Cake
Words: Jo Taylor
Since forming in 1991 in the Californian city of Sacramento, Cake have released six studio albums. The latest record Showroom of Compassion was self produced and engineered by the band in their own solar powered studio and released by their own record label Upbeat Records, taking the DIY aesthetic to a whole new level. They are now returning to Australia for the Harvest Festival.
Caught In The Mosh caught up with lead singer John McCrea who talked about the six years between album releases, how the solar powered studio came about and what online music media is doing to artists.
How did the idea for the solar powered studio come about?
We found this house in a bad neighbourhood and just, sort of, put microphones everywhere, but then as soon as we had that we said “we have to convert that to solar because, you know, we live in California!”. We didn’t get around to it for a while, but then finally we took this tour of Europe and we were in Germany and it’s really cloudy and rainy all the time and we found out that Germany was the number one producer of solar electricity in the world. And it was because they create these opportunities for businesses and residents to all make the switch to solar. So coming from California we were sort of shamed when cloudy Germany had surpassed the world. So as soon as we got home we started researching it. It ended up being an economically smart decision because the cost of solar has gone down quite a bit in the last few years and thanks in part to the world recession and also China moving very decisively in the direction of alternative energy and now as the value of recorded music descends into the garbage can, we still get about $25 credit from the electrical grid for our extra power.
So you can still afford lunch?
Yeah, that’s a couple of sandwiches!
Due to the freedom of self producing & engineering the latest album and free from outside pressures from big record labels, did you end up going in directions you didn’t expect to while recording?
Well, um, somewhat. I think when you have more time to work on something, I think you spend more time. And in this case I think it was healthy, I’m not saying it will always be great, but this time it was good because I think the band overall was a lot more confident about contributing their musical ideas. Part of it is being in the band together for so long, peoples confidence in their ideas is going to increase. But with that increasingly demographic environment comes a more time consuming process.
Caught In The Mosh caught up with lead singer John McCrea who talked about the six years between album releases, how the solar powered studio came about and what online music media is doing to artists.
How did the idea for the solar powered studio come about?
We found this house in a bad neighbourhood and just, sort of, put microphones everywhere, but then as soon as we had that we said “we have to convert that to solar because, you know, we live in California!”. We didn’t get around to it for a while, but then finally we took this tour of Europe and we were in Germany and it’s really cloudy and rainy all the time and we found out that Germany was the number one producer of solar electricity in the world. And it was because they create these opportunities for businesses and residents to all make the switch to solar. So coming from California we were sort of shamed when cloudy Germany had surpassed the world. So as soon as we got home we started researching it. It ended up being an economically smart decision because the cost of solar has gone down quite a bit in the last few years and thanks in part to the world recession and also China moving very decisively in the direction of alternative energy and now as the value of recorded music descends into the garbage can, we still get about $25 credit from the electrical grid for our extra power.
So you can still afford lunch?
Yeah, that’s a couple of sandwiches!
Due to the freedom of self producing & engineering the latest album and free from outside pressures from big record labels, did you end up going in directions you didn’t expect to while recording?
Well, um, somewhat. I think when you have more time to work on something, I think you spend more time. And in this case I think it was healthy, I’m not saying it will always be great, but this time it was good because I think the band overall was a lot more confident about contributing their musical ideas. Part of it is being in the band together for so long, peoples confidence in their ideas is going to increase. But with that increasingly demographic environment comes a more time consuming process.
Was it daunting returning to the studio after six years?
Well, you know, we didn’t just stay out of the studio, we kept working. Part of the time we were spending trying to extricate ourselves from our label deal with the big label. And then once we’d done that we had to figure out, well how are we going to release this? So we went around to independent labels or smaller labels wondering if that might be a good fit. We just didn’t have very much trust of anyone, especially in this overall environment of precipitous decline in the value of recorded music. We thought, you know what, let’s just make sure and just release it on our own label. All these decisions took some time and then we also had to, during this period, we converted our studio to solar and made improvements so there was a lot of practical work going on and making way for the new album. And then recording the album took almost three years on and off. Part of the reason it took so long, when you’re producing yourselves, you don’t have this outside editorial. So one moment you have to be incredibly subjective and really believe in the dream and believe in your inspiration. And then the next moment you have to be this sort of ruthless, fascist dictator and sort of kill the Jews, as it were. Going back and forth between these two roles took us time, and I think that we’re healthy psychologically, but I think its the price you pay if you want to self produce.
