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Boys with the most Cake? >> A band tries to go "The Distance" after learning that a hit can be shit by CHRIS YURKIW
"Yeah, I got to have my toenails painted by Courtney Cox," says Todd Roper, and he's only the drummer for Cake, a lonely Sacramento band before their weird, white, pseudo-hip hop song "The Distance" rocked the radio back in '96. "She was hanging out with Counting Crows when we were touring with them," says Roper. "That was when 'The Distance' was breaking." So it's true! It's all true! "Yeah, we had a big hit on the radio, and it's a blessing because people went out and bought the album [Fashion Nugget], but you're also at the record's beck and call. You know, 'It's really hot in London! You charted at 14! You have to go to London!' Never mind that it's your anniversary or that you have a life. No, the record is your master right now. And so that's what it's like for two years. Even though it's a happy occupation, it's also a great burden at times. But a lot of people don't want to hear about that. Rock and roll is the life!" deadpans Todd. Yes, cynicism and irony can get the best of you--even when you're doing better. Take a look at John McCrea, Cake's porkpied visionary, whom Roper calls "a cranky asshole that nobody wanted to listen to" back in their lean years in the diminutive Sacramento scene. On the quintet's third and new album, McCrea tries valiantly to kick against those very pricks that have made him what he is--irony, negativity, crankiness--but he still can't resist getting in a sarcastic shot by calling the album Prolonging the Magic, a reference to the "honeymoon" Cake is enjoying with industry success. The whole group, too, are trying other strategies to distance themselves from, um, "The Distance." Cake's longtime country jones is played up on Magic to the point where they're appearing on stage during their current tour in Western suits. And what with "Distance" writer Greg Brown having left the band (McCrea, of course, is the majority shareholder of the songwriting dept.), Roper feels that Cake is in a good position to rid itself of the neo-hip-bop, second-generation-Soul-Coughing gust that threatens to blow out their candles. "John couldn't rap in time to save his life," says Roper, "and I really couldn't play a hip hop beat to save my ass. Most people who can tell the difference really don't like us. I get accused of trying to play hip hop--dinky wannabe beats--but that's one of the pitfalls of deciding to play different kinds of music: people accuse you of not being deep enough in any one way. But I swear I'm not trying to play hip hop. I'm just trying to get by. "'The Distance' really stood out on radio, but it stood out against the rest of our record. I think [the new single] 'Never There' is also a standout single, but it's not that far away from the rest of the record. People who go and buy Prolonging the Magic aren't going to go, 'What the hell is this?' They won't think that we tricked them into getting this crap. [With Fashion Nugget], they didn't want an album of country songs, they wanted more crappy white rap. They wanted more stuff to go snowboarding to and they didn't get it." At the Spectrum this Sunday, November 8, 8pm, $16.50+taxes
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When you have a hit record you get to rule the world, right? Everyone hears your art. Everyone wants to talk to you. Everyone wants to know why you wear a porkpie hat. Even movie stars, ostensibly the real rulers of the world, will kneel down before you.