More than a mouthful from Less than Jake
by: Chris "Barbara Walters" Tamlyn
Skinny Punk: Okay I�m here with Chris and Derron from Less Than Jake. First question, you guys write some semi-deep lyrics in a lot of your songs, any particular message you like to convey?
Chris: Well, if anything, we like to make a pseudo-political statement.
Derron: We�re full of shit.
Chris: Yea, that too. But, y� know sort of everyday life type of things to us, mostly. Usually very real stuff in a very sarcastic manner. You, try and give some people a different outlook, its all about having� a good time. But we actually like anyone who comes to see us play, to come and leave their troubles behind for however long.
Skinny Punk: What�re your major influences?
Chris: Oh God. Well� as a band� I wont even go there, because put together, we probably listen to every kind of music there is out there. Except for maybe some tribal music from Africa that we don�t know about. I grew up on everything from, rock, to metal, to new wave� just anything that was a good song. High school was mostly metal and thrash and punk� whatever.
Derron: What you just said was pretty vague.
Chris: Well, I could go into bands, but I�d be here all day.
Skinny Punk: What would you give for advice to people who wanna get in a band or even in a band?
Derron: Learn to suck good dick.
Chris: Yea, that and play everywhere.
Derron: And suck everybody�s dick.
Chris: Heh, just even if you have to set up at 2 in the morning outside of a baseball field, and even with less than 30 people to hear you. Play Whenever you can, and put your name on as many things as you can. Get on plenty of compilations if you can, get your name out there and play a lot.
Derron: And support your scene.
Chris: Yea! Support other bands.
Derron: Yea, its cool, then you get this mutual respect thing, and you play show with each other. And that�s great.
Chris: Yea, there no way we would be here if it weren�t for great bands that let us open for them. And we do the same for other bands, and help one another. And I�m not going to name any bands but there was a certain band, about 6 years ago, when I first got to college, and I tried playing them our demo tape; and you know its really hard now because a lot of people come up to us and are like "here listen to our demo tape" and we get A LOT of tapes now, and we seriously listen to every one of them.
Derron: Every one of them.
Chris: But this band was like "Get away from me, I don�t want to hear your demo tape." And you have to remember, never underestimate the next guy.
*Buddy (the trombone player) walks over to our table*
Buddy: Don�t listen to what he�s talking about. He�s full of shit.
Chris: Yes, this is Buddy, our trombone player.
Buddy: I am changing my name to "whoo ah" (in his best Al Pacino impression).
Skinny Punk: So, what made you start a band?
Derron: Love of music�?
Chris: Well, its an amazing thing, our band. We�re tight. It�s like a marriage. And none of us (except Vinnie, our drummer) has ever been a relationship this long and/or serious. It just supreme dedication to what we love.
Buddy: Derron�s in it for the drugs and the pussy.
Derron: That�s right, and I do it all. Any old skank that comes up to me, oh yea, I�ll get her in the ass. Bend her right over the toilet, put her head inside and flush it. Ooooh yea.
Skinny Punk: Okay, I think it�s time for a subject change! So tell me, who is the infamous Johnny Quest?
Chris: Ha. Well, he�s a friend of mine, I�ve know since elementary school. He�s an architect student at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, Florida, where we�re from. And we played this show in town, it was a battle of the bands and we won, and we got to play at the great opening of this record store, and this guy wrote in his work office at the Architect School, "Less Than Jake are sellouts". And as for the name Johnny Quest, that was his moniker, his nickname, he never heard us before or anything. He just wrote it� just� because. So we just shrugged our shoulders and decided to write a silly song about it.
Skinny Punk: Ever had violent skinheads at your shows?
Chris: Now and then, but most the kids that come see us. You know for all intensive purposes, Derron is a skinhead. You know? His head�s shaved. I don�t know what a skinhead is anymore. And I say that with respect, I don�t have anything against any type of person, skinhead or anything. And I hate to see skinheads get a negative connotation. Do we get skinheads? Yea. But dick head skinheads? Only twice in Atlanta , and we had to shut the show down. Due to racist skinheads. Other than that, never had a problem.
Skinny Punk: Did you guys start out punk or ska or what?
Derron: We started out playing fuckin� porno music.
Chris: Same stuff really.
Derron: We�re going back to porn music, too. Me and Chris are starting a side project. I play guitar he sings.
Chris: Yea, its almost a country/funk thing. We started out with the same stuff we�re doing now, pretty much. Started with all pop/punk, then we got a horn player� then we got another one, and another one.
Skinny Punk: What�re your plans after the warped tour?
Derron: Get laid.
Chris: Goin� home. Stay there for about a month and � and we�re gonna tour with Blink 182.
Derron: I�ll brush my teeth finally. Take shit when I wake up everyday when I wake up, how about that? On a nice toilet! No more, "awww man, someone just shit in the toilet and didn�t flush it! Now there�s all this diarrhea, and its clogged. And I really gotta shit!"
Chris: Yea, so you have to have someone else�s diarrhea splash against your balls. Oh, yea, I just farted. I hope guys don�t smell it.
Skinny Punk: Oh great. Next question: Which you prefer home shows or touring?
Chris: Hmmm. Aw man. Well, we still do really well in Florida, and it�s still really cool there. But we�ve been playing there for about 5 years now, So I think people at home might be getting like "okay, whatever"� but we still like playing at home because we can shit in our own toilet in the morning, but we really like touring too.
Skinny Punk: Cool. I think that�s about it.
Chris: Whew. That was a tough one. But, hey it was great.
Skinny Punk: Thanks for everything. Bye.