When you speak about the genre of ska punk one of the first
bands thought of is legendary Gainesville heroes Less Than Jake. Since forming
all the way back in 1992 they have put out eight fantastic studio albums and
have entertained fans all over the world by being the very best live band in
the world. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the album Borders and
Boundaries, an album many believe to be one of their best. I went back and gave
it a listen.
Borders and Boundaries was scheduled to be released on
Capitol Records, the same label that put out previous albums Losing Streak and
Hello Rockview but after a new president came into the label it was decided that
Less Than Jake would put out the record on another label. Fat Wreck Chords was
the obvious choice for the band and as they say, the rest is history.
The song Magnetic North kicks off the album with bassist
Roger putting down some great rumbling lines before Chris adds with some nice
guitar riffs and Vinnie adds some great drum blasts. Then the horns join in and
the song really jumps into life. Like every Less Than Jake song it’s a sing
along, with the chorus especially being huge. Up next is the song Kehoe. Kehoe is
all about flying the flag for ska punk, something that the band has continued to
do to this day. Musically this song feels slightly more aggressive than
previous Less Than Jake songs but the horns are still there to keep the mood
upbeat and the track danceable. Suburban Myth is the first track on the album where
both Chris and Roger share vocal duties and it really adds to the sound. Chris
and Roger could both easily sing lead in their own bands and together they are
just awesome. This is one of the more ska punk songs on the album rather than
punk with horns and is about going back to the town you grew up in and reminiscing
about old times. The fourth song Look What Happened is one of the most popular
Less Than Jake songs ever. Starting out with Chris singing the intro over the
top of Rogers bass this draws a massive reaction from a live crowd. When the
full band kicks in the song really stirs into life with Chris and Roger sharing
verse and chorus duties respectively and it works perfectly. Dual vocals add so
much life to a song. The song itself is about wanting to get away from home
when everything goes wrong. This song also appears on Less Than Jakes next
album, Anthem. Hell Looks A Lot Like L.A. is a faster tempo song about the
frustrations of moving to the big city as a youngster and it not being what you
wanted it to be. The horns provided by Buddy, Darren and Pete really come to
the fore on this song and will keep a crowd skanking.
The sixth song Mr Chevy Celebrity is all about the friend
you have as a child who is bad influence. It’s one of the most interesting and
fun songs on Borders and Boundaries. Up next is the song that really made me
fall in love with Less Than Jake – Gainesville Rock City. To this day I still
get excited when I hear that key turning, the engine starting and that classic
horn riff. The song builds for a good minute before the lyrics kick in. Chris
and Roger’s tag team vocal delivery is again perfect and Roger’s intensity on
the last chorus really keeps the excitement of the song going strong. Malt
Liquor Tastes Better When You’ve Got Problems is a song quite clearly about
drinking when life isn’t going your way. Lyrically this is one of the bands
best; the lines “I’ve Been So Busy Denying, That I’ve Always Wound Up Living,
Pay Check to Pay Check, Scraping By But Hardly Trying” really hit home. Track
number nine is called Bad Scene And A Basement Show. This is a break up song, in
particular about a break up that happens at a gig. Musically the guitar and
bass are heavier here and the horn blasts are short and stabby giving a sense
of urgency. I really enjoyed the bridge towards the end of the song where the
only Chris’s guitar and vocal can be heard and the song takes a bit of a
musical shift to finish off. This songs blends effortlessly into the track
number ten, Is Thing On? This song starts out feeling out quite sombre and thoughtful
before kicking up some gears for the chorus. I really like the changes in
directions throughout the song, taking you from restrained and thoughtful to a
big chorus to a finished that will have a whole crowd jumping up and down in
unison.
Pete Jackson Is Getting Married is one of the most underrated
Less Than Jake songs. It’s a whole lot of fun from start to finish and never
fails to put a smile on my face. The song is about the typical “white trash”
wedding and tells the story of all the things that might happen on the might.
It’s not a serious song that will give you some deeply profound thoughts. It’s
a song for having fun with, for laughing with, for singing along to and to
dancing to. No band makes music more fun than Less Than Jake. 1989 is a song
about growing up and not really feeling like you’ve made any progress. Chris’s
voice is perfect here and really carries the melody of the song well and the
horns really keep the energy of the song high. The introduction to Last Hour Of
The Last Day At Work is fantastic. A pounding drum beat from drummer and
lyricist Vinnie and some of Chris’s guitars riffs slowly fade in; doing this
really grabs your attention straight away. The song is about making sure you
pick the path you want in life and not getting stuck in a dead end job you don’t
really want, life is really short, make sure you make the most of it. This is
some advice I wish I had had in my younger years from my parent. The
penultimate song on Border and Boundaries is Bigger Picture and its starts of
like a whirlwind. The song goes along at this pace nicely throughout the track
before getting to a musical interlude when a tambourine and even a woodblock of
some description is used before one last big finale of the chorus. The final
song on Borders is Faction. This is a fast paced ska song is about resisting
the urge to give in to peer pressure to fit in and being strong enough to be
your own person no matter the cost.
Borders and Boundaries is the album that began to change
Less Than Jake from a ska punk band to a punk band with good horns, not all
fans are big on this musical direction but nobody can deny just how many great
songs have stood the test of time from the Borders and Boundaries era of Less Than
Jake and still get some of the biggest reaction and their live shows.
Like Less Than Jake here: https://www.facebook.com/lessthanjake
Now listening to Nervous In The Alley by Less Than Jake
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