Since the early ’90s Cake has been one of the most popular indie bands, famous for its fusion rock that combines funk, rock, pop and jazz. The group scored big with songs such as “The Distance” and “Short Skirt/Long Jacket.” You may recognize “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” as part of theme to the NBC’s show “Chuck.”
Despite its rise to fame, Cake has managed to stay grounded in its indie rock roots.
Vince DiFiore, one of the original members of Cake, who plays the trumpet, keyboard and percussion, talked exclusively to The Mirror about the upcoming tour, political activism, music and scratch and sniff flavors.
See some upcoming tour dates here
The Mirror: Tell me about the upcoming tour “Unlimited Sunshine.”
Vince DiFiore: We’ve put together a great show. We put emphasis on having a well-packaged tour – a festival that has the audience in mind and only the audience in mind. We want to make an entertaining show for everybody.
We have The Brazilian Girls, who I really encourage people to check out on MySpace. We’ll also be with a group called King City, who’s sort of like Latin surf-rock from Northern California. It’s very diverse. It’s not so crazy that there is like a heavy metal band and then a reggae band, but it certainly has a lot of different sounds. I think it caters to the taste of a certain music listener. We’re looking for juxtaposition of styles.
TM: Your Web site, cakemusic.com, is very politically active, especially on environmental issues. Could you tell me more about that?
VD: We do a lot of commentary on our Web site to make the perhaps mundane political issues interesting. We want everyone to have a say in what they think about our country and government. We really focus on the climate change issue because it really affects everybody. Instead of us just talking about it, we have the scientists to pass out literature and build some more awareness. We certainly don’t want to bum anybody out, but anything we feel is worth knowing, we want to share.
TM: How long have you been doing this on your Web site?
VD: It’s been a long time, probably around five years. We have a road journal section where we talk about some of the experiences we have in each city we go to. There’s an advice section, and there’s a weekly poll that usually involves some anguishing decision that you’ll have to make.
TM: How would you characterize your music?
VD: John, as a lyric writer, is really good at writing lyrics that say something that really brings up a lot of feelings about a topic. … If songwriters are like guides in any way, he’s the one who just throws the question out there. It’s hard to write a song that way, but he’s been able to pull it off because he’s a crafty songwriter.
TM: What made you guys decide to put out a B-sides album?
VD: We had just left Columbia records, and we wanted to try out our new label. We were going to put out a live album, but it’s been a while since our last studio album so we wanted to give everyone something new.
So, we looked for tracks that maybe had been on sound tracks, compilation records, or the shoebox in the basement – from all over – and put it together in one cohesive album. Then, we did the Scratch and Sniff album cover for the listener’s enjoyment.
TM: So, whose idea was the Scratch ‘n’ Sniff? Who got to choose the flavors?
VD: That was my idea. Yeah, I had the old Christmas book, I don’t know if they still make them, but I think it was called “Santa’s Beard” and there was that actual cotton texture of the beard that had some really good scents and smells, like cinnamon and pine tree. It was just a real good memory from childhood, and I thought it would be a good way to tie in all the senses to the music and make an original album cover – something that represents the times we’re in.
TM: How do you initially choose the songs you cover?
VD: They have to be a good song in their own right, a song with good bones. If it happens to be funny, like that it was in some weird genre like disco or something really far away from alternative rock, then that’s all the better.
TM: I’m guessing Frank Sinatra is a big influence for you since you had a song about him on “Fashion Nugget.” What do you find inspiring about him?
VD: Singing is all about putting your personality into your voice and connecting with the audience that way, and he was one of the utmost purveyors of that style.
Instead of the operatic way of projecting, projecting, projecting, he pulled back and a lot of interesting phrasing and the timbre of his voice came from that, like Miles Davis and Bing Crosby.
These guys have good technical ability and expressed a very personal side of themselves.
TM: What are some other influences and why?
VD: You know, we always said that we were a mix of Hank Williams Senior, and Sly and the Family Stone, like if they were at a party together and they played ACDC records backwards, sort of like that. You know, music that has a good combination of old and new.
TM: What other bands do you like to go see or listen to?
VD: I love scanning the radio and just hearing what everyone is listening to, and when something catches my ear, I’ll stop. I like listening to the Latin stations, who I think are influenced by a lot of other types of music. The other day, some jug band music on the radio caught my attention, which I thought was really cool.
TM: What is your stance on downloading music?
VD: John has always taken a position on downloading saying, “Sure, you can have music for free, but I want my sandwiches for free too.”
You can catch Cake at Terminal 5 in NYC on Dec. 12 and 13.
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