Cake

Cake’s founding singer-songwriter John McCrea spent most of the 1980s in Sacramento, playing both solo, and in various bands. (For a brief time he was in Europe, and for one day he was signed to Tina Turner’s management company and got to eat sushi with lawyers.)

In the late 1980s he moved to Los Angeles, because he thought this was the only way to succeed in music. For the most part, he played solo-acoustic music around town in coffee shops. 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. Los Angeles didn’t have any more opportunities than Sacramento did, it was just more expensive and required more driving. In the summer of 1991, John played his first show as CAKE (unofficially) before moving back to Sacramento.

Once in Sacramento, CAKE began to take form. John recruited Frank French on drums, Vince di Fiore on trumpet, Greg Brown on guitar and Sean McFessel on bass.

Before long, Sean McFessel left Sacramento to go to college, and he was replaced by Gabe Nelson.

In 1993, they released a 7″ single, Rock’n’Roll Lifestyle b/w Jolene. Soon, they were in the studio, self-producing their first album, Motorcade of Generosity. They paid for it themselves, recorded it themselves, designed the artwork themselves, and practically pressed it up themselves. They sold it without distribution; soon it came to the attention of Capricorn Records in Nashville.

By 1994, Motorcade of Generosity was released, in its original form, on Capricorn Records. Frank French and Gabe Nelson left the band (replaced by Todd Roper and Victor Damiani), and the quintet began touring, touring, touring.

The song Rock’n’Roll Lifestyle (actually titled, “How Do You Afford Your Rock’n’Roll Lifestyle?”) was released by Capricorn and became a minor hit on college and alternative rock radio. The video, co-directed by John McCrea, was played fleetingly on MTV, giving the country its first look at CAKE (albeit dressed as Romans).

The next single from Motorcade was Ruby Sees All, followed byJolene.

After months of touring, CAKE settled back into the studio to record their follow-up to Motorcade. In late 1995 and early 1996, they recorded Fashion Nugget in the same Sacramento studios they had used for Motorcade. In September of 1996, Fashion Nugget was released, and the single and video “The Distance” became huge hits on radio (reading #3 on the Modern Rock chars) and on MTV, respectively. Again, CAKE was touring.

By Christmas of 1996, their earnest cover of “I Will Survive” was also on the airwaves and on MTV. In the spring of 1997, CAKE released Frank Sinatra as a single, and bassist Victor Damiani left the band to pursue other interests. He was replaced by Gabe Nelson, CAKE’s second bassist. That summer, exhausted, CAKE cut its tour short and returned to Sacramento to rest, and start work on their third album.

By January of 1998, guitarist Greg Brown had also left to pursue other interests, but instead of replacing him, John McCrea decided to record CAKE’s third album using a variety of guitarists. McCrea wrote the basslines first, then structured the songs upwards. Handing those songs off to different guitarists, he picked the parts best for each song. One song, however, just didn’t seem to be working with any of the new arrangementsan older song called Never There. CAKE recorded Prolonging the Magic, and by August of 1998, it was ready to be released. After months of auditions, CAKE picked guitarist Xan McCurdy to join the band. Prolonging the Magic was released in September of 1998, and CAKE was off to Europe to tour. The one song that had given them so much troubleNever Thereended up being recorded almost as it had originally been arranged, many years earlier.

Never There became CAKE’s biggest hit to date, hitting the #1 spot on Billboard’s Mlternative Rock charts for three weeks.

As a follow-up, CAKE released the song and video, Sheep go to Heaven.

CAKE continues to tour in order to entertain you, the listener.