Florida favourites pack own sunshine
While their home town of Gainesville, Florida, bathes in temperate sunshine, the good-time quintet are bringing their summery vibes to cheer us up with a gig at Exeter next week.
"They don't make long pants in Florida," reveals trombonist and sometime bass player Buddy Schaub.
"I'm looking forward to touring Europe but I'll probably be checking out the scenery from the inside of the tour bus."
The first port of call on their journey will be Gainesville Airport – coded GNV FLA, which is also the title of their new album. It contains a collection of tunes which revisit not only the town they call home, but also the journey their music has taken over the past 16 years.
"Gainesville is where the band were born and where three of us still live – me, Vinnie (Fiorello, drums) and Roger (Manganelli, bass).
"Chris (Demakes, singer and guitarist) lives out at Tampa now and our saxophone player is from Connecticut, but he spends so much time in Gainesville that he might as well live here," says Buddy.
The band, who were last over here in the summer playing Reading and Leeds Festivals, boast an incredibly loyal fanbase who have proclaimed GNV FLA a return to the traditional Less Than Jake sound with bouncy ska grooves and horns galore.
"Last year we did a series of shows playing one whole album at a time straight through and in the course of relearning those songs – which was like cramming for an exam – some of it inevitably snuck into the new stuff we were writing," Buddy says.
Recorded at Atlas Studios in Chicago and produced by Matt Allison, the album takes a sobering look at Gainesville, but with a universal eye.
"The album is an ode to our home town, and there are a couple of songs specifically about it, but then it widens out to Florida and then to a lot of broad-ranging stuff that is to do with modern lifestyle," he explains.
It also touches on the economic downturn in the States that has now found its way across the Atlantic, but the very nature of the band's upbeat sound brings a hopeful and positive vibe to the story.
The release represents the band's decision to part company with Warner Brothers. After spending time in both the indie ranks and with different majors, the band recently formed their own Sleep It Off Records. This album is their first original release, but they re-released five of their previous albums with new artwork earlier this year.
When you have a large back catalogue it's tricky picking songs for your live set-list. There will be all the old LTJ favourites, but the guys have decided to introduce audiences to at least three new songs.
"When you only have one record out it's easy to choose," says Buddy. "But we'll be making sure we keep fans happy with a good mix."
Less Than Jake play at the Great Hall, Exeter University, on November 5. Box office: 01392 263518.
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