusty punks. It was that much of a difference. That's a privilege to us. They know the Iyrics and they want to see us.

RI: What do you guys do for a living that you're able to tour so much?

Roger: Actually, we don't tour as much as we want to. Viinny goes to school and has another semester to graduate. Our sax player is a school teacher. Buddy graduated from college with a psychology degree and sits around his house and smokes dope with his parents. I sell (censored for fear of parental retribution).

RI: What kind of promotional material will you put out now that you're going to have more money?

Chris: (before I finished the question) Free records! The ray gun, of course. We're working on a yo-yo. Anything that we can put our name on that's funny. I'd love to do a lunch boxjust like Kiss did. We're also going to do a skateboard. That's all going to be given out for free. We're not going to a lot of it. It's basically going to be for people who like the band and who've done something to help us - like Brad from Rhetoric. He distributes our records and will put out our records. We' re going to send him a bunch of stuff and he can do what he wants with it. It's for friends of ours.

RI: With so many people in the band, how do you guys tour, and how smooth are your tours?

Chris: To deal with it, we get really silly in the van.

Roger: We all have sex with each other, so it doesn't really maner anyway.

RI: Any horror tour stories?

Chris:We got stuck in the east of Atlanta. You don't want to get stuck in the east side of Atlanta at 2 in the morning. We raced a hurricane. We also visited the strangest city: Bizbee Az. It's a replica of San Francisco with 6000 people. It has this huge hole in the middle of town. We actually got a letter from the mayor thanking us for having played there, and inviting us back. Everywhere we'd go people would ask us "You like our town?". They sent us an email handbook on how to detect for aliens. People kept asking us if we'd drank the water. They would say "If you drink the water, you'll never leave Bizbee." Everyone had alien stckers with a stick through it. They have thousands of them that they gave away for free.

RI: Considering you become rich, what will you guys do with your new found wealth?

Chris: Open a titty bar. (laughter)

Vinny: What we've always done is to put the money back into the band. Now that we have the label, we'll probably recycle it back into the label.

Roger: If there's an extra $200 left, we'll go rent some costumes for a show or give out some records.

RI: Have you ever gotten ripped off by any promoters?

Chris: Incredibly no. However Bob Slade fucks us all the time. (laughter)

Roger: He's an asshole (laughter) Actually, Bob rocks!! He's great! He share's his sheep. (laughter)

RI: Unless you have anything else to add, why don't you guys give us your email address so compuer geeks and psycho's can contact you.

Chris: write to us at ltj@afn.org. You can also find us at http://www.afn.org/~ltj or write to us at PO Box 12081 Gainesville Fl, 32604. thanks for the interview.

[end of the interview]
Now a personal plea. PLEASE If you write a zine or for someother reason have something of interest to me regarding LTJ and you'd like to see it online. Send it to me....but only if its typed up. I spent hourse getting this article online, because the white text on black from this article had to be reversed to be scanned (plus it cost me $4!). When I did the OCR software to have the computer type it up is complete crap. It didn't work for shit. So half the article had to be retyped entirely.

want to see what I mean. Look at the original version of this article after being converted to black on white and then manually training the software to read the font.

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