Less Than Jake metamorphosed into a ska-inspired punk rock/power-pop band with the addition of several members from 1993 to 1995. Vocalist and guitaristChris Demakes, bassistShaun Grief and drummerVinnie Fiorello were the first incarnation of the group. However, Grief later became the group's roadie, and was eventually replaced by Roger Manganelli, who picked up bass just to join the band. During the years 1993-1994, the group added their first horn player, Jessica Mills, and soon after came trombone player Buddy Schaub. Right before their first tour, however, Schaub went to Europe with friends, so saxophonistDerron Nuhfer filled in for shows during his absence.
Derron Nuhfer left the band after the album's recording (and later went on to join Gunmoll), and Less Than Jake found his replacement in ex-Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A. horn player Pete Wasilewski-- though to avoid any name confusion within the band, the second Pete was dubbed JR, and he is still called JR even after the first Pete decided to leave soon after the 2001Warped Tour. Over the years, Less Than Jake has issued more 7" and limited-edition vinyl releases than most people can keep track of, so the bandmembers compiled some of their favorite tracks on one record for 2002's Goodbye Blue and White, named in honor of their original tour van. Anthem followed in 2003 for Sire. It featured it hit singles in both the US and the UK, with "She's Gonna Break Soon" (TRL), "The Science Of Selling Yourself Short" (#36 Billboard 40), and "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" featuring Billy Bragg (UK Top 40). B Is for B-sides was issued a year later, comprised of tracks that did not make it to Anthem's final cut. The DVD retrospective People's History of Less Than Jake appeared a month later.
In February 2007, Less Than Jake played six shows in Florida that each featured the band playing one of their albums in its entirety plus b-sides and rarities. They played at three venues with each venue featuring two shows to be recorded for a future DVD release. The records performed were Borders and Boundaries, Pezcore, Losing Streak, Anthem, Hello Rockview, and In with the Out Crowd. They plan to do the same in London, United Kingdom, in September 2007, playing at the Mean Fiddler for 6 nights in a row.
Less Than Jake have officially announced that they will be embarking in Summer 2007 on a North American tour with Reel Big Fish, featuring support from Streetlight Manifesto and Against All Authority. Dates can be found on Less Than Jake's Myspace page.
This article contains a trivia section. Content in this section should be integrated into peoples pants like a nooblet other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
The band is known among fans for a fixation with Pez candy.
The name 'Less Than Jake's came from Vinnie's dog, Jake. Jake was a huge bulldog and 'owned' the house, thus everything in Vinnie's house was 'less than Jake'.
Vinnie also owns 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. Many of these toys have featured in art books and shows.
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 the album.
JR 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.
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. Vinnie will appear on the Pez documentary titled PEZheads - The Movie.
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).
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 two 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.The bedroom in the video features a poster of rock band The Used on the wall.
Many of the band members are known to enjoy heavy metal music (hence the song All My Best Friends Are Metalheads). Roger lists the legendary British heavy metal band Iron Maiden as a favorite, and Chris has frequently been sighted wearing metal band t-shirts.
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 June 2006, JR, whose hair had been long for years, had Fat Mike come on stage and cut it short, apparently due to losing a bet.
Contrary to popular belief, Less Than Jake have never covered The Proclaimers' iconic hit "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Drummer, lyricist and band spokesman Vinnie has joked that it is the band's 'most downloaded song', despite the fact that they have never recorded their own version of it. The version fans are downloading could be by the British ska punk group Spunge. Another popular myth among Less Than Jake fans is that their song, "Liquor Store" wasn't written by them, but actually Reel Big Fish. This started when the group gave a tour in Minneapolis and Chris made a statement that they couldn't sing the song because of copyright infringement.
According to Chris, the second barrier at the Reading and Leeds Festivals were put in place to stop circle pits such as the one caused by Less Than Jake at the 2004 festival. In fact, the second barrier was requested by Pearl Jam as a condition they would headline the Festival.
It has been reported that Less Than Jake have a long running feud with ska punk band Goldfinger though they have never commented. Members of Goldfinger gave their side of the story in an interview published in UK zine More Noise and Other Disturbances.
Relevant quality search results and fast easy navigation throughout the
different sections of the site, make Americola.com
a great entertainment
search engine offering
celebrity biographies, high resolution
celebrity photos, videos and more.
