Suzy: So it's just been Halloween recently. Did you headline The Fest 7?
JR: I wouldn't say we headlined it, we were one of the headliners yeah, for sure.
And it was in Gainsville. So how was that?
It was a lot of fun you know. It's really cool and our friend Tony puts the thing on and it's cool cos he just brings all these people that we know. Everybody together and it really is like a fest, you know, everybody just parties and has a good time. It's a lot of fun, I wish we could have stayed for the whole weekend - we played the Friday and then we flew over here on the Saturday, so we've been here since then.
And it was Roger's birthday?
Yeah it was his birthday on the 31st, he's 27.
Well I wasn't gonna ask that...So your new album (GNV FLA), what was the inspiration for that? Obviously it's about Gainsville, where you're from..
I think inspiration's drawn from a lot of things you know; past experiences, musically everybody drew from whatever inspirations they had, what they were listening to at the time and like the past and I dunno, we just decided to write a 'Less Than Jake record' - "What do we do best? We do this best so let's just do a bunch of songs like this, that's what we do well" and we just just did it, you know.
It kind of seems like it's going back to more of the old Less Than Jake stuff rather than the previous album?
That's what people have said. The thing I guess as an artist you're most scared of, is duplicating yourself; duplicating, doing the same thing twice. I think that's why we tried so many different things musically / style wise for a while, just to kind of broaden ourselves, see what we can do, you know. And when it goes back to what it is, you know we know we're confident that we can write a record like that and that's the record we wrote. There's thought that goes into it but it's not like you sit down and say "it has to be like this, and this part has to be like here", it just happens.
I noticed that the new album was recorded in Chicago (Atlas Studios). And you sing about Chicago, not on this album, but a previous album. What's the significance of that?
We've always had an affliction with that city. It's always been good, like a second home in the mid-west. So to record there, it just made sense and Matt Allison, who we recorded with, lived there and it just seemed like a good place to go. It's a mid-western city in the United states. And I guess if you're from there you'd know what that means - people are really friendly...
We actually went in April and was really good..
It's really nice and the people are nice and it's not like a coast city like LA or New York or Boston you know, it's kind of its own vibe there. It's cool, we like it.
Do members of the band still collect Pez dispensers?
Yes, Roger and Vinnie both do. I think we all have Pez dispenser collections just because. I know that I probably have about 150 of them.
What's your favourite in your collection?
I have one from, I guess it's a 1960s Pez dispenser from Yugoslavia, it's just this little like snowman head and it has no feet on the bottom of it and I guess it's worth a bit of money, but I dunno. I guess that's why it's my favourite, it's just odd in comparison to the other ones. I know Roger has one of the Losing Streak character from our Losing Streak record - it was a custom made one, so he's got that. Some neat ones you know...him and Vinnie have the biggest collections I'm sure.
So what's your favourite track to play live?
I dunno...
Are there any that you've grown tired of playing?
I don't think there's any that we get tired of playing, there are definitely some that we play more than others.
'Look What happened' was on the new single as an additional track and there seem to be so many versions of that. I wondered if that was a favourite?
I think we feel like that's one of our strongest songs I guess, so you know, we like that song, it's fun to play. I don't think there's a favourite that I have or one that I hate. There might be a couple of songs that every once in a while I'd be like, "I wish we played that a little bit more". There's a song called 'Last Hour of the Last Day of Work' on Borders and Boundaries, I wish we played that more. A couple of songs of Borders and Boundaries more, but other than that.. there's nothing that I love or hate more than anything. I mean, I like it all!
You've had a number of guest musicians on your tracks over the years, like Scott from Reel Big Fish, who have you enjoyed working with the most?
Scott's awesome. We've known Scott for a long time. He's an incredible musician overall.
I agree but I think I'm biased because I play trumpet.
Well I mean, besides just a trumpet player he's an incredible pianist, he's an incredible song writer, he's an incredible vocalist - so I've always called him a freak of nature! Cos he's just so crazy, talented, it's just kind of funny sometimes...so he was cool to work with. Urm, I dunno, there's guys that we've had come in over time, I guess they're fun to work with, just, each one has it's own thing but I guess Scott would be my favourite, for sure - he's fun to work with, he's easy [to work with], known him for a long time, he's like one of us. He fits right in.
Last year you played six days at the Astoria in London, with various bands from over here like Sonic Boom Six and Fandangle, what's your opinion of the UK ska punk scene at the moment?
I think it's pretty good?
Of course you've got Imperial Leisure here...
Imperial Leisure's great, I used to really love Capdown.
It's a shame they split up
Yeah it happens. I've always found it to be very distinct, from other places in the world, UK ska punk is like very, urm, I think it's more aggressive, you know, possibly than in the US. It's good. I don't know what the state of it is, like I'm not sure what the local scene is like, but I know, was it You Me at Six?
Yeah
They're not really a ska band though, they're more emo-ish sort of whatever. But I mean like, it seems like the local kid band scene here is pretty good, you know, it seems like it's pretty strong and there's some good stuff that comes out of here. I try to pay attention to it here, but it's hard when you go back to the States.
Beat Union are also playing tonight but they're not quite as big over here as they are in America. When we went over there there was so much stuff about them and we were going 'they're from Birmingham!'
Yes it's crazy. Because I love the Beat Union too and they are from Birmingham so it's crazy that they're more popular in the States than here but it's cool that they are out with us. I really love that band. They're great.
Is Roger in another band called Greenhorn?
He's starting and recording a thing called Greenhorn with this girl called Jen from Gainsville who sings in a band called No More and they're doing it together - him and her, they're writing a record. When it's done we'll all be excited. I know he just finished the new Rehasher [another band Roger plays in] record, so that's being mixed now
Do you play anything else besides sax?
I play all that [drums, bass, guitar, keyboards] and more - I went to school for music.
How did you get into music? Did you come from a musical family?
No, not really. Just started playing piano I guess when I was young, sang in church, I guess. I dunno, It's the only thing I know how to do good so I just thought "let's do this, this isn't that hard!" It comes pretty easy to me.
Is there any instrument you've tried to play and just gone, "no, that's not going to happen"?
No, I've picked stuff up and figured it out. I think that violin, anything you play with a bow, I find it kind of difficult.
Buddy (trombone player) walks across the bus to near Suzy and JR...
Buddy: Like hunting?
JR: Yeah that's difficult. It's difficult for me to do this interview with you standing there with your shirt off
Buddy: It's difficult for her!
JR: It's difficult for me to pay attention.
Buddy: It's difficult for all of us!
Which bands and artists have you been listening to lately?
You know I've really been, in the last couple of days, listening to Frank Turner a lot. I think he's really awesome. I also like this band from Canada called the Flatliners
Oh yeah!
They're fantastic.
How would you define a successful show?
One that I walk away from! Literally.
And finally what are the plans for Less Than Jake after this tour?
We're going to take a break and go home for a couple of months and enjoy the holidays and then go back on our tour in Australia. Australia's our next stop [Soundwave Festival]. We're touring in February. And then we'll do some US shows and Japan and South America and then we're doing the entire Warped Tour next summer.
I wish I could go to that!
No you don't. It's long, it's hot!
Well it's not if you go for just one day...
No, it's long and hot that one day! It kind of sucks.
Well that's it.
Well that was a very good interview
Thanks! And thanks for speaking to me!
