“We’re not half as ironic as everyone says we are,” says John McCrae, the guitarist, lead singer and chief lyricist for the pioneering alt-rock band Cake. “I’d challenge the critics to find 10 instances in our body of work that fit the dictionary definition of irony. They don’t know what the word means. Just because you have tragedy and humor hanging out next to each other, that does not automatically give you irony.”
McCrae had to be goaded into this half-angry soliloquy – for most of our interview, he was as affable as could be. But when the “I” word came up, in connection with the band’s new collection of unlikely covers, B-Sides and Rarities, his mild exasperation surfaced.
My query was prompted by the CD’s inclusion of such nuggets as Sinatra’s immortal “Strangers in the Night,” Barry White’s soul classic “Never Never Gonna Give You Up,” and Kenny Rogers’ bathetic masterpiece “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love To Town).” Even though the LP highlights the undeniable charm of each song, I had to wonder: Are you kidding?
“Let me ask you a question,” McCrae replied. “I want to know how it happened that the list of songs that are acceptable material for ‘alternative’ bands got so short. How did it become so narrow? When did things get so tight and nervous – even within supposedly rebel culture?
“The Stooges, Velvet Underground and Big Star – they’re OK; but we shouldn’t play a Kenny Rogers song? I understand that pop culture is uptight and nervous, but supposedly-subversive alternative culture is expected to widen the scope, not narrow it.”
It’s likely that McCrae has had some practice discussing this topic. Previous efforts have included an uncanny cover of the Doris Day gem “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps,” and the Gloria Gaynor disco anthem “I Will Survive,” which became a college-radio smash when Cake covered it on 1996’s multi-hit breakthrough Fashion Nugget, and still brings the crowds to their feet at every show.
In recent years, Cake has electrified live audiences with its Cali-style version of the most devastating anti-war song of all time – Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” It is available now as the first track of B-Sides and Rarities, and as a don’t-miss video on YouTube.
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Tellingly, the most effective covers on the new record are remakes of two older Cake originals: “It’s Coming Down,” from Fashion Nugget, and “Short Skirt, Long Jacket,” from 2001’s Comfort Eagle. These songs serve as a reminder that even with his unique ability to mine the pop-music canon for material, it’s McCrae’s songwriting that makes Cake one of today’s great bands.
His whip-smart lyrics are notorious for their vicious wit, as in the arena-friendly “Sheep Go To Heaven (and Goats Go To Hell),” with its sing-along chorus: “Go to hell, go to hell!” Similarly, “Short Skirt, Long Jacket” could serve as a theme for The Man Show even as it ridicules the Male Gaze; and “Italian Leather Sofa,” which soft-sells a blistering critique of yuppie consumerism (“She doesn’t care/ whether or not he’s an island. She doesn’t care/ just as long as his ship’s coming in”) no doubt found its way onto many high-end sound systems.
McCrae’s signature lyrics are often delivered in a near-monotone – his singing style is universally described as “deadpan.” That’s one reason a Cake song is instantly recognizable; the other is the band’s unique sound: a sparse landscape punctuated by purposefully straightforward guitar-licks and enthusiastic outbursts from trumpeter Vince DiFiore.
McCrae says that in the old days, the band struggled to find a way to make room for “two really bold instruments.”
“It took a while for us to figure out how to fit it all together in a way that was not repugnant,” he says. The answer was to strip down to basics. “We believe that less is more,” he says. “Personally, that’s my philosophy in life as well as in art. Just because technology lets us have everything at once, there’s no reason technology should lead human experience. It’s like saying that because you drive an SUV, and you have all this room, you should become really fat.
“The philosophy of our band is that even though we could turn it up to 11, we would rather turn it down to seven. It’s something we all oughtta do.” He is not being ironic.