By Evelyn Miska

For some people, it may come as a bit of a surprise that Less Than Jake has been around longer than some of their younger fans have been alive. From their start in 1992, the band has been a constant on the punk/ska scene and they don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. Although finding the time and energy to continue pushing the band forward has become more difficult with the addition of families, children and the simple fact of getting older, Less Than Jake still managed to record their seventh studio album, GNV FLA which was just released on June 24, 2008. As if recording a full-length album isn’t enough of a challenge, the band also started their own record label, Sleep It Off Records. Add all this to an extensive summer touring schedule and fans have to wonder, is there anything that can slow down Less Than Jake?

With the state of the music industry these days, it is simultaneously easier to get music out to the public and harder to make money doing it. For Less Than Jake, the band’s expectations with each new release have changed as time has gone on - and their hopes for GNV FLA aren’t an exception. Peter “JR” Wasilewski, saxophonist for Less Than Jake, explains, “I think our hope for GNV FLA is that our fans like it and that it compels them to come and see us play on tour. I think the desires change record-to-record, not due to our longevity, but due to the technology that surrounds us. If this was 10 years ago, I would say we’d hope it sells 500,000… nowadays if you sell 100,000 it’s considered a success. I’d say it’s a success if one other person besides our moms buys it.”

As the industry changes, it has allowed bands like Less Than Jake to start new record labels and, therefore, gives bands greater creative control. According to Wasilewski, beginning Sleep It Off Records was the right thing for the band to do at this point in their career. “I think starting our own label just made sense. No one at any label knows more about our band or how to market our band than the five of us. We are confident enough in each other and our abilities that it only makes sense to do it together for ourselves. We also figured to have 100 percent of control of our career is really the ultimate dream … I have to answer my own call and I know I’m faking,” Wasilewski says.

Despite having so much studio experience, the five members of Less Than Jake did still go through some learning experiences while making GNV FLA and enjoyed the experience of being their own bosses. “The approach we took on this record was to keep the creative decisions among the five of us; no real outsiders until Matt [Allison] came down and did [pre-production] with us. The demos we did are structurally 99% the same on all of the tracks you hear on the record. It’s nice to be able to be happy with the final product. Not that we haven’t been with records in the past, but this one was very liberating for us,” Wasilewski says.

Depending on the individual, releasing an album this far along in one’s career could be run of the mill, but the challenges of starting Sleep It Off Records and doing everything themselves was a good experience according to Wasilewski. “It’s not as easy as people would think and it’s stressful from time to time because if something fucks up, the only people to blame are ourselves. But the rewards are the most satisfying because when the hard work pays off, you know you did it. For me, that’s the thing I’m most proud of… the fact that we are doing it for us. It rules.”

In addition to the excitement of a new album and record label, Less Than Jake is looking forward to a lot of touring this summer. One might think that after being in a band for 16 years, it would be hard to keep going and, to an extent, Wasilewski agrees, “Of course [it’s hard to keep going], but what keeps us coming back is the thrill of the show. Still, to this day, all of us are like little kids at Christmas when we get to play. As bad of a day as I may be having, as soon as the five of us play that first note, nothing in the world matters and all is right in the universe. It’s the magic that keeps us doing it - like Doug Henning style magic. Not that David Blaine bullshit. That dude is a poser.” Touring may help recharge the guys of Less Than Jake, but it also helps keep the band together. “Touring is why we are still a band. It is probably the most important part of any band’s career. And you better be good at it because there are a lot of bands out there,” Wasilewski says.

Although Less Than Jake will be headlining a number of their own shows this summer, they also will be co-headlining a number of dates with Goldfinger. Rather than such shows being a mortal battle among egos, Wasilewski finds the fun in it. “Co-headlining is fun ‘cause it is like a little competition every night - nothing serious. Last summer it was rad to see Reel Big Fish play and then have to go out there and kick ass to make kids have as much fun as they just had ‘doin’ the fish … yeah, yeah, yeah…!’ It’s fun.”

