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.
Xan McCurdy: Bill Bryson‘s books generally turn up in the regular travel section of bookstores, but I think they should be in the “extra hilarious” part of the travel section. His observations of people and places all over the world inspire me to pay more attention to the things I see and the people I meet when I’m on tour. But if he and I had had the exact same encounters wherever with whomever, he’d have you rolling with laughter while I’d probably have you bored to death. Plus he’s full of interesting weird facts about everywhere and everyone. And he drinks too much. Good times.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_JEMpvU8k
