Less Than Jake's hybrid of breakneck pop, punk guitars and ska tinged horns is an experience, that will find you surrounded by an army of worn, sweaty, happy, danced-out youths, many chanting LTJ's patented hook-laden choruses with throats cracked hoarse, and silly string dangling from their hair.

A Gainesville, Florida band, LTJ have gained a huge following across the country through extensive touring and shameless self-promotion. They've recently recorded and released their major label debut Losing Streak for Capitol Records.

LTJ's never-ending tour hit Boston's Middle East in February where Vinnie met with This Is The Sound.

It's hard because there are some things that we just can't do anymore. Like book our own shows. We just can't do that anymore. We have a booking agent to book our shows now, but we decide where we're going to play, when we're going to tour, what bands we're going to play with. So we're still retaining control, but we're giving up the shit work end of it.

We just started running our own label, Fueled By Ramen. Our involvement with that is never going to leave. We're always going to put out our own records. You'll start seeing Less Than Jake singles be on our own label instead of other labels. Which will probably be the biggest difference.

With other bullshit things which have to do with Capitol, we don't deal with that. We have a person to deal with that for us. Because we don't need a hassle to do deal with that. But other than that our involvement stays the same.

The single hasn't come out yet?

The single comes out in two weeks.

What is the single?

The single's "Automatic."

How has the music of Less Than Jake evolved since 1992?

From being pop/punk to pop/punk/ska with horns, basically. We have a thing downstairs called the Pez-Kings seven inch. And it's the first things that we've ever done. The first four track recordings we ever did.

If you listen to that and you listen to our new stuff, it really hasn't changed that much to be honest with you. We've added horns and ska. and basically we've gotten a little more complex in how our songs go. But other than that it's pretty much three chords with a melody line.

Did you find the Gainesville scene to be supportive in helping you to get where you are today?

You know, that's a really weird question. But it's a yes and no... When we first started out we were accepted into the Gainesville punk scene, but then after we started adding ska elements into it we were shunned from the Gainesville punk scene. But then as we stuck it out and kept on doing it, then we were brought back into the fold of the music scene in general. Not necessarily the punk scene, but the Gainesville music scene. So, yeah, we were supported and we're supported now. But, no, there was a time when we weren't supported by anybody. We were pretty much on our own doing what we had to do.

You�ve recorded a large repertoire of TV themes in the past including takes of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. What was the first TV theme song you covered and who or what spawned the idea?

Laverne and Shirley... I don't know whose idea it was, it was just that we were eighties nerds. We just happened to play it one time at practice and it kind of stuck. And it still sticks.

What�s everyone�s favorite Pez flavor? And which Pez dispenser is your most cherished?

Mine is chocolate, and you get chocolate in Europe. And I know Buddy's is peppermint. And some other people in the band like cherry. But I think that chocolate, peppermint, and cherry are the tops.

What's you're favorite pez dispenser?

It's the pez guns that I have... I have pez guns, yeah, they're rad. They're by far my favorite.

What�s the best show you�ve ever played? The worst?

The best show that we ever played... We had a cd release party in Gainesville, a free one, down in the downtown plaza courtyard where the bus station's at. It was our cd release party and like 1500 people came. And that means a lot. It was a momentous occasion because our cd was coming out and lots of people were there and it was really cool. So I can say that's our best show.

Our worst show, Wilmington, Delaware at the Bourgeois Pig. There was like three people there. It was horrible. That was two years ago.

For a band whose never been signed (until now) and never had any major promotion, you�ve gained quite an underground following across the country. How do you think so many people in scenes so far removed from Gainesville have come to know you guys?

It's just that people who like us make compilation tapes for friends. Just touring and lots of compilation cds. There was a time when we would be on everything. If someone said, 'I want you to be on our tape compilation. Do you wanna do it?' Sure, take a song. And we just did it and did it and did it. I think that's one of the reasons. It's because the people that like us, like us a lot and they spread the word. I attribute it to that and I thank the people who do that. I'm friends with like thirteen people who have done that. We come into a town that we've never played before and there's a shitload of people it's because that person has made tapes or played us on their radio show or whatever. And that's cool.

Who do you consider to be your major influences musically?