Even though Less Than Jake isn’t exactly a household name, it’s that fact that has kept the band pushing forward over the last 16 years. Despite the occasional fears that the band could become irrelevant, Wasilewski and his bandmates continue the work they’ve begun. Wasilewski explains, “I think the fact that we never had a ‘hit’ has always kept us hungry to keep working. We have never stopped working. It’s the work ethic that has really kept us going - that and not really latching on to any particular scene. We just do our thing. The way we deal with doubts is bust our asses and leave no doubt that at least we are trying our best.”

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Learn more about Less Than Jake by visiting lessthanjake.com.
Add Less Than Jake on MySpace by clicking here.

By Jason Gardner

Imagine a world where a metal band has become so big that their fans will do practically anything the band says and will buy anything the band endorses. Imagine a band that has amassed enough money to become the 12th largest economy on the planet – all while facing pressure from management to produce another record. Imagine a band that has created such a wave of power and influence that a government-led group watches their every move to try and find a way to take them down. While the premise for fictional metal band Dethklok and their Adult Swim show Metalocalypse may sound a little far fetched, it doesn’t take much to see how close to reality the “brutalist band in the world” really is.

“A lot of the things we’ve shown happening with Dethklok are based on things that have happened already,” Metalocalypse mastermind Brendon Small says. Small cites the movie The People Versus John Lennon as one example of popular culture occurrences that have influenced the show’s storyline. “It’s possible that a person has enough influence and a big enough crowd,” says Small, “that they could be a threat to the government — like with Vietnam and John Lennon.”

However, Small says he aims to show these occurrences not by reenacting them, but by blowing them out of proportion. Occurrences such as when the Dixie Chicks spoke out against President George Bush which, in turn, negatively affected their career, or religion in music, or people dying at concerts, “In the show, it has taken quite awhile for Dethklok to get around to recording a record, and the last record it cost hundreds of millions of dollars,” Small says. “Look at Axl Rose and Chinese Democracy, an album that he promised would be ready a long time ago. If Dethklok doesn’t put out a record, the world economy suffers because of it.”

For Small, a graduate of the Berklee College Of Music and creator of fellow Adult Swim cartoon Home Movies, the creation of Metalocalypse came about after Adult Swim approached him about doing a show that would incorporate music. “[Adult Swim] knew I could write shows and write music,” says Small, “I just didn’t want to be one of those guys with an acoustic guitar like Tenacious D or Flight Of The Conchords.” After consulting with the minds of Tommy Blancha, who he met during his time doing standup comedy after college, and Jon Schnepp, who would help design the characters of Metalocalypse, Small approached Adult Swim with the idea and was given the green light.

“With the characters,” says Small, “we looked to metal album covers, which are always articulate and in-depth, for something to inspire in the creation of the characters. Cartoons in general are getting really minimal, and we wanted to echo the feel of the covers in creating the characters.”

Though Metalocalypse and Home Movies share Small in terms of his work in creating and scripting the shows, Small says the challenges faced for each show are quite different. “With Home Movies, the show and the process were really loose and relaxed,” Small says. “I would write scripts and we would improvise off of them so much that I would have to write them just to have some control on how much improvisation was being done.” Small also notes the struggles during the production of Home Movies, in which he says he feels not everyone was on the same page as far as making the show the best that it could be from the production side. “I was constantly trying to make that show better,” Small says, “[but] I wish I could have had a little more of a stronghold on the show, a better relationship and gone over people’s heads at the production company. They would slide stuff past me and Loren [Bouchard].”

However, with Metalocalypse, Small looked back on his experience with Home Movies and wanted to make sure that not only was everyone on the same page, but that he doesn’t repeat himself with a new show. Not only does he write the scripts, but he also writes the show’s music and does voices for several of the characters, including Dethklok band members Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles the Drummer and Nathan Explosion. As far as voices go, Small is quick to point out that he creates such a wide range of strange voices for characters with one reason in mind. “I don’t care if anyone doesn’t understand one word on the show,” says Small. “I’m serious.”

A big fan of all things metal, Small has even had metal icons such as James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett of Metallica and King Diamond doing voice acting for the show. “We show metal bands looking really cool with extreme slapstick and 40,000 people dying when a stage opens up,” says Small. “We’re paying homage to them. King Diamond gets that. We told Metallica about doing this before we had a pilot and they were [excited] about it.”

