When Less Than Jakes last release In With The Out Crowd was critically panned for sounding too pop & commercial they mutually split from their previous partner Warner Bros. to start up their own label Sleep It Off. After listened to the fans they then decided to go back to basics for there follow up album GNV FLA. Chris Demakes (guitarist/vocalist) and JR (saxophonist) stated that “We should do what we’ve always done, and do what we do best” which resulted in “a quintessential Less Than Jake record”.
The name for the record is an airport & area code abbreviation of their home town Gainesville, Florida. This reference is carried through the rest of the album which contains an overall theme involving the love/hate aspect of their city which is featured in most of the song titles & their lyrics, “Between the garbage and the concrete, to the construction grounds under our feet, a boomtown gone bust, a goldmine to dust that’s disintegrating”.
The album don’t get off to the best start with the low key, slow paced City Of Gainesville, and at only 1min 50sec this one actually feels like a fadeout song that would be better placed as an end track. Thankfully The State Of Florida, picks things up with a fast pace & token LTJ riffs, but without any prominent horn work, this one brings to mind their earlier rock sound featured on Borders and Boundaries or Losing Streak.
The next track & first single, Does The Lion Still Roar Tonight? is the real highlight of the album and delivers the ska goods with an up tempo beat & blaring horns that give it a get up & jive feel. This is followed up with Summon Monsters which contains a story of shady dealers & pill poppers which starts with some growling guitar feedback that leads into LTJ’s usual blend of punk rock & trumpets. Abandon Ship is another memorable track that hits the mark with the horns blasting out at the right parts of the rousing chorus.
Unfortunately by the half way mark the album starts getting predictable & despite the usual vocal swapping from Roger Manganelli (bassist) & Demakes a lot of the tracks blend together. Despite the negativity surrounding their last album, sound wise it actually had a lot more going for it, with pumped up production values that pushed the brass instruments into the forefront & gave the tracks a more unique sound. While Settling Son, Handshake meets pokerface, Golden Age Of my negative ways and This Ones Gonna leave A Bruise, are alright rock tracks they just don’t bring anything real exciting to the table. Guests appearances from Trumpeter Scott Klopfenstein (Reel Big Fish) & drummer Neil Hennessy (Lawerence Arms) should have given the album some extra flavor, but in the end it’s hard to pick out their individual contributions and it’s surprising how one dimensional this five ‘plus’ piece band end up sounding.
Another example of wasted opportunity is heard on Malachi Richter’s liquor’s quicker which is the self titled story of a man that set himself alight in protest to the Iraq war. Despite this interesting subject matter this song doesn’t really stand out from the rest and features rather repetitive lyrics and a simple rock melody.
The infectiously bouncy The Space They Can’t Touch and the stick in your head “nah na na nah” pop punk melody of Conviction Notice lift the slump in the latter stages of the album but another lifeless filler track (The Life of the party has left the building) & the bland Devil In My DNA end things on a boring note.
Final Verdict: After 16 years & uncountable live shows it’s slightly disappointing that Less Than Jake have decided to rehash their old punk rock formula. With the exception of a few fun energetic ska heavy songs, most of the tracks on GNV FLA just end up sounding stagnant and don’t push the band in any new direction. While old school fans will lap up this up, others will probably be over this album after a few repeat listens.
65 / 100 Pennies
Highlight Tracks
Does The Lion Still Roar Tonight?
The Space They Can’t Touch
Abandon Ship
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