Anthem (Less Than Jake album)

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Anthem
A lit firecracker on top of an explosion, which itself is against an orange background
Studio album by
Less Than Jake
ReleasedMay 20, 2003
RecordedOctober–December 2002
StudioPiety Street Recording, Morning View
Genre
Length40:09
LabelSire
ProducerRob Cavallo
Less Than Jake chronology
Borders & Boundaries
(2000) 		Anthem
(2003) 		In with the Out Crowd
(2006)
Singles from Anthem
  1. "She's Gonna Break Soon"
    Released: April 15, 2003
  2. "The Science of Selling Yourself Short"
    Released: July 1, 2003

Anthem (stylized as anthem.) is the fifth studio album by American ska punk band Less Than Jake, released on May 20, 2003 on Sire Records. Produced by Rob Cavallo, the album was preceded by the single "She's Gonna Break Soon", and was the band's most commercially successful album to date, reaching number 45 on the Billboard 200. It is the first of the band's albums to feature saxophone player Peter "JR" Wasilewski since he joined the band in 2000.

During the recording sessions, the band worked on a second, self-produced album of additional tracks each night after Cavallo left the studio. This was subsequently released the following year under the name B Is for B-sides.

Background[]

Less Than Jake released their fourth studio album Borders & Boundaries in October 2000, through Fat Wreck Chords.[1] It was promoted with a supporting slot for Bon Jovi on their arena tour of the United States, a headlining tour of Japan, and a stint with MxPx in Europe.[2] By August 2001, the band were expecting to release a new album in early 2002, which saxophonist Peter "JR" Wasilewski anticipated to be faster and punk rock-orientated.[3] By December 2001, the band had spent two months writing new material at a practice space in Gainesville, Florida.[4] In February and March 2002, the band headlined a few shows in Florida, before touring with Bad Religion and Hot Water Music.[5]

Around this time, the band said they had 17 new songs, 10 of which had been demoed.[6] In July 2002, vocalist and guitarist Chris Demakes said the band's next album would be released through Warner Bros. Records.[7] The band explained that Craig Aaaronson, who had worked with the band previously at Capitol Records, had started working at Warner Bros, and set up a meeting between them and the president of Warner.[8][9] In August, the band toured with Sugarcult; trombonist Buddy Schaub suffered a wrist injury, and was temporarily replaced by Vinny Nobile of the Pilfers.[10][11]

Production[]

In September 2002, Less Than Jake met with Rob Cavallo, who produced a few Green Day albums that they liked; the band chose him to produce their next album.[12] They presented Cavallo with 40 songs they had written for the album, which he whittled down to a smaller section that the band would record.[9] Recording took place between October and December 2002 with Cavallo as producer.[13] Sessions were first held at Piety Street Recording in New Orleans, where the band recorded bass and drums.[14]

Their main motivation for recording in New Orleans was partially due to the recording budget they had, and Cavallo's interest in a restaurant in the area.[9] Sessions then moved to Morning View Studio, which was located in a large house, in Malibu, California.[14] Throughout the recording, when Cavallo would leave the studio at night, the band recorded additional tracks by themselves.[9] Doug MacKean served as the main engineer, with assistance from engineers Erik Flettrich and Wesley Fontenot; Tom Lord-Alge mixed the recordings.[13]

Composition[]

Musically, the sound of Anthem has been described as pop-punk, pop rock and ska punk, drawing comparison to the work of Good Charlotte.[15][16] Several critics noted a decrease in the use of horns throughout the album.[15][17][18] Session musicians Luis Conte and Jamie Muhoberac contributed percussion and keyboards respectively to the recordings.[13] Anthem opens with the punk rock song "Welcome to the New South", and is followed by the emo pop-influenced "The Ghosts of Me and You", which evokes Blink-182 and the Get Up Kids.[19] Discussing the latter song, drummer Vinnie Fiorello said: "[T]here are ghosts in your town that haunt you [...] it's haunted with places and people from the past."[20] "Look What Happened" was originally recorded for Borders & Boundaries; the band toned down the ska elements and leaned towards punk rock.[17] Fiorello said they altered the intro of "Look What Happened", making the track "sound more complete and powerful."[21] The track features vocal parts from Heather Tabor, the frontwoman of Teen Idols.[19]

"The Science of Selling Yourself Short" is a mid-tempo ska and reggae song that Demakes said was about the "science of just doing all the stuff bad to yourself that you shouldn't be doing".[15][22] "Short Fuse Burning" uses a guitar part reminiscent of the one heard in "Thunderstruck" (1990) by AC/DC, backed by a melodic hardcore rhythm section.[15][23] "Motown Never Sounded So Good" is a Barenaked Ladies-indebted indie-funk song.[19] "The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle" sees the band tackle the negatives of minimum wage.[24] "Escape from the A-Bomb House" showcases an influence from the works of Bad Religion and Hot Water Music.[23] "Best Wishes to Your Black Lung" revisited the third-wave ska sound of the band's earlier releases.[15] "She's Gonna Break Soon" details Fiorello's friend, who was content with her high school life, until she became an outsider when moving to college.[25] The album closes with the two-part song "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out"; "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" section is a sparsely arranged song that leads into "Screws Fall Out", one of the loudest rock sections in the band's catalogue.[23] The song overall was about a friend of Fiorello's, who overdosed when the band were making Borders & Boundaries.[25]