Small’s love for theatrical and epic music, a la Queen, has been what made getting King Diamond to be a part of the show a huge score. “I thought the ultimate guy to score was King Diamond, he’s theatrical and awesome, and I’ve liked him since I was 14. He’s a total natural at this too.”

As far as music goes though, Small says he enjoys not only the grandiose and epic music of Queen, but also enjoys music that has “energy and urgency,” such as Megadeth, Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. “The stakes are high in their music, and that’s cool,” Small says. “I never got into bands that were just guys in t-shirts with guitars and I think it’s cooler when things are epic and out of this world. Any kind of music that is well written, like The Shins, is good as long as your song keeps to its logic and gives me a reason to be there. I want to like every band - they just don’t want to put the work into it.”

From the beginning, it had always been an idea of Small’s to branch the fictional band into the real world of music, evident by the release of The Dethalbum in 2007, a collaboration between Small and drummer Gene Hoglan with the addition of violinist Emilie Autumn, who has helped in the music department of the show before, on the track “Dethharmonic”. “This is the opportunity to get something to exist outside of the television show. If the ratings don’t work out, then I can have a life in audio. If you have a life in audio, then there is a way to have a tour - I just have to talk everyone into it,” Small says.

And with Small as vocalist and lead guitarist on Dethklok’s upcoming tour with Chimaira and Soilent Green, he has been working constantly to finish up the show’s upcoming new episodes as well as practice for the tour. “I’m with some pretty amazing musicians who are all virtuosos and can just show up and nail stuff,” says Small, “and I’m the weakling of the bunch. I just practice like crazy and just want to be able to nail all the solos. We’ll have a few days of rehearsal - I will be working on the show right up until that.”

Those wondering how exactly Dethklok will appear on stage will find that while Small and the rest of the band will be onstage, the main focus will be a large movie screen with the band playing along with to a click track. “It’s like a Disneyland ride,” says Small, “you can boo when you want, you can cheer when you want. It’s funny and it’s metal. We’re like the pit to the ballet.”

Small says Adult Swim has made the suggestion to him of making a live DVD of sorts from this upcoming tour but says he isn’t completely sold on the idea. “It’s not about me or me putting my face on stuff,” says Small, “and I’m not interested in seeing the sound source. I think the only reason Dethklok is interesting is because they don’t exist. This is a show you can only see live, and that’s why I don’t want it to go out on DVD.”

With the cross-country trek fast approaching, Small says he is happy to get away from his constant work with the show. “I’ve got my head down working on animation constantly, so it will be good to get outside the house.”

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Add Brendon Small on MySpace by clicking here.
Add Dethklok on Myspace by clicking here.

Season 2 of Metalocalypse begins this Sunday, May 18 2008 on Adult Swim.
Catch Dethklok on tour this Summer:
6/2/08 Roseland Theatre Portland, OR
6/3/08 Showbox SODO Seattle, WA
6/5/08 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
6/6/08 Wiltern Theatre Los Angeles, CA
6/7/08 House of Blues – Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
6/8/08 House of Blues – San Diego San Diego, CA
6/10/08 Marquee Theatre Tempe, AZ
6/11/08 Sunshine Theater Albuquerque, NM
6/12/08 Gothic Theatre Englewood, CO
6/14/08 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
6/15/08 Liberty Hall Lawrence, KS
6/16/08 House of Blues – Chicago Chicago, IL
6/17/08 Clutch Cargos Pontiac, MI
6/19/08 House of Blues - Cleveland Cleveland, OH
6/20/08 Kool Haus Toronto, ONT
6/21/08 MTL Festival Montreal, QC
6/22/08 Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
6/24/08 The Palladium Worcester, MA
6/25/08 Nokia Theater Times Square New York, NY
6/26/08 Ram’s Head Live Baltimore, MD
6/27/08 Theater of Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
6/29/08 House of Blues – South Carolina N. Myrtle Beach, SC
6/30/08 Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL
7/1/08 Jannus Landing St. Petersburg, FL
7/2/08 Tabernacle Atlanta, GA
7/4/08 Meridian Houston, TX
7/5/08 House of Blues - Texas Dallas, TX
7/6/08 La Zona Rosa Austin, TX

By Julene Paul

Musician couples whose personal and professional lives intersect often have to deal with tumultuous relationships – Ike and Tina Turner, anyone? Not so with Deb Talan and Steve Tannen, the married duo better known as The Weepies. The two musicians, each solo musicians in their own right, have found creative success together as The Weepies. Their creative output includes 2003’s Happiness and 2006’s Say I Am You, as well as co-writing and collaborating with Mandy Moore on her 2007 album, Wild Hope. 2007 was also an important year for Talan and Tannen in their personal lives – the two were married and had their first child, Theo Samuel Tannen, in November 2007. Revolt picked The Weepies’ collective brain in the weeks following the April 2008 release of their third LP, Hideaway.

