BAND: Less Than Jake
INTERVIEWER: Sarah Boger (Sarah@bandvibe.com)
INTERVIEWEE: J.R. of Less Than Jake (And random thoughts from Roger )
DATE OF INTERVIEW: 07.20.08
BAND MEMBERS:
Chris - Vocals/Guitar
Roger - Bassist/Guitar
JR - Saxophone
Buddy - Trombone
Vinnie – Drums
SARAH: You guys have been doing this since 1992, how have you changed over the years? I know you started off as a 3 piece…
JR: There have been a couple member changes here and there, I’ve been in the band for about 8 years. The other four dudes have been in the band the whole time, there have been other members who have been in and out of the band, mainly they came in and left. But the lin up that’s here now we’ve been the same line up since 2001, so pretty much the member changes is the only big thing, the song writing that’s stayed the same.
SARAH: So how do you go about writing songs?
JR: Roger or Chris will come up with an idea and then they get it to a point and bring it in and Vinnie has a bunch of different lyrics and stuff so he’ll take the sheet of lyrics and look at it and then create the song around the lyrics and then it’s a tug of war back and forth then we come up with a song that we think is ok then we demo it and then there it is, it’s a song and then if something happen it it sweet, if not, then it goes into the archives and sits there and collects dust.
SARAH: So you’ve been in the band since….
JR: ’Borders and Boundries’, that’s a good way to put it record wise.
SARAH: So how has the scene changed since you’ve been in the band?
JR: Well, like the bands that we started touring with, I’d say 85-95% of them don’t exist anymore. The music style has changed, like what was popular, what was on the radio what’s not on the radio. There’s a lot of bands playing a different style, like electric pop or emo or whatever the hell you want to call it. It’s kinda funny, everyone thinks they’re doing something new and it actually turns out to be really the same and kinda boring. It’s changed, again I think because of conglomoration type labels and stuff, you listen to the same 5 artists on the radio that are being played on MTV that are being played on MTV.com or whatever or top five on MySpace. It’s like people don’t research new and different things, they don’t try to listen to new bands, they just go with whats safe, with what their friends think is cool, instead of trying to find something they thnk is cool. I think that’s how you find a lot of bands, but there is a lot of new bands now, because of the internet, and myspace you don’t nessasarily need a label anymore…
SARAH: You can just become an internet star.
JR: Yeah, you know Jeffrey Star, perfect example, you know what I mean? It’s deffently different, with media outlets, and crap. That’s why I’m just happy to be where I’m at, doing what I’m doing.
SARAH: So do you like to play the bigger venues, like Warped Tour shows, or something smaller like this?
JR: They’re all the same, I mean it’s weird to say that but it’s like band + crowd + energy transfer = rad show. It doesn’t mattter if it’s in the middle of the day, in a field, in a club.
ROGER: Variety is the best part.
JR: Yeah I mean it doesn’t matter what country you’re in, it’s the same, it’s the same because it’s fun. That’s why we are here, you know what I mean?
SARAH: What kind of bands do you enjoy touring with?
JR: Bands that don’t bitch and moan those are my favorite bands to tour with. Bands that just like to have fun, I don’t want to start naming specifics, there are a ton fo them.
ROGER: Currently though, Suburban Legends.
JR: Yeah Suburban Legends are a really good band. They show up on time, they play their set.
ROGER: They rock.
JR: They’re entertaining. They work really hard, and they should be probably be offerd more oportunities than they’ve been given. They’re a great band. I like Big D and The Kids Table too. Those guys work pretty hard you know? They’ve been around for a long time, they tour, knock it out, they do their thing. But like I said, those are the bands that are good to tour with, the ones that are jusy out to have a good time, they wanna work and play fun shows.
SARAH: What was the first album you ever bought?
JR: Michael Jackson, Thriller. That I personally ever bought with my own money.
SARAH: First concert?
JR: Hmmm first concert? I think the first club show I ever saw was A Tribe Called Quest, Del La Sol, and that was in like 1992, that was the first club show I ever paid to go see. I mean I’d gone to shows from being in a band, but I’d never paid to go see it until then with was weird, and the funny thing is I never paid to go see an arena show, until after we played an arena tour which is weird. But I guess that was the first show I payed for, the first show was probably some backyard BBQ or something like that at a friends house.
SARAH: Who is in your CD player right now?
