The world according to Cake: a band that's really baking - music group Cake - Interview

Are the tunes of Cake gateau for modern ears? Yes, and creamy-smooth they are, too, although the Icing - that is, singer-leader John McCrea's deadpan delivery - is at times genuinely icy, and the cabaret-country-soul-funk filling recalls rock recipes past. Promoting their LP Fashion Nugget (Capricorn), Cake - Greg Brown (guitar, organ), Victor Damiani (bass), Vincent di Fiore (trumpet, percussion), and Todd Roper (drums) complete the lineup - was in Houston, Texas when we had new wave icon Jonathan Richman give McCrea a call. Why the "Roadrunner" guy? Because, like the Sacramento combo, he's an exponent of auto songs and the faux-naive, and a Cake-lover to boot. What could be sweeter?

JONATHAN RICHMAN: I'm Just going to ask these 1950s questions, like when I'd listen to The Woo Woo Ginsberg Show and he'd say to some rock 'n' roll singer, "Hey, Freddie, so you're playIng at the Palace tonight?" And the guy'd go, "Year, Woo, we'll be there at eight-thirty." "Well, how are you doing on the road?" And Freddie'd say, "Oh, fine," and that would be it.

JOHN MCCREA: Well, let me ask you, are you on the road a lot?

JR: About half the year. I'm trying to cut down. I did about one hundred and ten shows last year.

JM: That's a lot. Yeah, we're trying to cut down, too, but it's not really the time to cut down too much.

JR: How come?

JM: We just released our record, and I guess the label is trying to squeeze all they can out of it, which I understand and respect. I think that's good economy, but by the same token, I want to go home a lot.

JR: What is your favorite size place to play?

JM: My favorite size places are the smallest.

JR: Like how small? Like a hundred?

JM: Yeah. Some thousand-seaters are great, but there are very few of those that are excellent acoustically for musicians. Five hundred or eight hundred seems comfortable. What do you think about crowd surfing?

JR: What's that?

JM: When people wearing army boots climb up on people's heads and try to glide across them toward the stage and are deposited in a clump at your feet. Then these burly security guards grab them and probably beat them up backstage. It's really dramatic. It happens with our music, but I was thinking, God, we play, like, easy listening music, and I don't understand aesthetically how the crowd surfing thing works. And then there's also the mosh pit thing.

JR: That happens at your shows, too?

JM: Yeah. I mean, you know what we sound like. It's like Lawrence Welk music.

JR: I'm not shocked, though, because I thought It might happen to you guys. See, I've heard of things like that.

JM: You've never seen it?

JR: Not up close like that, no.

JM: I think it has to do with feeling virile and dynamic about life, although it belongs in some places and not in others. For example, I saw this woman get kicked in the back of the head and she was bent over this barrier...

JR: At one of your shows?

JM: Yeah. I was like, "What the fuck is going on here?" It seems to me that "might makes right" - big dudes kicking people - has been going on for hundreds of years. There's nothing very alternative or subversive about it. How can that be punk rock?

JR: Oh, well, I'm not too familiar with this whole thing.

JM: Shut up.

JR: Well, I'm not. [laughs]

JM: I think you are.

JR: I am not.

JM: You're trying to distance yourself from it.

JR: What about you?

JM: Yes, I would if I could. But I don't know what to do.

JR: You brought it up.

JM: We should bring pillows. So, year, good, what else is going on? Have we incriminated ourselves enough?

JR: Let me see . . . sure we have.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group