Are there plans to return to the studio?
Yes. Yeah I think we’ll return one more time and then I need to reevaluate. I’m a little disenchanted with this business, as one might imagine after the fall out with Columbia, etc.
With the huge growth of such music media as Spotify and illegal downloading and the continuing decrease in tangible record stores, does this influence what songs you included on the album or artwork etc or even your passion to release records?
I don’t think it changes my creative decisions. What it does though, is make me wonder how much we should, practically speaking, invest in the making of an album. How much of our own money, our own time and resources is wise to invest. When, again, the value of recorded music is in precipitous decline. I know it kinda stopped for a minute, but I think its probably going to continue heading downwards. I guess it can’t go below zero, so that’s good. I feel like a lot of artists play music and what its about for them, and what is healthy is a sense of community, about communication. Community is about reciprocity and I don’t think a lot of artists are angry at listeners. But if music is really going to be free and artists don’t get paid but Google gets paid dollars because of an album. Like Google is selling advertising on the road to that “free album”. It would be fine if no-one was getting paid but like BMW has ads on Pirate Bay and stuff and Pirate Bay is making I think, last that I heard, $40,000 a day from advertising and sharing none of that with artists. And not just musicians but independent film makers, authors, you know, creative people. Creative people still need to eat sandwiches.
Well, you know, we didn’t just stay out of the studio, we kept working. Part of the time we were spending trying to extricate ourselves from our label deal with the big label. And then once we’d done that we had to figure out, well how are we going to release this? So we went around to independent labels or smaller labels wondering if that might be a good fit. We just didn’t have very much trust of anyone, especially in this overall environment of precipitous decline in the value of recorded music. We thought, you know what, let’s just make sure and just release it on our own label. All these decisions took some time and then we also had to, during this period, we converted our studio to solar and made improvements so there was a lot of practical work going on and making way for the new album. And then recording the album took almost three years on and off. Part of the reason it took so long, when you’re producing yourselves, you don’t have this outside editorial. So one moment you have to be incredibly subjective and really believe in the dream and believe in your inspiration. And then the next moment you have to be this sort of ruthless, fascist dictator and sort of kill the Jews, as it were. Going back and forth between these two roles took us time, and I think that we’re healthy psychologically, but I think its the price you pay if you want to self produce.
Are there plans to return to the studio?
Yes. Yeah I think we’ll return one more time and then I need to reevaluate. I’m a little disenchanted with this business, as one might imagine after the fall out with Columbia, etc.
With the huge growth of such music media as Spotify and illegal downloading and the continuing decrease in tangible record stores, does this influence what songs you included on the album or artwork etc or even your passion to release records?
I don’t think it changes my creative decisions. What it does though, is make me wonder how much we should, practically speaking, invest in the making of an album. How much of our own money, our own time and resources is wise to invest. When, again, the value of recorded music is in precipitous decline. I know it kinda stopped for a minute, but I think its probably going to continue heading downwards. I guess it can’t go below zero, so that’s good. I feel like a lot of artists play music and what its about for them, and what is healthy is a sense of community, about communication. Community is about reciprocity and I don’t think a lot of artists are angry at listeners. But if music is really going to be free and artists don’t get paid but Google gets paid dollars because of an album. Like Google is selling advertising on the road to that “free album”. It would be fine if no-one was getting paid but like BMW has ads on Pirate Bay and stuff and Pirate Bay is making I think, last that I heard, $40,000 a day from advertising and sharing none of that with artists. And not just musicians but independent film makers, authors, you know, creative people. Creative people still need to eat sandwiches.
It’s unfortunate that these sites aren’t putting the profits back into the creative community when ultimately they’re making their money because of that community.
Right! So it’s not sustainable and for me, it just seems a little bit emotionally un-sustainable if theres these corporations. Again, we have a new group of corporations exploiting artists and I don’t like it. So I think the thing that has to happen, is artists, and not just musicians, but journalists, small publishers, independent film makers. Independent film makers are freaking out right now because they have four days to find distribution for their film before its up everywhere and worthless. A friend of mine spent a couple hundred thousand dollars making a film and then it’s like “it’s too late, sorry”. And all these other businesses are making money off of it with advertising.
