Cake are longtime favorites of the Modern Rock format, dating back to their mid-‘90s hits such as “The Distance,” “Rock and Roll Lifestyle” and “Never There.” The Sacramento-based band hasn’t released a proper studio album since 2004, but Cake has remained busy touring and building a solar powered studio. The band is fully back in action now, with their sixth album, Showroom Of Compassion, due out in January. Frontman John McCrea recently spoke to FMQB about the state of the music industry, the benefits of public utilities and why Cake gives out trees to concertgoers.
Cake
Cake are longtime favorites of the Modern Rock format, dating back to their mid-‘90s hits. Aside from a ‘rarities’ set, the Sacramento-based band hasn’t released a new record since 2004’s Pressure Chief, but Cake has remained busy touring and building their own solar powered studio. The band is fully back in action now, with their sixth album, Showroom Of Compassion, due out January 11. Frontman John McCrea recently spoke to FMQB about the state of the music industry, rock star mythology and why Cake gives out trees to concertgoers.
“We have a solar powered studio that is essentially “off the grid.” We were rethinking our business and trying to decide what to do and how to do it, and what made us happy. That takes time and we didn’t want to rush ourselves into decisions. We ultimately decided to release this album independently with distribution from ILG. But it’s confusing. Musicians are supposed to play music, and now we have to reinvent the whole system…or somebody should reinvent it. But since no one is reinventing the whole paradigm, we have to figure it out for ourselves.”
“I think that major label model doesn’t work so well because they spend a lot of money. I don’t know if they know how not to spend a lot of money, and a lot of it is just wasted. There’s a lot of waste in that business model, and if you’re selling a product that for most 19-year-olds is for all intents and purposes free, maybe you have to rethink”
“The whole idea of musicians being feckless children, on drugs and doing loads of impractical things doesn’t really hold up now. I’m not sure musicians really have the luxury of being children anymore. There are bands that I know that do their own accounting. I’m not able to do that, but I’m not sure if that looks good with the current demands that people make on the musicians. I think people maybe want us to be out of touch with reality and self-destructive and dying for our art. That is a luxurious stereotype though, and I’m not sure if it’s sustainable in the current scenario. Or it’s sustainable if you’re huge like Amy Winehouse.”
“[’Sick Of You’ is] sort of multipurpose. I think it could definitely be a male/female relationship, but I think it also works well given the social climate in the United States today. It fits the mood in terms of social discourse and political discourse and impoliteness in general.
“I thought when we left the major labels that we wouldn’t be able to ever go on a TV show. I thought it was that rigged. But apparently it’s not as rigged as I thought it was because we are getting a couple of TV show appearances.”
“There have been transgressions in the past where the meaning of a song that I really liked was fundamentally changed and I couldn’t listen to it anymore without thinking about ketchup or something else.”
** QB Content by Joey Odorisio **