Release[]

On March 20, 2003, the music video for "She's Gonna Break Soon" was posted online.[26] A radio edit of "She's Gonna Break Soon" without horns was released as a single on April 15.[27] The CD version included "A.S.A.O.K.", and an alternative version of "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out".[28] On May 9, "Short Fuse Burning" was posted online,[29] followed by Anthem being made available for streaming three days later.[30] The album was initially planned for release in April,[31] before it was eventually released on May 20, through Sire Records, an imprint of Warner Bros. Fiorello explained that the title was down to the album's lyrics: "They are anthem-y [...], but they're dark. It's supposed to be like the light at the end of the tunnel."[32] The artwork was made by Fiorello, who commissioned illustrators and cartoonists to create artwork for each song in the album's booklet.[25]

"The Science of Selling Yourself Short" was released as the album's second single on July 1, 2003,[33] and released to radio a week later.[34] The CD version included "Sobriety Is a Serious Business and Business Isn't So Good", and a live version of "The Ghosts of You and Me".[35] An animated music video for "The Science of Selling Yourself Short", done by Chip Wass, who also made the album's artwork, was posted online on August 4.[36] On August 19, 2003, versions of "The Ghosts of You and Me" and "Welcome to the New South" appeared on the live EP Live from the Santa Monica Store.[37] Two days later, a second music video was released for "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" on the band's website.[38] While on tour with Fall Out Boy, an EP featuring rare recording's from each act was available on the tour.[39] In July 2004, several outtakes from Anthem sessions were released as the compilation album B Is for B-Sides.[40] An alternative version of "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" featuring Billy Bragg was included on the Rock Against Bush (2004) compilation.[41] A remixed version of B Is for B-Sides was released in 2005, through Fueled by Ramen.[42]

Touring[]

In March and April 2003, Less Than Jake toured across the US with Teen Idols, Punchline and Bigwig.[43] Later in April, the group supported Good Charlotte and New Found Glory on the Honda Civic Tour.[44] Following this, the band embarked on a headlining tour of Europe; it was initially planned to occur in March 2003, but was moved to April to allow the band to play more shows in that territory.[45][46] The band toured across the UK throughout May 2003, with support from Pietasters.[47] From June to August 2003, Less Than Jake went on Warped Tour.[48] For the rest of August, the band went on a short tour of Europe, which included appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.[49] They played a few US shows in early September, before touring New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, which lasted into October.[49]

In November and December, the band went on a US tour with Fall Out Boy; the first half also featured Yellowcard.[39] Before the tour began, Rufio was scheduled to appear, though they had to drop off due to an issue in the family.[50] They were replaced by Bang Tango and Tommy Tutone; as Schaub was still suffering from his wrist problem, Chris Rhodes of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones filled in.[51][52] In April and May 2004, the band went on a short of North America with the Early November, which included an appearance at the Skate and Surf Festival.[53] Following this, the band toured Europe in May 2004, with Yellowcard and the A.K.A.s.[54] Between July and September 2004, the band toured across the US as part of Projekt Revolution.[55]

Reception[]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[56]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4/5 stars[15]
Alternative Press4/5 stars[56]
Blender2/5 stars[56]
Chart AttackUnfavorable[17]
CMJ New Music ReportFavorable[57]
Exclaim!Favorable[18]
Gigwise3/5 stars[19]
Playlouder3/5 stars[16]
Q3.5/5 stars[56]
Rolling Stone3/5 stars[24]

Anthem was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 8 reviews.[56]

AllMusic reviewer Johnny Loftus wrote that Anthem was a " hooky, heady collection of heartfelt postcards from the future that LTJ's youthful fan base has to look forward to." He noted that the "crunchy major chords and soaring choruses have a tendency to crowd out the band's ska influences and relegate its horn section to support status."[15]

Anthem peaked at number 45 on the US Billboard 200 chart.[58] "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" charted at number 36 on the US Alternative Airplay chart.[59] BuzzFeed included the album on their list of the best pop-punk albums.[60]

Track listing[]

Track listing per booklet.[13]

Anthem standard track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Welcome to the New South"2:46
2."The Ghosts of Me and You"3:21
3."Look What Happened"3:06
4."The Science of Selling Yourself Short"3:07
5."Short Fuse Burning"2:19
6."Motown Never Sounded So Good"2:38
7."The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle"2:59
8."Escape from the A-Bomb House"3:31
9."Best Wishes to Your Black Lung"2:54
10."She's Gonna Break Soon"3:14
11."That's Why They Call It a Union"3:03
12."Plastic Cup Politics"2:17
13."The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out"4:54
Bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."Surrender" (Cheap Trick cover)3:43

Personnel[]

Personnel per booklet.[13]

Charts[]

Chart (2003) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[58] 45

References[]

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  3. ^ Paul, Aubin (August 23, 2001). "New Less Than Jake Album next Spring". Punknews.org. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  4. ^ White, Adam (December 4, 2001). "Less Than Jake Writing / Goodbye Tracks". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  5. ^ White, Adam (December 19, 2001). "Less Than Hot Religious Music". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
  6. ^ White, Adam (March 16, 2002). "Less Than Jake's next / Suicide Machines quit?". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
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  8. ^ White, Adam (July 3, 2002). "Less Than Jake speaks out on Warner deal". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
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External links[]


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