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This Issue About Us |
A ‘Smoke and a Pancake’ With Less Than Jake’s Chris Demakes Rogue journalist Lou Smith chats with Gainesville’s finestI was first exposed to Less Than Jake in the ninth grade, when on a whim I purchased what my mind dubs their best album; Losing Streak (1994). Since the acquisition of that record, I went on a war-path (beginning freshman year and continuing to this day) gathering Less Than Jake’s material spanning their entire career; from Pezcore to Losers, Kings and Things We Don’t Understand, Anthem to their newest; GNV FLA. I really, really like Less Than Jake. It was an exciting day when I was worked into a stance where I was set to interview Chris Demakes (guitar, vox) at one of Less Than Jake’s CNY shows at Water Street Music Hall in Rochester. Stepping into the tour bus, my heart began to race. Tour manager Kyle Baker led me to the back of the bus where I was greeted by a weary looking Demakes and an ever content-looking Roger Manganelli (bass, vox). Speakerphone Magazine: The past year and a half have been pretty busy for you guys. Escaping the clutches of Warner Brothers, to moving out on your own: Re-releasing stuff, recoding and awesome album and getting that out there. What has been up? Chris Demakes: Well, Roger got married to his longtime girl friend, Sara-Ann and they moved to Fresno, CA. (laughs) Shouldn’t have been back here, wouldn’t get picked on! No last year has been busy, we’ve been touring a lot, you know our bands always been on the road since we started; you know a good 4,5,6,8,8,7 months out of the year. In between those tours we are constantly writing songs and during that time we got out of the contract with Warner Brothers, that’s been about over a year now that that has been going on. We’ve started out own record called “Sleep It Off Records.” We re-released three of our back catalogue, three old CD’s and a DVD and we have plans on re-releasing the rest of our catalogue at some point. And we do not have any plans, currently, to sign any other bands, but possibly in the future, if we ever wanted to, we could you know, put out/distribute other bands records. That’s something else in the future. So that’s been it in a nutshell. Been out touring; we’re pretty much booked ‘till the end of this year right now. Then January, February of next year, they’re already looking into getting us back down to South America again, so we are going to take the tour for the new album through to next year at some point. SM: Now, how does it feel for you guys to finally be in the “captain’s seat” of your own label; being able to kind of dictate everything that goes on? Is that a good feeling? Demakes: It’s cooler than I thought it was going to be…certainly there were issues of being on a major label that none of us liked, but for all of us it’s always been pretty much about being on this bus. It was never about the manager or the label guy or anything else. See, nothing's really changed…we’re out on tour, we’re doing our thing. However we don’t have to ask anybody; ‘Hey, we are going to put out a lunchbox, you know, with five CD’s in it and call it Shit Sandwich.’ If we want to do that, we can do it…The only difference is now, there is no red tape to go through, we call all the shots and all the work is ours. We don’t have anybody; we had to hire our own publicist, stuff like that. We don’t have people that are automatically there, 'cause we are the people; we are the label. SM: So what are some bands that you guys really enjoy touring with, who do you enjoy being on the road with? Demakes: Frenzel Rom, good band. Ever heard of them? They’re from Australia. We did one show with Neil Diamond one time. It was a Cranberry Festival in Madison, WI. No, I am joking. (laughs) I like touring with the Dropkick Murphy’s, they’re a lot of fun. Who else do we like touring with; buddies with? Manganelli: (whisper-shouts) Reel Big Fish! Demakes: Reel Big Fish, we have a good time with those guys. SM: Any peculiar stories about the road, odd memories or funny recollections. (Roger sniggers) Be honest, I want to hear a couple. Demakes: Well I will tell you the big one off camera…err off tape recorder near the end of the interview; nothing can compare to that. Peculiar story, that’s every day something’s peculiar. Last night, the peculiar thing for me last night was at 4:30-5:00 in the morning, waking up and going ‘I feel like my pillow is Vinnie’s (Fiorello; percussion) shoes,’ his show shoes he left in the hallway. And his show shoes smell like a mix of vomit, shit and B.O. so, that was a peculiar thing. Manganelli: Just last night, amazingly enough, we had a 90lb. girl get lifted up over her head by a 350lb. security guard… Demakes: That was like 6’8"; he was huge! Manganelli: …pick her up and bench-press her five times over his head on stage. That’s the kind stuff that happens on a daily basis that we can’t even really file all that away, 'cause stuff like that happens all the time. We had a drinking contest between two M.I.L.F.s at the show! Demakes: …It’s second to second. There might not have anything happen for 24 hours, and then the 25th hour, you know, I’ve answered the door and there’s a midget standing there with a bouquet of flowers, that some fan sent to the bus; stuff like that. Excuse me ‘vertically challenged person’ for the politically correct out there. SM: How do you guys fare (touring) down in