You know, with Spotify and You Tube or whatever, someone was telling me that there's a new Gingrich advertisement in front of our song Comfort Eagle which is kind of a political song in a way. But Newt Gingrich, I don’t know if you know who he is, but he was running for president. His views are, lets just say, antithetical to mine. But Google and You Tube just put any ad they want in front of your song and the amount that they pay artists for that is... I’d rather not get paid anything, it’s not worth it! Don’t write me a cheque for $5 please. We need to organise an alliance and maybe be able to come up to Spotify and say “Well actually, we don’t think that 0.00005 cents per song is fair”. Spotify wouldn’t care if Cake took their songs down, but if 500 bands all decided to take their stuff down, then they’d have to sit down and talk to us. And it’s got to happen with journalism, film making, authors. Authors are freaking out, we really can’t feel jealous of authors the same way we kind of feel jealous of musicians. Being an author is 5 years spent in a small room. I recommend a great book called Free Ride by Robert Levine, it’s a totally important book. He basically writes about it, better than anybody I've read so far.
So are you looking forward to returning to Australia for Harvest Festival?
Absolutely! I’m not looking forward to the plane flight but I love your country. The thought of getting off the plane is very exciting.
How do you balance the setlist, especially in a festival atmosphere, between the popular crowd pleasers and what you want to play?
By not writing a setlist! Yeah, we just wing it! We ask ourselves at the end of each song what song do we feel like playing next and its been a way for us to survive, spiritually, I guess and not feel like a machine every night. Sometimes we forget to play a hit song and people get really angry, like they did in Montreal when we didn’t play I Will Survive. But usually its just really good and it works well and is intuitive.
Yeah, usually the sign of a good band is one that can pick up on what the crowd is feeding off and ride with it.
It’s a two way street, absolutely!
Cake are playing at the Harvest festival this November
Tickets from Harvest Festival, Oztix and Ticketek
Harvest 2012 dates:
Sun 11th November - Melbourne, Werribee Park
Sat 17th November - Sydney, Parramatta Park
Sun 18th November - Brisbane, Riverstage
Right! So it’s not sustainable and for me, it just seems a little bit emotionally un-sustainable if theres these corporations. Again, we have a new group of corporations exploiting artists and I don’t like it. So I think the thing that has to happen, is artists, and not just musicians, but journalists, small publishers, independent film makers. Independent film makers are freaking out right now because they have four days to find distribution for their film before its up everywhere and worthless. A friend of mine spent a couple hundred thousand dollars making a film and then it’s like “it’s too late, sorry”. And all these other businesses are making money off of it with advertising.
You know, with Spotify and You Tube or whatever, someone was telling me that there's a new Gingrich advertisement in front of our song Comfort Eagle which is kind of a political song in a way. But Newt Gingrich, I don’t know if you know who he is, but he was running for president. His views are, lets just say, antithetical to mine. But Google and You Tube just put any ad they want in front of your song and the amount that they pay artists for that is... I’d rather not get paid anything, it’s not worth it! Don’t write me a cheque for $5 please. We need to organise an alliance and maybe be able to come up to Spotify and say “Well actually, we don’t think that 0.00005 cents per song is fair”. Spotify wouldn’t care if Cake took their songs down, but if 500 bands all decided to take their stuff down, then they’d have to sit down and talk to us. And it’s got to happen with journalism, film making, authors. Authors are freaking out, we really can’t feel jealous of authors the same way we kind of feel jealous of musicians. Being an author is 5 years spent in a small room. I recommend a great book called Free Ride by Robert Levine, it’s a totally important book. He basically writes about it, better than anybody I've read so far.
So are you looking forward to returning to Australia for Harvest Festival?
Absolutely! I’m not looking forward to the plane flight but I love your country. The thought of getting off the plane is very exciting.
How do you balance the setlist, especially in a festival atmosphere, between the popular crowd pleasers and what you want to play?
By not writing a setlist! Yeah, we just wing it! We ask ourselves at the end of each song what song do we feel like playing next and its been a way for us to survive, spiritually, I guess and not feel like a machine every night. Sometimes we forget to play a hit song and people get really angry, like they did in Montreal when we didn’t play I Will Survive. But usually its just really good and it works well and is intuitive.
Yeah, usually the sign of a good band is one that can pick up on what the crowd is feeding off and ride with it.
It’s a two way street, absolutely!
Cake are playing at the Harvest festival this November
Tickets from Harvest Festival, Oztix and Ticketek
Harvest 2012 dates:
Sun 11th November - Melbourne, Werribee Park
Sat 17th November - Sydney, Parramatta Park
Sun 18th November - Brisbane, Riverstage