Interview by Kris Peters
Less Than Jake have played a massive role in the continued success of ska-infused punk since first bursting onto the scene in 1992.
While their first two albums Pezcore and Losing Streak laid the platform for Less Than Jake, it was their 1998 album Hello Rockview that solidified their growing stature and propelled them from a band with great potential to a great band and fuck the potential. Featuring the huge tracks All My Best Friends Are Metalheads - which is closing in on 60 million spins - and History Of A Boring Town, Hello Rockview is the soundtrack to many a late Gen X or young Millennial youth.
Known and loved the world over for their scintillating live performances, Australian audiences are about to receive their first visit from Less Than Jake in seven years when the band celebrates that milestone album this October and November with the Hello Rockview Tour Down Under.
Not only will the ska legends be playing Hello Rockview in full, they will also be dragging The Bennies and Young Offenders around the countryside in a triple bill of excitement that should make up for lost time.
HEAVY sat down with Less Than Jake vocalist/guitarist Chris Demakes to find out more, starting with why the band have neglected us out here for so long.
"Oh, geez," he smiled. "So, seven years by my account… was it 2016? Was that the last time we were there? I think it might have been 2017… shortly thereafter - because for a while there we were trying to get down to Australia every two to three years - four years tops - we'd try and get back down there for at least a festival or our own tour or something. Then of course we lost about two years with the pandemic, and now here we are. It took bands a minute - not to make excuses - but it took them out of the pandemic a second to start travelling overseas. We're glad to be back, and we hope it's not anywhere near as long next time."
In the full interview, Chris talks about the tour and what to expect, playing Hello Rockview in full, difficulties they encountered translating the full album to stage, revisiting some of the older songs and the memories it brought back, why people connected with that album, the Hotter Than Hell shows as part of the tour, how much practice goes into Less Than Jake's live shows, compensating for an ageing body on tour, their latest single Broken Words, if it is part of a new album cycle and more.