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<\/a>That wasn\u2019t a really common thing to hear in \u201992. Up to that point, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Operation Ivy, and Fishbone were among the few who had combined different styles\u2014including punk\u2014into ska. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was never any grand plan of, \u2018We\u2019re gonna be a ska\/punk band,\u2019 it just became what it became,\u201d says DeMakes. \u201cWhen I first started doing interviews, the band was probably three, four, five years old, and we\u2019d get asked questions like, \u2018Do you think you\u2019re gonna be around in five years?\u2019 And it\u2019s like, \u2018Man, I just wanna go play my friend\u2019s backyard keg party.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although there wasn\u2019t really any grand plan for the band members\u2014then in their late teens\u2014Less Than Jake are still around today. The band like to live in the moment, but record producers, fans, and the pressures of having a following have made for a more regimented creative process since the early days. And speaking of pressure, Less Than Jake was even signed to a major label for a stint during the pop-punk mania of the \u201990s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt times it was great and at times it was tough,\u201d says DeMakes about the band\u2019s career so far. \u201cWe were young\u2014for lack of a better word\u2014punks; we were just kids. When I got signed to Capitol [Records] I was 21 years old; all of a sudden you have these people who are older than you are that have influence at a company, and you\u2019re part of that. There were some hard pills to swallow, but overall it all worked out; we\u2019re still here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeMakes says there were some growing pains along the way: it was never meant to not be fun, but he says there were times when it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s part of it, too,\u201d he says. \u201cLife isn\u2019t all a bowl of cherries.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a number of bands in the world\u2014some who have made it, some who haven\u2019t\u2014who would give a shiny new Fender to have made it 27 years in one band. In the span of their life, Less Than Jake have seen vinyl, cassettes, CDs, and MP3s come and go, eventually giving way to streaming services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho knows what the next format or model\u2019s going to be?\u201d says DeMakes. \u201cAll I know is that until you can somehow download me to stand in your living room and play a show for you, nothing\u2019s going to replace the live show. That, for us, has always been our bread and butter and why we\u2019re still a band. That\u2019s how we make our livelihood, because people want to come and see the band play. 27 years into this and we\u2019re still getting asked to travel 3,000 miles across the country to play a ska fest in Victoria. It\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n