Less Than Jake

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Less Than Jake is a ska-punk band from Gainesville, Florida. The band's name is derived from Vinnie's childhood dog, Jake, which was treated better than the rest of the family, so everything else in the house was referred to as "less than Jake".^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

The band is currently signed to Warner Brothers Records, which released their latest studio album, In With the Out Crowd, on May 23 2006.

Personnel

Current members

• Chris Demakes - guitar, vocals
• Roger Manganelli - bass, vocals, second guitar (occasionally live and while recording)
• Vinnie Fiorello - drums, lyrics
• Buddy Schaub - trombone, bass (whenever Manganelli plays second guitar live)
• Peter "JR" Wasilewski - saxophone, vocals (occasionally live)

Past members

• Shaun Grief - bass
• Jessica Mills - alto saxophone
• Derron Nuhfer - tenor and baritone saxophones
• Pete Anna - trombone
• Chris Campisi - bass

Guest musicians

• Lars Nylander - a trombone
• Vinny Nobile - trombone
• Chris Rhodes - trombone
• Kevin Fry - lead singer

Discography

Studio albums

• Pezcore (1995, Dill Records/Asian Man Records)
• Greased (1996, No Idea Records)
• Losing Streak (1996, Capitol Records)
• Hello Rockview (1998, plus Losing Streak double CD released to Capitol Records)
• Borders & Boundaries (2000, Fat Wreck Chords/Golf Records)
• Anthem (2003, Sire Records)
• B is for B-sides (2004, Sire Records)
• In With the Out Crowd (2006, Sire Records)

Singles

• "All My Best Friends Are Metal Heads" (2000) #51 UK
• "Gainesville Rock City" (2001) #57 UK
• "She's Gonna Break Soon" (2003) #39 UK
• "The Science Of Selling Yourself Short" (2003)
• "Overrated (Everything Is)/ Still Life Franchise" (2006) (double A-Side) #61 official UK chart; #1 UK rock Chart
• "Rest of My Life" (2006)

Other

• Losers, Kings, and Things We Don't Understand (1995, No Idea Records)
• Pesto (1999, Very Small Records)
• Live from Uranus ( 1999 EMI)
• The Pez Collection (2000, Moon Ska Europe and Rapido)
• Bootleg a Bootleg, You Cut Out the Middleman (2002, Fueled By Ramen)
• Goodbye Blue and White (2002, Fueled By Ramen)
• Live in Minneapolis (2004, download only)
• B is for B-sides (Remixed) (2005, Fueled By Ramen)
• Absolution for Idiots and Addicts (EP) (2006, Sire)

• The People's History of Less Than Jake (2004, Fueled By Ramen)

• Avant Tarde (2002)

• We're All Dudes (Good Burger)
• All My Best Friends Are Metalheads (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Street Sk8er, )
• Sugar in your Gas Tank (Street Sk8er)
• Help Save the Youth of America From Exploding (Drive Me Crazy)
• I Think I Love You (Scream 2)
• Short Fuse Burning (Gran Turismo 4)
• That's Why They Call It A Union (Tony Hawk's Underground 2)
• Surrender (ATV Offroad Fury) (Cheap Trick cover)
• Motown Never Sounded So Good (ATV Offroad Fury)
• Look What Happened (Grind)
• The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out with Billy Bragg (Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1)
• Anchor (Short Music for Short People)
• A Still Life Franchise (Madden 07)

Miscellaneous information

• Vinnie is the owner of independent record label Fueled by Ramen, as well as a toy company called Wünderland War originally called Monkey Vs. Robot. The name was changed due to legal issues. Vinnie has also started a second toy company with a friend called Symptoms Wherein. Fueled By Ramen has signed various bands including Punchline, The AKAs, Gym Class Heroes, Incendiary, Forgive Durden, and Days Away, as well as more popular bands including; Panic! at the Disco, Yellowcard, The Academy Is..., and Fall Out Boy.

• Roger has a side-project called Rehasher, who have recorded an album Off Key Melodies on Gainesville based record label No Idea Records. He plays guitar (not bass) for Rehasher, and is also their lead singer.

• JR was featured playing saxophone in the last track from Rehasher's album Off Key Melodies. He composes his own solo music on top of working with a promoting company called the CT Mafia. He contributed one track to the Drive-Thru Records tribute to Bob Dylan, under the name "The Stay at Home Joneses" which also featured secondary vocals by Roger. He was also in the prominent Connecticut Ska Band, Spring Heeled Jack, which still attracts fans and publications.

• Roger and Vinnie have an unexplained fondness for Pez candy. They reportedly have sizeable Pez dispenser collections. This love for Pez is so intense that they named one of their albums Pezcore (parodying the way in which many bands are described as [something]-core, starting with hardcore) and Pez dispenser motifs are a common feature of their merchandise.

• Roger's employment history includes working at a smoke shop in the band's hometown Gainesville, Florida known as Knuckleheads which has since been transformed into a similar establishment named Smoke, which is now out of business. Band member haunts have included Eddie C's, the Hardback (which was transformed into the Lyric), and Insomnia (which used to be the Covered Dish, and is now the new location of Common Grounds).

• The members of Less Than Jake also served as backup musicians for Asian Man Records owner Mike Park in the B.Lee Band (once called "The Bruce Lee Band", changed for legal reasons). The Bruce Lee band now have a new album out featuring the progressive rock band RX Bandits as backup musicians.

• The track "Look What Happened" appeared on two of their albums, Borders & Boundaries (2000) and Anthem (2003). The Anthem version is completely re-recorded, and removed the brass at the beginning of the song that was featured in the previous recording. The re-recording features guest vocals by Heather from Teen Idols.They have also re-recorded many other songs, including "Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts", "Jen Doesn't Like Me Anymore", "Scott Farcas Takes It on the Chin", "History of a Boring Town", and "Shotgun".

• They are largely responsible for, though unaffiliated with, the (Florida Ska Revival Movement) in their home state of Florida, which is a movement started by a group of Florida bands to bring ska music back into the mainstream.

• The band has written and recorded over one hundred songs.

• Actress Alexis Bledel, known more for her role as Rory Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, is a fan of the band and appeared in the video for She's Gonna Break Soon, where she played a girl who destroyed her bedroom during the song.

• Many of the band members are known to enjoy heavy metal music. Roger lists the legendary British heavy metal band Iron Maiden as a favourite, and Chris has frequently been sighted wearing metal band t-shirts.

• The song from Anthem, Best Wishes To Your Black Lung is written about Pete Anna, who left the band to go back to Chicago after Borders & Boundaries to become a firefighter.

• Buddy is involved in a side band called PB&J; in which he provides the bass, vocals and occasional trombone.

• During Less Than Jake's set at the Orlando Warped Tour on 6/25/06, JR, whose hair had been long for years, had Fat Mike come on stage and cut it short.

• On iTunes the song "Malt Liquor Tastes Better When You Have Problems" is listed as "Malt Liquor Tastes Better."

• It is evident that on each album there are less songs with horns, and the horns are mixed lower on each album, starting with Hello Rockview, and culminating in their latest release, In With the Out Crowd, in which the horns on some songs are barely audible.

See also

• Fueled by Ramen

External links

• [Less Than Jake's official web site]
• [UK-based Less Than Jake fansite]
• [Brightest-bulb.com an extensive Less Than Jake site, latest news, lyrics and more]
• [The Less Than Jake Lens on Squidoo]
• [LessThanJack? - A longstanding fan site with a popular and active LTJ discussion forum]
• [All Music Guide entry for Less Than Jake]
• [Less Than Jake Lyrics]
• [Myspace: Less Than Jake]

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