Talan and Tannen, who each had solo careers before meeting each other, met in 2001. “We were fans of each other,” they explain. “We were both solo singer/songwriters who had just come out with our debut albums, and we met when Deb came to a show of Steve’s. We began writing together soon after we met.” The band’s name is rooted in emotional connections, as well. According to the two songwriters, “Weeping is about being moved – by joy or sorrow. We wanted a name that reflected that.”

Rounding out The Weepies, say Talen and Tannen, are “Whynot Jansveld (bass and guitar), Meg Toohey (electric guitar) and Frank Lenz (drums), who have been the core backing band on our last two recordings. We’ve also gotten to work with some other great musicians like John Deley, Oli Krauss, Brad Gordon and Steve Walsh.”

The musicians influencing The Weepies’ work tend to be songwriters, including “Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Peter Gabriel,” according to the duo. The Weepies have been tagged with the “indie-folk” label, though their discography reflects a much vaster and varied influence than mere indie-folk. Talan and Tannen maintain that “something more useful than labels these days is going to sites like Tastekid or Yahoo and put in a group you like and look for ‘similar artists.’ You’ll get a really nice cross section of all that stuff - indie, pop, folk, acoustic, acoustic-electric, eclectic, and all the various hyphenations. We don’t really mind those categorizations, but we just don’t know what they mean exactly - whatever people are comfortable with, if it helps them define what they like.”

Although The Weepies did collaborate with Mandy Moore and have had their music featured in high-profile television shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Gossip Girl, their living situation reflects that of good, honest, independent musicians. Say Talan and Tannen, “Well, we still live in a one bedroom rental with no heat or air-conditioning, so we hope we still qualify for indie street-cred – we don’t qualify for Equifax cred. Mandy found us and asked us to write with her. We’d never really collaborated with anyone before like that, so we were skeptical. She turned out to be terrific. We try to take everyone (and everyone’s music) on their own merits.”

With the success of 2008’s Hideaway, however, The Weepies’ indie street-cred may soon be called into question. Hideaway debuted in April at number 31 on the Billboard chart, and is currently the 57th best-selling album on iTunes. The success of the album may be due to Hideaway’s universal themes, which, according to Talan and Tannen, are “about being disconnected and trying to connect again.” Tannen elaborates, “It was an important record for us. At the beginning of 2007, we were at a standstill as to what to do next – we had a very heady 2006, and there was a sense of, ‘What now? Where are we? What do we want?’ The beginning was the hardest, and once we broke through, it became a really great experience for us. We got married, Deb got pregnant and we had a baby, and the record just came together – that all happened during the making of this, and it’s part of it.”

Hideaway, whose production is stellar, maintains a definitively DIY aesthetic. The recording process, Talan and Tannen explain, reflects this. Talan says, “We recorded mostly at home in our living room. Some of the musicians were recorded at their homes, remotely, via the wonders of the Internet.” Instead of bringing in a producer, they produced it themselves at home. The reasoning behind this, they say, was that “..it just seemed more organic that way. We’d be open to working with a producer in the future.”

Hideaway reflects a broad spectrum of influences, musically, but The Weepies listened to “mostly old blues at the beginning, like Robert Johnson and Son House. But once we get started on an intense music project like this, it’s hard to listen to much other music until we’re done.” The album’s distinctive artwork is the work of Talan. According to Tannen, “Deb is a pretty regular painter and visual artist, and she was doing all sorts of different images as we finished the album. That one fit the mood. We added the stars later, as a bridge to the photo from the last album, Say I Am You – where there are those same stars above us.”

