This past week I've been playing phone tag with Chris the guitarist/ singer from Less Than Jake, Gainesville's own ska punk heroes, trying to set up an interview for this rag. After about ten tries we finally set up a time and a place this past Tuesday. Tuesday isn't usually one of my favorite days- better than Monday, but it sure as hell ain't no Thursday. This Tuesday turned out to be the shit. Early in the day I found a killer Mustard Plug tshirt at Hyde N' Zeke's, a good friend of mine came into town, and finally I was invited to go to LTJs warehouse to watch them practice before the interview! Fuckin A! I'm about the happiest little shit at Camp Skapunk right now. I had to have my buddy slap me to get the grin off my face when I told him how I'd be spending my evening. Anyways, I get to the warehouse and the band ( minus Jessica and Buddy ) is getting ready to play, so they ask me what I wanted to hear! ME! Little inconsequential Fly gets to make a request to my favorite band. "Son of Dick, please", I say. And BAM! They play it. In the next twenty minutes they go on to play two tracks off the upcoming Greece soundtrack cover album (CD ?) and about 4 or 5 unreleased songs. It was Fuckin unbelievable. So finally we get down to business as Less Than Jake bare their souls to me. Among other things, I discovered that several band members secretly wish to break up and reform as an 80's metal band, Derron is apt to not say much, smokin out before an interview makes a band sound better than they really are (just joking), and Less Than Jake is a buncha down to earth losers just like you and me. So here we go, my little chat with Chris the guitarist/ vocals, Vinny the drummer/ pizza expert, Derron the Baritone Sax player/ Team Citation race car driver, and Roger the bassist/ vocals. Together they form LESS THAN JAKE Me: Okay, who the hell is Howie Reynolds? C: Ooh, good start. Howie is our 73 year old neighbor in our apartment complex. He rocks. Got the heart of a fuckin l 0 year old, he comes to our shows and crowd surfs. He's gonna get on stage at the Dish and do something nutty. R: Do a monologue or something. He's a trippy old dude. C: You'll hear him talking on our new CD. Me: Besides your music, what's important to you guys? R: That the van has oil! And we have shows booked somewhere. V: And that the fuckin thing works. C: Um girls. R: We're pretty basic. Pez dispensers are high on the list. V: TV is pretty crucial. Me: In order of importance, how would you rate drugs, pizza, and Pez? ( long delay while the band members ponder this most cosmic of questions) R: Pizza and Pez are pretty high on my list. V: Dude, I eat pizza everyday. I'm serious. But I'd say Pez, pizza, drugs. D: Yeah, Pez, pizza, drugs. C: I think it's unanimous. ( the conversation steers to Pizza for a while as I try to discover which states have the best and worse. It looks like New York is where the good shit is at. Frozen wise, our uncontested vote goes to Totino's. 4 pizzas for 5 bucks. Can't be beat.) Me: Which would you give up first, smoking or drinking? C: Drinking. R: Drinking. V: Drinking anyday. I'll never give up cigarettes. Me: Okay, how about Star Wars vs. Star Trek? D&C: Star Wars! R: Probably 70/ 30 Star Wars, but Star Trek kicks ass in a totally different way. V: Cartoon Network. And 80's TV over any of that. R: Dukes of Hazard! C: Boss Hog rocks. Me: So what have you guys been doing lately? R: Doin nothing. C: Well, we recorded for a month and a half, some other shit like answering mail. Me: Any tour stories? R: Where do we begin? V: Dude, weird shit happens everyday on tour. The best was Kansas City. C: Yeah, some guy in the back of the club, just some guy off the street, I told him to get on stage and he totally got up and danced for a whole song and just rocked out. V: He got all emotional on us!