Less Than Jake
 

For those that don't already know Less Than Jake is a band. An extremly good but fairly unknown band. So I decided to promote them a little bit by doing this post. They are Ska-ish Punk rock with some metal-like guitar in very few songs. Their site is www.lessthanjake.com. Go check em out!

They're not very well known? I don't know where you live, but everybody here loves them.

As ska bands go, they're not half bad I guess. Definetly not ear-bleeding bad, and listenable on most occasions.

I agree, most people I've talked to know who they are, and in most cases enjoy them to some extent. Personally though, I can only take so much ska at one time no matter who it is.

I hate to say it a third time, but Less Than Jake is not really that much of an unknown band. Hell, I could say that they do really well, and that just about everyone I know as well as most the forum members has heard of Less Than Jake.

That being said, I just wanted to put in my ska-loving two cents. If you're looking for some more ska type bands, maybe a little ska-punk, maybe something a little more traditional, then you should check out bands like Two and a Half White Guys, The Schematics, The Hub City Stompers, the Voodoo Glow Skulls, Madness, Potshot, and generally anything under the Megalith Record label.

www.megalithrecords.com

So yeah, I like Less than Jake. They pull of the Ska-Punk thing I think better than just about anyone else out there. When I feel the need for something energetic and somewhat poppy, I almost always resort to one of my LTJ cds. Still, I'm more a Trad-ska guy.

i belive i complimented LTJ (the member) on his name when i first saw his posts, so i guess ill do that again. LTJ (the band) is indeed a fantastic band, and props to all those who listen to them. its good to see our little ska community here on the NPF gaining another fanatic.

i think its pretty funny that Less Than Jake's B-side album is better than most other band's A-sides.

Yes. Your opinion certainly is amusing.

Forgive my complete and utter lack of knowledge on this subject, but what is "ska"?

Yeah there is people who like ska here I like LTJ and I guess I can see why someonse would say there not that well known.

First of all I live in Florida, everyone here listens to that gangster-pimp-thug rap crud so I don't really find and people who like ska and fast punk. Also I have 4 LTJ CDs, Anthem, Hello Rockview, Losing Streak and B-Sides. I like the Cds in that order with Antem in 1st and B-sides in last. Don't get me wrong B-sides was good but it wasn't as great as the others. Finally ska is a kind of rock where the band has kind of relaxing beats and has a horn section. (listen to the beginning of "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" on LTJ's site.)

Wait, wait, woah. You got to stop there really quickly. There is a huge history behind the music we know of as ska, and the description you gave, while it does give a good description of the average punk-ska third wave band, isn't quite a really good description of the genre.

I'll try to keep myself from going into a long history lesson since I know people don't really care where ska came from as long as they like it. I would still just like to correct you really quickly and say that ska is a genre of music that originated in Jamaica in the 1950s-60s. The essence of ska lies not within the groovy horn section or the nice flowing bass, but rather the chops of the guitar that hit on the upbeat.

Examples of Firstwave band from the very early days of ska: The Skatalites and Laurel Aitken.
Examples of Secondwave "Two-Tone" bands from england in the 70s and 80s: Madness, The Specials, and Bad Manners
Examples of Thirdwave bands from all over, including America and Japan: Kemuri, The Mighty Mighty BossToneS (my favorite band), and the excellent Less than Jake.

Ska has evolved alot over the generations, loosing some of its original blues-y dancehall feel and embracing the attitude of punk.

Alright, sorry for being an idiot stichler for details. I know that knowlege about the history of a musical genre doesn't make any difference as long as you like it, but I'm a little OCD and sometimes I just have to set things straight.