Less Than Jake bring a veritable circus of ska-punk to Orlando
- Bandifesto
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
By Ida V. Eskamani
Step right up, Orlando. Gainesville’s Less Less Than Jake’s Summer Circus is coming to town on Sunday, and it’s bound to be a ska-punk spectacular.
We got that tip from a pretty reliable source: Chris DeMakes, the guitarist, vocalist and founding member of Less Than Jake. DeMakes beamed in from his home studio in Tennessee to give Orlando Weekly the scoop.
“Our shows have always been wacky,” says DeMakes.“I often joke that even if we had Green Day money, or we could do huge productions, we would still be campy as hell.”
Whether it be toilet-paper guns, confetti explosions, wild costumes or assorted onstage antics, Less Than Jake is known to entertain. ”It’s going to be campy. It’s going to be ridiculous, There will be a circus theme throughout the show. But on a budget,” he confesses. “I’ve been known to frequent Halloween Spirit stores, yes.”
Last year the band released a seven-song EP, Uncharted, produced by Jason Livermore and Bill Stevenson of Descendents and Black Flag; this mini-album came nearly 30 years after their debut album, Pezcore, in 1995. DeMakes’ home studio is filled with memorabilia from the ensuing decades. “I saved one of everything that we ever released, every sticker, guitar pick,” he says.
Less Than Jake’s upcoming tour is a reflection of that history running through to the present day, featuring ska-punk legends Fishbone and Suicide Machines, alongside younger faces Catbite and Bite Me Bambi.
The future of ska-punk is bright, according to DeMakes. “This explosion that’s happening with ska-punk again — it’s amazing that there’s so many bands doing it,” he says.
And how does ska protect its independent spirit? “It’s always kind of been underground, even when it went popular for a second with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger,” says DeMakes. “It wasn’t as big as Blink-182 or Weezer, it just never got to that point. So I think that might have helped the scene. In the long run, it never got too diluted.”
And even though Tennessee is now home, DeMakes swears he’ll always be a Florida man. “Gainesville will always, always be home,” he says fondly. “I think it was a great place to start a band when we did, because there weren’t many bands doing what we were doing in Florida.”
“Orlando was interesting because it’s such a huge metropolitan area,” DeMakes adds, reflecting on the band’s history playing the City Beautiful. “We played Winter Haven, we’ve played Kissimmee, you name it. So I remember Orlando being kind of intimidating in that regard when we first went there.”
A proud dad, DeMakes has a lot of gratitude in the present moment. “You get older, and you get to, for me, have the best of both worlds. I can have a family and be a Little League coach, which I’m going to pitch in an hour,”says DeMakes.“At my age, I shouldn’t be laughing that my trombone player is running around with an elephant mask that we got at the Halloween store the hour before.”
During these tragically dystopian times, unapologetic joy and defiant authenticity is not just needed, but utterly essential. “The message of ska,” ponders DeMakes, “ [is] being able to be silly, but also … not tolerate bigots.”
To that we say, step right up and … pick it up, pick it up.
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Ida is an Iranian-American from Florida who grew up with the Beatles, and came of age in the pit. She will talk to you about music for as long as you will pretend to listen. She is founder of Bandifesto, a little blog with a big heart
