They will survive. They have politics and taste. (Photo: CakeMusic.com)

[by Heina Dadabhoy]

Although first impressions might suggest otherwise, the California-based band Cake is no confection. Cake is meant to be a verb, and so it is with the band, who emerged as a much-needed contrast to the nu-metal prevalent in the mid to late '90s. Now, with nu-metal dead and the band still alive, I seized the opportunity to interview Vince DiFiore, keyboardist and trumpeter responsible for the distinctive brass of Cake's sound, as well as the only remaining original member of the band besides lead singer John McCrea.

After a false start involving my name (which is not Eastern European as presumed) and small talk about the quasi-legal home improvements Vince was in the process of making (one only gets caught if one is selling, you know), we got to talking about Rick James, Weird Al, Albert Camus, current politics and, of course, the band's newest release B-Sides and Rarities.

Morphizm: Is "Commissioning a Symphony in C" from the album Comfort Eagle a take on Shelley's Ozymandias ?
Vince DiFiore: I don't know. You know, I don't think so. John [McCrea] wrote that song, and a lot of the time, when he gets inspiration for a song, he doesn't say anything, you know, he won't mention anything. Even if someone brings it up, he won't say yes or no.

Morphizm: The line "meanwhile, Rick James takes her nude/and there's nothing I can do" from that song sounds like a nod to Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Vince DiFiore: Actually, Rick James was someone that freaked John out.  I think that when John was coming of age, maybe like thirteen or something, Rick James just totally freaked him out, and it made a big impression on him.  He was a sort of larger than life character. That song is representative of the ominous feelings that he had about Rick James. Maybe that line sounds like Bowie because that adventure into the realm of fantasy is a bit like going into space. There actually is a happy ending to that story: We met Rick James.  We did the music video for "Love You Madly" and it was a cooking competition between myself and our drummer [Todd Roper].  We had three judges: Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet on PBS; the legendary Phillis Diller; and then Rick James.

Morphizm: So he didn't scare John?
Vince DiFiore: He brought CDs and signed them and gave them to us, and he was just a great guy.  Our drummer actually went to his house and jammed with him.  That was the Rick James thing, just as a teenager imagining all the wild things that must have gone on in that mansion.

Morphizm: So what's the deal with B-Sides and Rarities?
Vince DiFiore: This is just sort of a retrospective of all the things that never made it onto an album, but that maybe were on a soundtrack of a video game, or another compilation album, and some things that have never been released anywhere, that no one has ever heard.  We put them together, remixed them, remastered it, made a good song order, and voila!  When you listen to it, you get this beautiful feeling, some sort of feeling of closure, because it does stand for the whole history of the band.  [For example], there's a song that represents the preparation for each album. 

Morphizm: Your site's FAQ uses a quote by Albert Camus. Do you consider yourself existentialists?
Vince DiFiore: Well, of course.

Morphizm: Everyone's an existentialist, right?
Vince DiFiore: We've definitely been influenced by that; there's no getting away from it.  All the popular entertainment refers to it. The quote just sounded right and was appropriate to the advice we gave to someone having religious conflicts and debates with people who had different points of view. 

Morphizm: The front page of the site had an opinion on Iraq and oil.  Your thoughts?
Vince DiFiore: It seems like there's a nationwide consensus now from both people who supported the war and people that didn't support the war about what went on there. We wanted to extend our influence further into the Middle East and 9/11 was a good excuse to do that, to make Iraq the frontline, to get in there and facilitate whatever political or economic process that was on the agenda of the neoconservatives. And that's why we're in this mess: The short-sighted agenda of the neo-conservatives. They thought they had such a great vision and it was foolhardy.

Morphizm: On a lighter note, Weird Al Yankovic has a tribute to Cake on his new album called "Close but No Cigar."
Vince DiFiore: I heard about that but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.  I feel really honored that, you know…

Morphizm: You haven't made it until Weird Al parodies you.
Vince DiFiore: For him to do a Cake song, that was pretty neat.

Morphizm: I read on your site that you like small venues, but do you have any favorite cities in which to play?
Vince DiFiore: We like playing in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, New York City.  We don't have a favorite city; we like playing everywhere.  People are great all over the place.  That's the great thing about traveling, you find out that people are pretty much the same.

Morphizm: When you guys first came out, you were competing against nu-metal and rap-metal, and so you stood out.  Now there's no competition: nu-metal is dead and Cake is not.
Vince DiFiore: I guess that's the good thing about us; we never were part of a trend. That's the thing about the music industry, there are people that are looking to throw you out for the easiest reasons. We kept away from that because we do our own thing and we can't be identified as being an emo band or whatever.

Morphizm: Wikipedia uses about three genres to describe your music.  You're pretty tough to classify.
Vince DiFiore: It's about the songs.  They're good songs, and if you have good songs and good arrangements, then it's hard to be dismissed.

July 2, 2007