Less Than Jake

Less Than Jake is a ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida. The band originally formed back in 1992 as a power pop three-piece, the sound soon changed and developed however and before long the band was blending the genres of ska and pop punk and creating the fantastic music that we now know them for today. To date the band has released a total of seven studio albums as well as a number of other fun releases also such as a Grease covers EP titled 'Greased', a B-Sides collection under the name of 'B Is For B-Sides', and a compilation collection under the name of 'Losers, Kings, and Things We Don't Understand' which is actually an early collection of the bands tracks taken from several early EPs which were originally released only on limited edition vinyl records.

The band currently consists of six members and these are the men that presently make up the band:

- Chris Demakes - Guitar, Lead Vocals
- Roger Manganelli - Bass, Lead Vocals, Second Guitar
- Vinnie Fiorello - Drummer and Lyricist
- Buddy "Goldfinger" Schaub - Trombone
- Peter "JR" Wasilewski - Saxophone, Backing Vocals

Having seen the band only once in concert I have to say that when I did see them they most definitely impressed. Less Than Jake is an absolutely brilliant live band and the atmosphere at the band's live shows is just completely phenomenal. Seeing Less Than Jake live at least once is most definitely something that I'd highly recommend to all. Less Than Jake is a brilliant band and when playing live; all six of the band's members give it their all and make sure that they put on one hell of a show for all those in attendance.

It was in 2008 that the band released its seventh studio album titled 'GNV FLA', having not been a fan of sixth album 'In With the Out Crowd' I'm still yet to listen to the album but most definitely must give it a try at some stage. I'm a huge fan of all of the bands albums up until 'In With the Out Crowd' and am hard pushed to pick a favourite out of 'Hello Rockview', 'Losing Streak', and 'Borders and Boundaries'. There are some that dislike the band's 'Borders and Boundaries' album as it was the point at which the band began to drop it's ska sound and become more 'commercial'; I'm a huge fan of the album however and do in fact feel that it comes complete with some of the band's absolute best work to date. It's not perfect, it's still very good however and always is an awful lot of fun to listen to.

Less Than Jake has always been one of my favourite ska punk bands of this sort and along with the likes of RX Bandits, Catch22, and Streetlight Manifesto; I have always very much appreciated the music of Less Than Jake and found it to be of great excitement and interest. The music of Less Than Jake is always a lot of fun to listen to, so if you like to have a good dance and love to hear a great horn section then you should therefore find that you have a very fond love for the music of Less Than Jake.

Less Than Jake is not a band for everyone; not all will appreciate the band's incredibly cheerful tone, if you like ska punk or in fact any sort of ska music in general for that matter then you should definitely invest in a Less Than Jake album (preferably 'Losing Streak', 'Hello Rockview', or Borders and Boundaries'); give the music a listen and see what you think. I can pretty much guarantee that the band's sound will have you dancing and singing along in no time; Less Than Jake is a totally brilliant band and their music is most certainly well worth listening to.

Less Than Jake set up a new record label 'Sleep It Off Records' in 2008 and this is the label that the band's seventh studio album 'GNV FLA' has therefore been released through. Fueled By Ramen is another part Less Than Jake owned record label; a record label set up in 1996 by John Janick and Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello. The Fueled By Ramen record label is home to the likes of Panic at the Disco, Cute Is What We Aim For, Gym Class Heroes, Phantom Planet, The Academy Is... and Paramore.

Nov 02, 2008 Norwich, UK Norwich U.E.A.
Nov 03, 2008 Northampton, UK Roadmender
Nov 04, 2008 Swansea, UK Brangwyn Hall
Nov 05, 2008 Exeter, UK Great Hall
Nov 06, 2008 Bristol, UK Carling Academy
Nov 08, 2008 Nottingham, UK Rock City
Nov 09, 2008 Birmingham, UK Carling Academy
Nov 10, 2008 Southampton, UK Southampton Guildhall
Nov 11, 2008 Oxford, UK Carling Academy
Nov 12, 2008 London, UK Astoria
Nov 13, 2008 Stoke, UK Kelle University
Nov 15, 2008 Leeds, UK Academy Leeds
Nov 16, 2008 Manchester, UK Manchester University
Nov 17, 2008 Newcastle, UK Northumbria University
Nov 18, 2008 Aberdeen, UK Moshulu
Nov 19, 2008 Glasgow, UK ABC Glasgow
Nov 21, 2008 Paris, France La Maroguinerie
Nov 22, 2008 Utrecht, Holland Tivoli
Nov 23, 2008 Vosselaar, Belgium Biebob
Nov 24, 2008 Saarbrucken, Germany Garage
Nov 26, 2008 Barelona, Spain Sala Apolo
Nov 27, 2008 Madrid, Spain Moby Dick
Nov 28, 2008 Lisbon, Portugal Tuatara
Nov 29, 2008 Bilbao, Spain Sala Azkena
Dec 02, 2008 Graz, Austria PPC Graz
Dec 05, 2008 Copenhagen, Denmark Vega
Dec 06, 2008 Malmo, Sweden KB
Dec 07, 2008 Stockholm, Sweden Klubben
Dec 08, 2008 Oslo, Norway Garage
Dec 10, 2008 Hamburg, Germany Knust
Dec 11, 2008 Stuttgart, Germany Longhorn
Dec 12, 2008 Cologne, Germany Gloria

- Pezcore (1995)
- Losers, Kings, and Things We Don't Understand (1995)
- Losing Streak (1996)
- Hello Rockview (1998)
- Borders & Boundaries (2000)
- Anthem (2003)
- In With the Out Crowd (2006)
- GNV FLA (2008)