Touring to support Hideaway presents issues that most musicians don’t have to address. They say, “We’re trying to work out how to do that with our 6-month-old in tow, as we’ve toured in the past very bare bones, not worrying about where we sleep, etc. So once we figure it out, we’ll make it happen.”

Lastly, many music critics have labeled the music of The Weepies as childlike in its songwriting and execution. In response, Talan and Tannen agree with this assessment, saying, “In the sense that we’re just trying to be honest and write a good melody – we hope so.”

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Learn more about The Weepies by visiting theweepies.com.
Add The Weepies on Myspace by clicking here.

By Evelyn Miska

Making music is nothing new to Australian-born Ben Lee. Involved in bands since he was 14, Lee released his eighth full-length album, Ripe, in September 2007. As if making music didn’t take up enough of his time, Lee has also started a group project with various other musicians as well as becoming involved in environmental projects.

With this much experience under his proverbial belt, it isn’t surprising that Lee found himself in a good place as he was working on his latest album. As with any creative product, there were positive reactions and those that weren’t, but that doesn’t bother Lee, and he even accepts responsibility for some of that. “Some people love it and some don’t get it. Often I take some creative leaps between albums that seem non-linear to my audience, so I think they get confused. I try to do things in a communicative manner, but you can’t please everyone,” says Lee. Despite these mixed reactions, Ripe was the result of years of work, experience and musical toil. “Ripe seemed sexy to me as a title. It also described the way I felt about my creativity when I made the album. Many years of chasing the muse has left me in quite a cool place. I feel patient yet always ready when lightning strikes. It’s exciting,” Lee explains.

When putting together the parts that would eventually become Ripe, Lee went out of his way to make it the best album he could. From selecting accompanying musicians, to working with producer John Alagia, to the studio itself, not a detail was left unconsidered before recording began. “I made a really conscious choice to get the best players on this album, not just friends who are great players. We recorded in a classic studio. I’d never done that before. I wanted a really ‘big’ sound. I was really excited to have achieved that. Next album, I want to incorporate some elements of my music that I might have neglected on this album. A little more raw perhaps, but still epic and big,” Lee explains.

Even with so many years of musical experience behind him, Lee admits that working with big-name artists could have its intimidating moments, “Sometimes being surrounded by great musicians I felt a little undeserving. I even thought Mandy Moore was lying when she couldn’t come to the studio for vocals one day because she’d broken her foot! I had to look on Perez Hilton at photos of her hobbling around to get over my ridiculous paranoia.”

After all the writing, recording and anxiety were over, Lee was able to step back and consider Ripe as an overall creative product. With that examination, there was one thing of which Lee was especially proud: “That the songs and arrangements sound great in front of 10,000 people. That was the goal. Songs that could bring a big group together,” Lee says.

Lee’s music has brought groups together in more than just one way. In addition to his solo work, Lee also became involved with The Bens project. Joining musical forces with Ben Kweller and Ben Folds, the group recorded a self-titled EP in 2003. Lee enjoyed the project and the variety working with a “band” offered. “We all had a say in everything. It was a fun dynamic; we all had a lot we could learn from [one another]. I want to do more recording with those guys,” Lee states.

Lee has also become a supporter of the Earth Hour movement and works to make people more aware of energy consumption and the effect it has on the natural environment. Lee explains, “Like most people nowadays, I’m concerned about the environment. The situation we are in feels like a spiritual conundrum. We have created a sub-par relationship to the natural world by denying some basic facts about who we are, and what we truly need to thrive. We need connection. We need a nurturing environment. We need one another. Earth Hour seemed like a fun way of spreading that awareness about the issue of reducing energy consumption. I’m not into guilt trips. Any evolution we make should feel good.”

Lee’s work with Earth Hour hasn’t precluded him from considering what he wants to try on his next album. Like most artists, he’s always considering new sounds and ideas. “It’s not a particular sound I’m after, but an atmosphere of creativity. I want to make a lot of records that are very pure and fun and diverse. I want to enjoy the process. I’m trying to keep a very playful, clear connection to my creativity.”

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Learn more about Ben Lee by visiting ben-lee.com.
Add Ben Lee on Myspace by clicking here.
Learn more about Earth Hour by clicking here.