I went to see my most favorite band in the whole world the other night and it was a rare experience because I also got to meet them!! Finally after 13 years of being a deticated fan, official card carrying fan club member, lol....I got the added excitement of interacting with the band members. I was thrilled!
"I can't listen to all the reasons, I just need one more thing to believe in. The one thing that will keep me breathing. So, I'll kiss the dirt when I hit dry land" -LTJ
During a random morning check of Myspace, I saw that the band was going to be appearing at the Virgin record store and playing an acoustic set and would be signing stuff that afternoon. I got there and purchased the new album and received a vinyl which I had the whole band autograph. It was awesome. Chris and Roger, two of the more well known members played a few songs and I rocked out still marveling in the fact that they were making such an intimate appearance. In all the times I've seen them play, I never saw them come out and talk to fans, at least not formally. I had a ton of things I wanted to say to them but when I got up there I pretty much just said hello and told them they were awesome and thanked them for making such great music that has inspired me and been with me through thick and thin.
"Surviving is my best revenge, what hurts you once won't hurt you again. She meant what she said" - LTJ
Later at the show, a few ska bands opened who were all pretty good - including Mustard Plug, a band I came to know on a youth group trip one summer after 10th grade. It was fun to see them play and then finally LTJ!!! They played a kick ass show as always and as usual, played lots of old songs. Their traditional confetti cannons shot off during 'All My Best Friends Are Metalheads' and then again during the finale song 'Plastic Cup Politics'. I was in heaven. It's amazing how that same environment can be recreated again and again, it's like I'm back at the Electric Factory in 1998 skanking away with my friend Jason right after Hello Rockview came out, having the time of my life.
"I always walk the line between lows and the highest highs and I don't mind" - LTJ
The pit was pretty rough, a lot rougher than I remembered for a ska show but I didn't mind getting pushed and shoved, elbowed and plowed against in the instance of being at one with the music that describes my soul. I stood beneath the spot where Roger played because I love watching him, he has such great expressions and stage presence and makes a lot of eye contact with the fans and I always get more out of the show when I can feel like I'm connecting with him.
"Just standing in this crowded room still makes me feel alive. The thoughts that's in our brains, were razor sharp but all the years made them fade or wrote them in a different way" - LTJ
The new album is really good. I didn't know how I felt at first because it's a little different than their more recent stuff. However, it goes back to the roots of what Less Than Jake is all about. The band started their own record label Sleep It Off Records, moving away from Warner Brothers, and are going back to what their true character is, with the fast punk rock horn sounds of their early days. That's fine with me because Losing Streak is my favorite album and I think LTJ GNV FLA is more or less comparable to that, Pezcore and Losers, Kings & Things We Don't Understand. LTJ FOREVER!!! :o)
"And the cities skyline hasn't looked the same, since the boom in South Florida's real estate. It's turning into more than I can take. Too much too soon, too little too late" - LTJ
