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CAKE
| Motorcade
Of Generosity [1995]
Fashion Nugget [1996] Prolonging The Magic [1998] Comfort Eagle [2001] |
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CAKE [1991 Sacramento, USA]
Members: Xan McCurdy, Victor Damiani, Vince Di Fiore, John McCrea, Todd Roper, Greg Brown, Gabe Nelson
Cake, a band from Sacramento. John McCrea, Cake's founding father, so to speak, formed the band loosely in the summer of 1991. John recruited Frank French on drums, Vince di Fiore on trumpet, Greg Brown on guitar and Sean McFessel on bass. McFessel soon left Sacramento to pursue a college education and was replaced by Gabe Nelson.
Prior to forming Cake, John McCrea spent the majority of the 1980's playing solo and in various bands. During the later part of the 1980's, John moved to Los Angeles, playing solo-acoustic music around town in local coffee shops. John actually played his first time as "Cake" before returning to Sacramento in the summer of 1991. This was the first time people outside of Sacramento heard songs like "I Bombed Korea", "Haze of Love", "Jesus Wrote a Blank Check", "Sheep go to Heaven", "Pentagram", "Ain't No Good", "Frank Sinatra", "It's Coming Down", "Italian Leather Sofa", "Guitar", "Walk on By", "Hem of your Garment", "Alpha Beta Parking Lot", and "Cool Blue Reason".
The Band's first 7" single "Rock N Roll Lifestyle" together with "Jolene" was released in 1993. Not long after they were in the studio producing, writing, designing and practically pressing their first CD "Motorcade of Generosity". The Band paid for it themselves and sold it without distribution. Soon it was picked up by Capricorn Records in Nashville and re-released, in its original form, in 1994 under that label.
Frank French and Gabe Nelson left the band (replaced by Todd Roper and Victor Damiani), and the group began touring. When Capricorn re-released Rock N Roll Lifestyle (retitled "How Do You Afford Your Rock N Roll Lifestyle?") it was a minor hit on college radio. The video, co-directed by John, got passing play on MTV and the country got it's first fleeting look at "Cake".
The next two singles from "Motorcade" were "Ruby Sees All" and "Jolene". The Band toured extensively on the merits of "Motorcade". In late 1995, and early 1996, after months of touring the Band was back in the same Sacramento studio recording their next CD. In September, 1996, Capricorn released "Fashion Nugget". "The Distance", released as a single was hugely successful. Both the single and video reached number 3 on the modern rock charts and MTV, respectively. The Band was touring again.
December, 1996, the Band's cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" was enjoying wide airplay as was the video on MTV. Cake released "Frank Sinatra" as a single in the spring of 1997. Victor Damiani soon left the Band and was replaced by Gabe Nelson, Cake's second bassist. Summer, 1997, Cake, exhausted, cut it's tour short and returned to Sacramento to begin work on their third CD. In January, 1998, guitarist Greg Brown leaves to pursue other interests, but rather than replace him John decides to use a variety of guitarists to record the third CD.
By August, 1998, "Prolonging the Magic" is ready for release. The Band begins auditioning for guitarists and Xan McCurdy is ultimately chosen. "Prolonging the Magic" was released in September, 1998 and the Band was back to touring. The one song, an older song entitled "Never There", which gave the Band the most trouble recording for the new CD, and which ultimately ended up being recorded very close to it's original arrangement many years earlier, was the first hit from the "Prolonging the Magic", climbing to number one on Billboard Magazine's Alternative Rock Chart, staying in the number one spot for three consecutive weeks.
2001 will see Cake finish their fourth full-length album, their first since jumping ship from Capricorn to Columbia Records. "Comfort Eagle", which is slated for a late summer release, will arrive three years after 1998's million-selling "Prolonging the Magic", from which the band had hits with "Never There" and "Sheep Go to Heaven." Cake self-produced the new album over the past few months at Paradise Studios in their native Sacramento. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is the first single which will be released from "Comfort Eagle". Listen for it in June.
Just as Cake welcomed a new member -- guitarist Xan McCurdy -- with "Prolonging", they'll say so long to an old one with the completion of "Comfort Eagle." Citing a need to spend more time with his family, drummer Todd Roper has left the band. Pete McNeal joins the band as Cake's third drummer.
July 24, 2001, Cake released their fourth album "Comfort Eagle". Cake's first release since joining Columbia Records debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200 Album chart giving it the highest chart position of any album to date. First week's sales topped out at more than 72,000 copies, making Comfort Eagle the best first week's album sales--AND the best single week's album sales--in Cake history.
Short Skirt/Long Jacket, the first single from the group's latest offering, debuted at #20 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and, three weeks later, entered the Top 10. The video, directed by frontman John McCrea, debuted on MTV's ''Breakthrough'' rotation beginning July 16. The video which records "the man on the street's" reaction to the song has grabbed the attention of viewers. The video has been in the top-20 of MTV's most-played videos for more than a month and the single, which peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, was at No. 12 in its 11th week on the chart. Several versions of the video were shot and are due for release, including a New York version, a summer version, and a Spanish language Mexican version.
After playing a series of secret shows under the alias "Churl" Cake is ready to take Comfort Eagle on the road. Early turnout figures appear to be the largest experienced by the Sacramento group. Along with theatre and club dates, Cake will play a handful of festivals, notably Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival on Labor Day, the annual San Diego Street Scene event (Sept. 7), and Chicago's Oyster Fest (Sept. 8). After a brief European tour in October, it's probable that the band will launch a more extensive North American tour sometime after that.
Although there is no official word on the next single release from Comfort Eagle, a poll on the official Cake site (www.cakemusic.com) is canvassing the votes of fans between the contender singles "Shadow Stabbing", "Comfort Eagle" and "Love You Madly".
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