Words: Molly Hays

Photo: Jayme Thornton

Mustaches, police uniforms and the distribution of 20 dozen doughnuts; it’s not in the least bit a bad way to embark on the summer. In fact, it’s exactly how Gainesville’s own Less Than Jake celebrated the beginning of the sweltering season on the fifth of May at Bamboozle 2008.

Instead of celebrating Cinco De Mayo, LTJ celebrate Cinco De Mustache, a holiday in which they grow their facial hair for that one day. During this year's prime growing season, however, the band was scheduled to perform in front of thousands of festival attendants. So, instead of forsaking their hard work with a razor, they decided to add to the ridiculousness of the situation by dressing like police and throwing out the stereotypical 5-0 snack.

“I think everyone in the band has a story of someone mistaking them for a real cop, or at least a security guard,” says drummer and lyricist Vinnie Fiorello, with whom a Manhattan officer once attempted to establish camaraderie.  He backed away quickly, though. “You’ve got to realize in New Jersey and New York people still are freaky about 9/11 and terrorist attacks and things like that so I think that people would mistake us dressed like cops and walking around in public as something weird and unscripted and criminal when it was just a bunch of rednecks from Florida who are growing their mustaches for a holiday.”

Now mustache-free, the band is ready to kick off the Shout It Loud Tour in St. Pete on June 17. Coinciding with the release of their new album, GNV FLA, the tour features rotating accompanying acts that include Goldfinger, Suburban Legends, Mustard Plug and Big D and the Kids Table.

It’s no surprise that from the creative minds of the guys who have a collection of over 800 Pez dispensers would flow a circus of a live show. No shoegazing here, but what’s in store for the summer will surely be a surprise, as they refuse to pull the sheet off of it just yet. 

GNV FLA marks a new era for LTJ. Not only is the album a return to the band’s original sound; the CD also places power back in the hands of the ones holding the instruments.

“Warner Brothers was cool enough to understand that Less Than Jake no longer fit into the machine that is a major label,” says Fiorello. “We didn’t want to go into teen pop, we don’t fit in that mold of teen pop, and we don’t fit in the mold of indie rock or pop music. To Warner Brothers' credit, after explaining that to them, they were cool enough and logical enough to let us out of that one last record.”

The album’s title references the state of Florida's official mail abbreviation prior to the two-letter switch, and the Gainesville Airport Code, which also changed. It’s a metaphor for Fiorello’s shiny penny theory – the chasing of something physical and emotional, something new as opposed to being happy in the present. Though New Jersey, where Fiorello is originally from, shaped him through his teenage years, it was Gainesville that led him into adulthood, and earned the dedication.

Now LTJ has started their own record label, Sleep It Off, which has already re-released Pezcore; Goodbye, Blue and White; Losers, Kings and Things We Don’t Understand and The People’s History of Less Than Jake and will continue to re-release LTJ records as the ownership rights to each become available.

Fiorello has helped found three labels, Fueled By Ramen, Paper Plastick and now Sleep It Off. Although he left Fueled by Ramen in 2006, he says the main difference between that imprint and Sleep It Off is that the latter is primarily Less Than Jake. That doesn’t mean Sleep It Off will never release another band’s work, but for right now, Fiorello can rely on Paper Plastick for that. The main goal of Sleep It Off is to take control of the visual and aural history of Less Than Jake, and preserve that timeline. Major emphasis is placed on packaging; all re-releases include new artwork and a DVD of bonus material because, as Fiorello puts it, “You have to do that,” not only for business purposes to differentiate the two releases, or as an incentive to the fans, but also because packaging is all the more important in a time when music is being obtained though visually lacking formats.

“Maybe you’ll get the cover that you downloaded off of iTunes, maybe you’ll get a digital booklet in a pdf file, but that happens once in a while now,” he says. “I think that Less Than Jake has always prided itself on packaging because we want it to be an entire package. We want it to be a record experience, a whole experience not just a single off of iTunes, not just a 99-cent purchase of a song. We want people to hear the whole record because the whole idea is that when you have that you need this packaging to go along with it that ties everything together.”

Since 2006’s In With The Out Crowd, the members of LTJ have kept busy with various side projects. The crests and troughs of the wave that is Less Than Jake allow the members this freedom to create elsewhere. Buddy Schaub has been working the Coffee Project; Roger Manganelli with Rehasher; Pete “JR” Wasilewski has delved into managing bands. As for Fiorello, he’s been releasing toys with Wunderland War, managing The AKAs and Houston Calls and releasing records on Paper Plastick.

As the wave builds back toward a crest, LTJ has to reflect on how they have changed since the last record.

“How would I portray the band?” Fiorello asks. “That’s a tough thing without people actually hearing the record and I don’t really want to make commentary on describing the record because I hate to do that and color people’s perceptions of it. But I think that the picture would show a band that’s a bit more urgent than records past. It would show a band that’s sort of learned its lesson from the previous record also.

“Less Than Jake is Less Than Jake, man. Now I think we’re more aware then we ever have been of who we are and that’s a cool way to feel.”

Less Than Jake plays St. Petersburg's Jannus Landing June 17, Fr. Lauderdale's Revolution June 18, and Orlando's House of Blues June 19.

myspace.com/lessthanjake