South America? Demakes: Well we went down there last year, went to Brazil for four shows and it was amazing. It was great; the reception from the people down there was overwhelming. We have plans to go back there sometime next year, it was supposed to be this year but things didn’t happen. SM: Thus far, what are some obstacles, other than forming your own label, before that. What are some challenges, even from the beginning; from the get-go. Demakes: Oh, just staying a band for 16 years, having a relationship that lasts that long. That’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had, besides my own blood family. Just being able to get your ideas across in an adult way. So, people change. And people change for the better, people change for the worse, people change for whatever and sometimes those things don’t mesh with the next guy who is going through shit. Most of the good bands, they don’t make it because they break up. There were a lot of bands out there that were amazing bands, they just didn’t persevere. SM: This might be a hard one to answer; it’s a personal question. What is your idea of the perfect song? If you could define that, just to the ‘t,’ something you enjoy listening to. It’s like ‘every time I put this on, it’s fucking great!’ Demakes: It’s the song that when you hear it for the first time, you automatically put the song back on and hear it again. That’s a great song. SM: That song? Demakes: Yeah, whatever song that is. No I mean that, it’s not like dodging the question…whatever song that is that you hear for the first time: meaning you or anybody else out there hears that song, and after two and a half, three, four minutes, however long that track is, you’re like; ‘Fuck, I gotta hear that again!’ and you rewind it. SM: Could you name any favorite tracks that you have? Demakes: Probably ‘Master of Puppets’ by Metallica. SM: Now what about recording for you guys, let’s say in past ten years, has it changed for the better, changed for the worse? Demakes: It’s changed for the better mostly due to fact that we’ve all gotten better. Not so much the technology, I mean yeah, the last ten years you’ve had pro-tools and everything computers which radically changed everything. But aside from that, the actual recording process, you know, we all know how to listen a lot better and that just comes with being a band for a long time and staying together. Either you don’t listen to each other and you fight all the time, or you listen to each other and fight all the time; but you’re still listening to each other…what’s the song even before you go in to the studio? What’s the song mean, what’s the song’s value, what’s the song got? And those are the important things. A lot of young bands think; ‘Oh, we’re in a studio now. Okay, let’s record.’ Okay yeah but, you didn’t work out the song before you got here…Sometimes you can just record a song out of nowhere and it’s great, but for the most part you need somewhat of a plan. SM: Obviously, record labels can provide a lot for bands that are just starting out, but they can cause headaches and whatnot when the bands mature, branch out, etc. What are some words of advice I guess you might have for bands that are just starting out, that want to get out there. What are some tips or pointers? Demakes: If you’re a band, and you want to be a band and you want to succeed and when you wake up at 7:30 in the morning in some poor-dump town and the next gig is 450 miles away and you start your van, and your van doesn’t start. The band that succeeds is the band that hitchhikes, steals, robs, does whatever it has to do, fucking hijacks a car, rents a van, sells their bodies, get bikes, steal a motorcycle; whatever you have to do to get to the gig. And the band that gets to the gig is the band that’s going to shine. That’s kind of a weird, probably answer to your question, but you know… SM: No, no; it was perfect! Demakes: 'Cause it’s not about who the best looking fucking band is, or who writes the best songs. Shit, if it was for who wrote the best songs, I could name you thirty records right now that no one has ever heard of. It’s not about any of that; it’s about working your ass off. It’s about going; ‘The show tonight is the most important fucking thing in the world to our band right now!’ We’ve never missed a show. We’ve gotten on stage when neither him [Roger] or I could speak, we have a 103 degree fucking fever, you’re puking and shitting at the same time and the tour manager’s going; ‘Dude, you’re on stage!’ Show goes on! Those people don’t fucking care that I’m sick, they don’t! SM: They want to see you play. Demakes: They want to see you play! They’d rather have me get up and go: ‘Ah, I was just puking out of my ass and my mouth backstage, and I feel like shit and I am probably going to play real bad and I don’t have much of a voice, but I’m here!’ Then the place goes ‘YEAHHH!!!’ So, that’s my advice. Oh and don’t wear eyeliner; it’s out of style. SM: Is there anything else you would like to add, any last comments or anything? Demakes: To all the ladies out there, don’t wipe back to front; you’ll get a nasty infection. Go and see these hard-working, humorous musicians when they come by your town/village/country. Diligent bands such as LTJ are hard to come across and they deserve to be recognized for their hard work and sacrifice. Check out LTJ more at their homepage. Lou Smith |
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