Everyone has different ones, but as a band: Snuff, Op Ivy, The Clash, The Ramones. And then Chris likes some old metal so you have to add that in. And Roger likes Iron Maiden. We have a whole big bunch of different influences, but if you listen to the songs its like Screeching Weasels with horns. The reason why we got horns in the first place is a band called Snuff. The Snuff's on Fat Records right now is the same band, but they did a kind of different style of music when they were first around. And that's why we got horns because they had a trombone doing pop/punk. And that's what we did. We wanted to do pop/punk with horns. And then the ska element sort of crept in.

I've heard that you guys we're planning on re-recording the entire Grease album. When is that due out?

It's already done. It should be out in about a month and a half. Basically everyone's a fan of the movie so we took the nine best songs on there and recorded them. It's coming out on nine inch on No Idea Records and coming out on cd on our own Fueled By Ramen.

What do you like to do for fun when you�re not playing music?

Mail... It's so weird because we've been on tour for the last five out of the six months. When we were home for those four weeks we did mail. We caught up on mail and went into the studio and recorded. Watched a bunch of tv and played on the computer. And stuff like that.

We don't do anything... fun. Just catch up on a lot of work and just hang out. We just started the label so during the four weeks over Christmas we got the label started.

What were you guys like in high school? What sort of crowd did you hang out with?

Chris was like a baseball player, jock-type guy. And I was more of the burnout-type. I was a really grumpy punk rock kid who smoked a lot of pot. And I don't know about anybody else really.

We were in a band previous to Less Than Jake called Good Grief. He moved to college and I moved up after and started another band.

What sort of weird stuff do you ask for on your rider?

Our rider is six bottles of water, a twelve pack of soda, and one pizza. I've seen some fucking crazy riders. Like a pack of nine volt batteries, Swiss chocolate, porno mags, two packs of fucking Canadian cigarettes and a bunch of weird shit. I've seen some weird weird weird weird shit.

What album are currently listening to?

Rocket From The Crypt, Scream, Dracula, Scream. NWA. MC Freemost from Stockton. The new Mister T Experience. Animal Chin from Minneapolis. Big Wig from New Jersey. The Impossibles from Austin, Texas. I think that's it so far. That's my top favorite albums for right now.

What can one expect at you live shows?

I don't know. Us to act like somewhat goofy weirdoes, I guess. I really can't tell you because I'm not out in the crowd. I don't watch it. I've seen a video of us. It's really weird, 'cos the guy spliced a bunch of shows together, like a best of. And I looked at it and it made us look too fun. We can't be that fun. To be honest with you I don't know. I'm not there. I know what the crowd looks like. Just a bunch thin baggy pants kids doing stage dives and pogoing around. And a bunch of really normal looking people on the outskirts. And that's what I can pretty much say the crowd looks like consistently.

Do you think you guys will make a video?

The only thing we've ever done is the thing I was just talking about. It was a comp and it basically goes to public access shows and stuff like that. We're a little sketchy about when it comes to video and MTV and what it stands for and how that goes. I can't say you'll never see us on MTV, but I can say that you'll never see us lipsinking to a video on MTV. Because everyone in the band is highly opposed to that. Some people like MTV and it could help us out, but other people are like we don't want anything to do with it. Sooner or later we're going to have to come to some kind of agreement on what we're going to do, but we know you will never see us lipsinking in a video. Maybe a live song. Who knows, but you won't see us lipsink because that's awful.

What do you think you would be doing right now if you weren�t playing music?

Jessica was a teacher for ninth grade in high school in DeLand [Florida]. I'd be teaching because I'm a special ed teacher for high school. Derron would be in the studio recording stuff because he graduate with a recording degree. Buddy would be a therapist because he graduated with a psychologist degree. And I don't know what Chris and Roger would do. Chris would probably be flipping pizzas and Roger would probably be getting high.

What�s this Sno-Core Tour you�re about to embark upon all about?

It's sponsored by Airwalk and it's us, Orange 9mm, Face To Face, Voodoo Glowskulls, and the Pharcyde. Basically they called and asked us if we wanted to do a package tour and we said okay.

Do you get free Airwalks?

Not yet. I don't know if we are. I hope so. These shoes are going down. I hope we do.

What are your plans for the future?

Just to tour. We do monster tours.

Where do you see the band five years from now?

I can't tell you that. I can't even tell you six months from now. A lot of shit's happening. I can't tell you because shit's out of our control right now. People are buying our records and it's going to real FM station. It got to number nine on college radio in CMJ so who the fuck knows. It could flop or it could big. You never know. Weirder shit has happened.

- Interview by Brian Jarmon