Ska punk is a wonderfully leftfield genre. These days it seems to pluck its inspiration from a mix of the genre’s founding fathers – the likes of Operation Ivy, Fishbone and The Specials – and the fun-loving yet slightly angry drunk-punk ethos of the likes of NOFX and the Bad Religion/ Epitaph stable. The bouncing band-geek angle lobbed in by the all-important brass sections and the divisive attitude to the genre amongst the more mainstream punk community have made the vibrant, infectious protagonists something of a cult phenomenon.
At over two decades old, and branded in quirks like a collection of vinyl releases that’s almost impossible to complete, and a lifelong obsession with Pez candy dispensers, Less Than Jake are still very much a genre spearhead. That doesn’t look about to change, either: saxophone player Peter ‘JR’ Wasilewski describes their intended lifespan as “to be a band five years longer than Bad Religion, who said they would be a band five years longer than NOFX, who said they’d never break up.” Nine studio albums and countless smaller releases and covers could only be the half of it, then. “It’s getting harder for me physically”, JR admits, “but while I’m physically getting older, I’m mentally maybe ten years younger. The experience is a constant high. I’m high all the time. My only regrets from the last twenty years is that last sentence.”
The pace, however, has slowed. Latest album ‘See The Light’ was the band’s first full-length studio release in half a decade, for “too many personal reasons to speak to that happened after GNV FLA. Writing a full length just didn’t feel right for us at the time. When we were all in agreement about writing a new record, the personal stuff shaped the record in a lot of ways. The record had to be a complete thought, both musically and lyrically, and taking six months off to create it helped shape that, for sure. Roger’s studio helps, too, though I do get a few less airmiles now all those flights to California have stopped! ”
Much like its genre, the latest album seems to split opinion. While one review waves goodbye to ‘a band that have failed to develop’, others refer to ‘A DIY Masterpiece full of hooks and energy’. JR sees mixed opinions as part of the experience. “People either love or hate ska punk. Some people just like our band’s way of doing it. Some people hate it. I don’t specifically care how people view it. It’s just my job to go and have fun and rep our band as we see fit. I prefer to look at our niche as just us trying to play our music, rather than in a bigger way, if that makes sense. I’m not trying to be egotistical in regards to our music, but we sound like us. It’s hard to compare what we do with what a band like Reel Big Fish does. We both have our merits. It’s better to look at why both stand out rather than how they fit in. We never cared about fitting in. One record store once listed us under the heading ‘ska pun’. It wasn’t a typo either. Then again, in Chicago they play our stuff in elevators…”
The cartoon imagery that Less Than Jake album cover’s is long a part of the band’s identity, and sits well with ska punk’s chirpy demeanor. ‘Hello Rockview’, for example, features its own superhero, while many of the earlier albums were littered with pez references. “The ideas usually come from a conversation between the five of us and a vision from Vinnie”, JR explains. “Then it’s about finding the right person to execute the idea. That’s where we just try to get lucky, and each time so far I think we have been very lucky.”
Even for members of the band, keeping track of everything Less Than Jake fires out to its fans can be tough, so much so that JR admits “it’s a bit ridiculous to try and keep it all”, not that it seems to stop him. “I have a copy of everything I have recorded on with Less Than Jake, and lots of stuff I didn’t record on, as well as tons of merch items. Chris and Vinnie have one of everything, ever, but I don’t keep a tally, and to be honest those that do must be total cunts.” We mention the eBay market, but JR simply says “eBay? What’s that?”
The live show, though, has always been what’s driven Less Than Jake forward. In the early days, the success even inspired one of their songs, ‘Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts’, a response to a shout from a cartoonishly begrudging audience member to the band’s increasingly successful and large scale tours. “if Johnny called I’d buy him a beer”, JR says. “But he’s probably a non drinker. So I’d get him a root beer. But he probably thinks that the kind I would buy him was crappy so I’d go back to not giving a fuck.” Indeed.
The live philosophy, essentially, is “get on stage and fall down. For a headline set we do that for roughly 22 songs. When it comes to choosing a setlist, we just see how the crowd reacts. That dictates. We also look at Twitter. There are no differences really, town to town, though. Wherever there are people transferring energy from the floor to the stage it’s the same feeling. Languages aren’t needed then. I don’t remember a lot though. I’m so rock and roll I’ve been drunk for 21 years and I forgot it all.
Perhaps a lively Irish crowd can give JR a little something that sticks in the memory.
Less Than Jake play Dublin’s Academy on the 30th of January, in a co-headline show with Reel Big Fish. JR’s main objective for his time in Ireland is to avoid drinking too much Guinness and falling in the Liffey.