Though it’s been seven years since the last Cake studio LP, you can understand why it took the eclectic Sacramento, Calif., rockers so long to finish album number six. Like its predecessors, Showroom Of Compassion was self-produced, but for the new LP, the band members engineered it themselves in their solar-powered studio and released it on their self-run Upbeat label. And aside from gigging relentlessly, the group also organized the multi-genre Unlimited Sunshine Tours (which have featured bands as diverse as the Flaming Lips, De La Soul and Cheap Trick) and is currently in the planning stages for a 2011 UST. Cake—vocalist/pianist John McCrea, multi-instrumentalists Vincent DiFiore, Xan McCurdy and Gabriel Nelson and drummer Paulo Baldi—is taking to the road this week in support of Showroom Of Compassion, playing multiple nights in numerous cities. The band will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with DiFiore.
John McCrea: I highly recommend buying as many things as possible from thrift stores. You can find almost anything you’d find retail, but with far more personality and for less than a quarter of the price. Plus, it is so much more rewarding to actually hunt your stuff down than to have it spoon-fed to you by style experts who are studying the personality of your demographic. Furthermore, the earth can’t support this shit. We are running out of crucial minerals and resources. Under the circumstances, it is infinitely more pragmatic to re-use whatever we can.
Video after the jump.
