The band's name derives from a bird Vinnie had while growing up, which was treated better than the rest of the family. It's also a reference to the phrase "everything is jake," which is an old phrase meaning everything is cool.
Less Than Jake released their debut album, Pezcore, in 1995, following a series of independent seven-inch single releases. The band's subsequent two studio albums, Losing Streak (1996) and Hello Rockview (1998), were released on major label, Capitol Records, leading to increased exposure. The band's fifth studio album Anthem (2003) was their most commercially successful to date, featuring the singles, "She's Gonna Break Soon" and "The Science of Selling Yourself Short".
In 2008 the band founded its own label, Sleep It Off Records, and released its seventh full-length album, GNV FLA. The band has recently stated its preference for EP releases, and independently issued Greetings from Less Than Jake (2011) and its counterpart, Seasons Greetings from Less Than Jake (2012). In late 2012, the band combined the two to create the compilation album, Greetings and Salutations (2012) Their eighth studio album, See the Light, was released on November 12, 2013.
Miscellaneous Info:
Vinnie was previously the owner of the independent record label Fueled by Ramen, as well as a toy company called Wünderland War (formerly Monkey Vs. Robot). This label has signed bands such as Fall Out Boy, Punchline, The AKAs, Gym Class Heroes, Panic! At The Disco and Days Away. Roger, meanwhile, is in a second band, called Rehasher, for whom he composes lyrics and plays guitar. JR played sax on the last track of Off Key Melodies. JR works with a promoting company called the CT Mafia, as well as composing solo music. He contributed one track to the Drive-Thru compilation tribute to Bob Dylan, using the band name The Stay At Home Joneses (Roger sang backup for this track).
Roger and Vinnie have an unexplained fetish for Pez candy and they reportedly have sizeable dispenser collections. This love for Pez goes so far as to name one of their albums, Pezcore (parodying of 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 a smoke shop in the band's hometown Gainesville, Florida known as Knuckleheads which has since been transformed into a similar establishment named Smoke. 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 track "Look What Happened" appeared on two of their albums, "Borders & Boundaries" (2000) and "Anthem." (2003) The "Anthem" version is completely re-recorded, and has eschewed the brass at the beginning of the song that was featured in the previous recording. The re-recording features guest vocals from Teen Idols/Bullets To Broadway's Heather.
They have also re-recorded many other songs, including "Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts," "Jen Doesn't Like Me Anymore" and "Shotgun".
They recorded the main theme song "We're all Dudes" for the 1997 film "Goodburger" based on the sketch from the Nikelodeon TV show "All That." The song features Kel Mitchell (main character, Ed, in the movie). The song is based off of the jingle "Ed" would always sing while waiting for the next situation to come up in the Goodburger sketches. At the end of the song Mitchell says "Ah, Ed and Less than Jake, oh, uh... no?"
In 2004, Less Than Jake appeared on the Projekt Revolution Tour, joining such artists as The Used, Snoop Dogg, Korn, and the headlining band: Linkin Park.
Lineups:
Chris DeMakes - vocals and guitar (1992–present)
Roger Lima - vocals and bass (1993–present)
Buddy ''Goldfinger'' Schaub - tenor trombone and backing vocals (1993–present)
Peter ''JR'' Wasilewski - tenor saxophone and backing vocals (2000–present)
Matt Yonker - Drums (2018–present)
Past members:
Jessica Mills - alto saxophone (1993–1998)
Derron Nuhfer - tenor and baritone saxophone (1995–2000)
Pete Anna - tenor and alto trombone (1998–2001)
Vinnie Fiorello - drums (1992–2018)
Website: http://www.lessthanjake.com/
Where the Hell Is Mike Sinkovich?
Less Than Jake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And what pushed you over the edge,
When we were upon the roof yeah, yeah yeah was it the truth yeah
When you said you never made a single difference.
Did you get it in your head
That things are better left unsaid
When you up and left town?
Did you need to rearrange
Rather than just rotting in the place we used to hang around?
And I k now that things have gotta change,
I know that your never coming back to this town.
I've never known what make you get up and go
And what pushed you over the edge,
When we were upon the roof yeah, yeah yeah was it the truth yeah
When you said you never made a single difference.
I wonder where you've gone or who your with
I still ask myself
Where the hell is Mike Sinkovech?
The lyrics to Less Than Jake's "Where the Hell Is Mike Sinkovich?" speak to the singer's confusion and sadness about a friend who has left without any clear explanation or reason. The singer is grappling with trying to understand why his friend, Mike Sinkovich, chose to leave and what may have been the motivating factors behind his departure. The singer questions if Mike felt that he never made a difference and if that played a role in his choice to leave. The singer also ponders if Mike needed to make a change to his life or if he just couldn't bear to stay in the same town any longer. The singer admits that he knows things have to change but laments the fact that Mike will never return to their hometown.
The song hints at deeper themes of friendship, loss, and change. It speaks to the idea that sometimes people we care about will leave and we may never know why, but we have to find a way to move on and accept that things will never be the same. The lyrics provoke a sense of longing and confusion, as if the singer is still trying to figure out what could have possibly driven Mike to leave in the way that he did.
Line by Line Meaning
I've never known what make you get up and go
I've always been clueless about what motivated you to leave
And what pushed you over the edge,
What was the final straw that caused you to snap?
When we were upon the roof yeah, yeah yeah was it the truth yeah
When we were hanging out on the roof, did you really mean it when you said you never made a difference?
When you said you never made a single difference.
You thought your existence was insignificant - is that true?
Did you get it in your head
Did you convince yourself
That things are better left unsaid
That it's better not to talk about certain things
When you up and left town?
When you suddenly disappeared from the town?
Did you need to rearrange
Did you need to make some changes
Or did you need to make a change
Or did you need some sort of change in your life
Rather than just rotting in the place we used to hang around?
Instead of just wasting away in our old hangout?
And I know that things have gotta change,
I know that things can't stay the same
I know that you're never coming back to this town.
I know that you're never returning to this place
I wonder where you've gone or who your with
I often think about where you are and who you're with
I still ask myself
I keep wondering
Where the hell is Mike Sinkovech?
Where in the world could you possibly be, Mike Sinkovech?
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
weasel2149
Pezcore is still definitely my favorite. Just knowing they recorded it in less than a day, and re-made most of the songs on future albums makes it that much more impressive (btw, liked the originals from this album over the remakes in every case)
puke.13
This one is so damn underrated.
Steny138
I had a less than jake album entitled "blue and White" I think it was a tribute to their first van they had to tour, it was blue and white. Wish I still had that.
SMfan199
I really fucking love Pezcore
Frank Sinatra
They ever find this guy?
Oblate Spheroid
Nope, I think Roger tracked him down to someplace but never actually found him.
nschnabel
Somehow they knew he went to NYC, but they never heard from him again.
Cruelcumber
Mandatory comment talking about how weird it is for there to be no comments in 3 years
Cruelcumber
I mean 4, dammit january
Mark McGwin Comedy
rock and roll pizzeria?