JR: I think Roger Miller But I was listing to Nas today, his new record, that was pretty cool, pretty angry. He actually has this one song called ‘Sly as a Fox’ and it’s basically about how the Fox corporation controls everything, like MySpace, media, news outlets, sports, everything, about how they’re just controlling everything and telling you what to thing, it’s really interesting. Good record. But Roger Miller, I’ve been listing to a lot of Roger Miller, and the other day I was listening to this band called The Flatliners, it’s pretty awesome.
SARAH: So you guys recently did some of your albums as live videos. How was working on that?
JR: Intense. It was a lot of work. It’s a lot of work that’s still kinda not done. It’s a lot of work because it’s not all done, we released the one for Pezcore, and we still have Losing Streek, Hello Rockview, Borders and Boundries, Anthem, In with the Out Crowd, that was still have to do that for eventually in the future, once we get the logistics figured out but Roger mixed all the tracks, and Buddy did all the video editing, it’s crazy. It was fun going back and learning a bunch of songs some I didn’t even know, and for these guys it was fun to re-learn them.
SARAH: Well you guys have fans from back from the start and new younger kids does that effect you at all?
JR: You know it’s weird, we were at a record store today and a couple came through with their son and another couple had their daughter and she has the Less Than Jake record. It’s awesome, it’s crazy I don’t start thinking about it to much, cuz then I start feeling old, but it’s good to know you’ve had that kind of impact.
SARAH: I have a LTJ tape in my car that’s so worn you can’t even read it anymore.
JR: That’s kick ass, to know that people have that stuff, and are so into what we do is really kick ass.
SARAH: So who would play you in the Less Than Jake Movie?
JR: Who would play me? Um…
ROGER: Jack Black!
JR: Yeah probably Jack Black.
ROGER: Steve Buchmi would be Buddy.
JR: Yeah, Chris would probably be one of the Baldwins, no no no, Stephen Baldwin, no not Stephen, the good Baldwin… Alec Baldwin. I would see Roger as Luke Wilson, or Owen Wilson.
ROGER: I’d be Orlando Bloom, I don’t know what your thinking.
JR: Get the fuck outta here with your Orlando Bloom, yeah right.
ROGER: Vinny would be the Wizard of Oz.
JR: Yeah Vinny would be Dom DeLoise No, Danny DeVito… no…
ROGER: Chris as early John Belushi.
JR: Yeah I could see that, we can’t get John he’s unavailable right now, he’s not dead, just unavailable.
SARAH: So, zombies are attacking, what do you grab?
JR: Shotgun. Shotgun or a machette, cuz you gotta take the head off. Either something blunt and strong that I can cut through things, or shooting things off with.
ROGER: I just want the keys to a tank.
JR: Yeah! Drive right through them.
SARAH: So I hear that some of the guys in the band collect Pez, anyone else collect things?
JR: Roger collects Pex dispensers, planes, records, fucking you name it. We all have something that was have that we collect it’s just in out nature as humans. You just try not to have to much.
ROGER: Buddy collects Simpson toys.
JR: He with the most shit wins. Well as Chris says, he with the most shit, has the most shit. Chris actually has the best collection out of all of us. He has basically every piece of Less Than Jake merch and cut out articals and interviews, and it’s all in this room in his house, we call it the museum it’s pretty awesome, like when you see it, it’s pretty overwhelming.
SARAH: Anyone with strange talents?
JR: I can juggle, Buddy can break dance. Roger can fly remote control airplanes.
ROGER: And helicopters.
JR: I was going to say helicopters.
ROGER: It’s more impressive with helicopters and it’s not a strange talent.
JR: And Vinny, whats his special talent…
ROGER: He can not wear his socks for an entire tour.
JR: Vinny has a way of making crazy shit show up. Like the craziest idea you have and he just shows up.
SARAH: What has been your favorite album to produce?
JR: The new one. Roger co-prodiced the record. So the new record we’re all really happy with, I mean no one touched it but us and our producer. No one had any say at all but the five of us and the producer. There would be minor disagrements and flair ups but we can all talk to eachother and work things out. When it was done we sat around and listend to it and all were really pleased.
SARAH: Well that’s all I got. Thanks guys.
JR: That was a really good interview.
SARAH: Really? Thanks. I’m not the best with ‘em.
JR: You get a B+!
For more official information on Less Than Jake, please log onto:
http://www.lessthanjake.com
http://www.myspace.com/lessthanjake
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