Playing four square

Right now, I hate Less Than Jake. It’s a fairly simplistic reaction to what I consider a pretty annoying decision.

See, the band talked with CMJ and told them about their plans to start a new label, to be called Sleep It Off. The reason being, according to Vinnie, is that “sometimes you don’t fit in the modern music industry” as a pop-punk act. Reasonable enough, right?

Sure, since it means they get to release their next album themselves, thus not having to deal with label issues, being as how they’ve released full-lengths on seven labels (six, if you count Sire as a Warner subsidiary). Their debut, Pezcore has been released by Dill and Asian Man, with a 10th anniversary remaster on Fueled By Ramen. That’s three right there, before you even consider Losing Streak and Hello Rockview on Capitol, Borders and Boundaries on Fat Wreck, Anthem on Sire, and In With the Out Crowd on Warner Bros. There’s also miscellaneous singles of innumerable quantity, a “best-of” on Moon, and two b-sides collections.

I understand the band wants to make certain that their albums stay in print, and that makes total sense. The re-release of their b-side collections Goodbye, Blue and White and Losers, Kings, and Things We Don’t Understand, as well as Pezcore and the People’s History of Less Than Jake DVD on March 18 would make sense if those discs were out of print… but they’re not. All three records are readily available from their respective labels, as is the DVD. You can check out the FBR webstore and pick up all of the stuff being reissued, except Losers, Kings…, which you can get from No Idea for seven bucks.

I understand that Vinnie and crew are collector nerds. The discography page on the old LTJ site was a testament to the insane vinyl variations the band has put out over the years. Still, when you can easily get a copy of the third iteration of a record, is there really a need to issue a fourth? Really, this is just about as bad as the never-ending train of Elvis Costello reissues.

Time And A Half
My Very Own Flag