Cleansing Rock's Palate

07/26/2001 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
David John Farinella

Cake's main brain John McCrea is blending a protein shake, explaining he has low blood sugar in the morning. After a second of frappe, he explains the band behind the music. "We're from the country music paradigm, which is everyone is welcome to the party," he says. "It's more populist, which leaves us sort of outside the current countercultural dream. The angry mob that's running away from the angry mob that's imitating them."

To be sure, Cake doesn't quite fit into today's alternative music mold. "I think we're sort of this palate-cleanser in between the real songs, the real serious songs by Staind and Creed," he says. "The emotionally powerful, robust music. I don't see how we fit into that--we sound dinky."

But don't look for them to change anytime soon. "That's the way we want to sound; we're not wanting to sound big and powerful. We're leaning towards the more economical sounds," McCrea states. Much of that economical sound can be heard on Cake's three previous albums and its most recent offering, Comfort Eagle. The band's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" tune has become a radio staple, which is encouraging to the singer. "I'm buoyed, yeah. I feel cautiously optimistic. I think they need to have a different sound on [the radio] once in awhile. Does that sound like I'm being disparaging? I just think they need to mix things up once in awhile."

McCrea's marvel at the powerful, from individuals to record companies, flavored his lyrical approach on this album. "It's not necessarily intended to be on the album, but because I unfortunately had to be the one to write these songs, I think I let a lot of this bad attitude slip through," he says. Then he points to the song "Commissioning A Symphony In C," in which an Austrian nobleman commissions a piece of music, as an example. "It's about how things really haven't changed that much. It's a very similar situation. Musicians or composers have always had a tense relationship with their handlers, and there's always this misunderstanding between the two. I don't necessarily want that, but it's so true that it's a cliché."

That feeling can also be heard in the album's title track. "You write about your experiences, don't you? That's the most honest way you can write is writing about your experiences. That's what I've been writing about," McCrea points out.

While it may sound as if McCrea is delivering these lyrics with a sense of irony, he insists humor isn't his aim. "It's not laughy times for me. It's not supposed to be wacky. And people that find it funny are missing the point," he says firmly. "It's not supposed to be funny. It's not funny to me, it's sad. It's sad that I would have to lean on irony so much, but that's my only way of coping with this sh-t.

"Idealistically I don't believe in irony, but on a pragmatic level I find it necessary," he continues. "Just like someone who believed that guns were evil, if they were surrounded by desperados in the middle of the desert they might pick [a gun] up and try to defend themselves. It's a short, difficult life, and you have to use tools that are available to get through it."