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Less Than Jake.
 It's a Thursday night and I'm on the phone being connected to the saxophonist of seminal US ska-punk outfit Less Than Jake, the man known only as "JR". But, as soon as I've said hello, he's off. "Matt, can you hold on one second?" There is a long pause, broken intermittently by some muffled dialogue. "I'm sorry about that, Matt, I'm just sitting here with our drummer Vinnie, and he was just telling me a story. So I apologise for that; that was very rude of me. But I promise I will make up for it in this interview, this will be the best interview you've ever done, I promise." Sounds good. But wait.
"But I'm going to tell you right now: I love interviews, alright, and I'm gonna make this real fun for you and interesting and I'm gonna answer some stuff and you're gonna be like 'this guy's crazy,'" he adds. "You're right, but there's one question that I can't stand, I get really angry when it's asked. I'm not gonna tell you what the question is, but if you ask it, there's gonna be consequences. You're going to have to fulfil these consequences in order to get the correct answer to that question. But no pressure man, go for it."
I take a deep breath, and then I go for it.
JR's personality pretty much sums up Less Than Jake's own persona: fun, fast, and... ok, crazy. The band became favourites in the mid to late 90s with albums like 'Hello Rockview' and 'Losing Streak', their music a blend of catchy pop-punk and horn-driven ska. 2003's 'Anthem,' however, saw the band step back from the ska influences, and there was some backlash from the fans. But, does that worry JR? Not one bit.
"I don't read that stuff," he assures me. "It's not that I don't care what they think, but it's hard for me, as a 29 year old man who's been playing in bands for close to half my life, to take criticism from a 15 year old kid. I don't want that to sound like I'm being a dick; I mean, I am kind of being a dick, and I am kind of being a grumpy old man - but fuck man, when their mums and dads were changing their diapies, I was sleeping on dog shit covered floors. I write songs for myself, and I think for my band too. We write songs that we like. We're not trying to be a ska band, we're not trying to be a punk band, we're not trying to be a pop band, we're just trying to write good songs."
JR is pretty sure that the band's new album, which they are currently recording and is due out early next year, will be full of those good songs. "I would say the best Less Than Jake record ever," he tells me to expect. "We're working on the best record ever, but that's a hard thing to ever say. That's totally arrogant, but I really do think this record is going to be, to date, the best record that we've done. Just sonically, when I hear the stuff coming out of the speakers it freaks me out. I can't even believe it's our band; it's crazy."
The record is being produced by Howard Benson, who produced fan-favourite 'Hello Rockview' - so, does this mean a return to the horn-drenched ska of old? "I think at some point you have to not sit down and always go, 'OK, we have to be very genre-specific in how we write', because if you do that you pigeonhole yourself and you can't expand as a musician or as a band. And as far as horns go, you know, I'm one of the horn players. The way that I look at it is like I would rather have six songs on a record with the most kick-ass fucking horn parts on it than have horns on all the songs but some of them aren't that rad. Because ultimately we have to be happy before we can put something out."
The interview continues on this track, and finishes up with a brief chat about the band's upcoming Australian tour - which, for the record, JR is very excited about: "If ten years ago you had come up to me and said 'in ten years I'm going to be talking to you about how you're going back to Australia,' I probably would have kicked you in the teeth because I would have thought you were going to kill me." Apparently comparing being on tour to being in the studio is like "comparing getting a blow job to going to the dentist."
So, I've made it this far... and no strange consequences? Did I not ask the question?
"No. The question was 'what does the name of your band mean?' I hate being asked that," JR tells me. "If you had asked that question you would have had to face a test, and if you failed that test you would not get the answer to the question. You seem to have researched my band well, which is great, some people don't. I'll give you the test anyway. I'm going to turn the tables, and I'm going to interview you about Australia. Either I researched very well, or these are off a website, either way... question one: what is Australia's largest bird?"
The emu, right?
"Correct. Question two..."
But I already know what 'Less Than Jake' means. Why do I have to do the test?
"Hey, you're trying to force your own rules onto the game. This is my game. Question two..."
Matt Vesely
 | dB Magazine proudly present Less Than Jake's an all-ages show at the Adelaide UniBar on Thurs 15 Dec. |
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