Less Than Jake

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Less Than Jake is a popular ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida. They are currently on the roster of Warner Brothers Records, with the band consisting of Chris (vocals, guitar), Roger (bass, vocals), Vinnie (drums, lyrics), Buddy (trombone) and JR (saxophone). The band's name derives from a dog called Jake that drummer Vinnie had while growing up, which was treated better than the rest of the family and so everything in the house was 'less than Jake'.

Less Than Jake have recently finished recording their latest studio album, In With the Out Crowd, which is scheduled for release May 23, 2006.

1 Miscellaneous Info
2 Line-Up
3 Discography
- 3.1 Studio albums
- 3.2 Other
4 See also
5 External links

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Miscellaneous Info

Vinnie is also the owner of the independent record label Fueled by Ramen, as well as a toy company called Monkey Vs. Robot which due to legal matters was changed to Wunderland Wars. Vinnie is also starting another toy company in conjucntion with a friend called Symptons. Both toy lineups will premier at Comic-Con. Fueled By Ramen has signed bands such as Fall Out Boy, Punchline, The AKAs, Gym Class Heroes, Panic! At The Disco and Days Away. Roger, meanwhile, is in a second band, called Rehasher, for whom he composes lyrics and plays guitar JR played sax on the last track of rehashers album 'Off Key Melodies'. JR works with a promoting company called the CT Mafia, as well as composing solo music. He contributed one track to the Drive-Thru compilation tribute to Bob Dylan, using the band name "The Stay At Home Joneses" (Roger sang backup for this track).

Roger and Vinnie have an unexplained fondness for Pez candy and they reportedly have sizeable dispenser collections. This love for Pez goes so far as to name one of their albums "Pezcore" (parodying of the way in which many bands are described as [something]-core, starting with hardcore) and Pez dispenser motifs are a common feature of their merchandise.

Roger's employment history includes a smoke shop in the band's hometown Gainesville, Florida known as Knuckleheads which has since been transformed into a similar establishment named Smoke. Band member haunts have included Eddie C's, the Hardback (which was transformed into the Lyric), and Insomnia (which used to be the Covered Dish, and is now the new location of Common Grounds).

The members of Less Than Jake also served as backup musicians for Asian Man Records owner Mike Park in the B.Lee Band (once called "The Bruce Lee Band", changed for legal reasons).

The tracks "Look What Happened" appeared on two of their albums, "Borders & Boundaries" (2000) and "Anthem" (2003). The Anthem version is completely re-recorded, and has eschewed the brass at the beginning of the song that was featured in the previous recording. The re-recording features guest vocals by Heather from Teen Idols.

They have also re-recorded many other songs, including "Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts", "Jen Doesn't Like Me Anymore", "Scott Farcas Takes it on the Chin", "History Of A Boring Town" and "Shotgun".

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Line-Up

Current Members:

Chris Demakes - Guitar, Vocals
Roger Manganelli - Bass, Vocals, Second Guitar (occasionally live and while recording)
Vinnie Fiorello - Drums, Lyrics
Buddy Schaub - Trombone, Bass (whenever Roger plays second guitar live)
Peter "JR" Wasilewski - Saxophone

Past Members: