Despite having been a long time CAKE fan I didn't think my knowledge was up to the challenge of a phone conversation with Vince DiFiore. So I did what any self-respecting writer would do: I dramatically (and completely last minute) stayed up all night manically “Google-ing” final research. Slated to be a 15 minute phone conversation I exploited the hell out of assorted web sources in hopes that I would not be revealed as being completely out-of-my-league.

Luckily Vince DiFiore, CAKE's trumpet player and founding member, didn’t seem to notice my last minute prep job. I even managed to make him laugh a few times. It is possible that he was laughing at my brilliant wit, but far more likely that he was nervously reacting to my frenzied /scary CAKE trivia.

During the press tour CAKE has been on for their new album A Showroom Of Compassion it's almost a guarantee that Vince has heard EVERYTHING I threw at him. Like when I asked him how many times someone has expressed any version of the following questions:

“Are you going the distance?”

“What kind of cake are you?”

“Does John Mcrea have tourettes?”

That last one I never actually verbalized. I do have some shame. It’s the question my pastor father asked me after he watched CAKE perform on Conan O’Brien. John Mcrea, the band’s lead singer didn’t mince any feelings after a less than participatory audience teetered near comatose during a live performance of “Sick of You”. He closed out the act with a healthy dose of two middle fingers. It was glorious, and well deserved by the crowd. My father didn’t take it that way.

I had a great time talking to Vince about the new album, being environmentally conscious, and the Justin Bieber song that is stuck in his head. Yeah, we totally went there.

Here is the transcript from our interview:

JCV: At what point did you realize you were in a popular band? What was the defining moment that this was no longer a hobby?

Vince DiFiore: That would have been in 1992. I take that back, for me personally, I think it was different for every person in the band. For me it was probably 1994 when we had an offer from Capricorn records to be on their label. Up to that point we had a lot of success at local clubs in Sacramento, San Francisco , Oakland, and Berkley. Still it wasn’t really clear where we were going. I think that for John this was something he was going to work at until it worked out. Even though he had some misgivings about how the music industry worked. It was something he was sure that he wanted. For me I guess it took until 1994, a couple of years into the group’s history to realize that it was something that was going to happen on a national level. When I realized that that is when I sort of let go of other ideas for a career.

JCV: You have a Masters degree in Psychology from California State University. Obviously your day job would be considered “Cake”, but what advantage does a Masters in Psychology give you in the this lifestyle? Manipulation of contracts easier? Reading people clearer?

Vince DiFiore: I finished that in 1992 and you know I mean it has come in handy in the sense of the experiences where you need to adapt and understand what is going on, you know calm yourself down. It has helped in that respect just to augment my world view and to help my understanding of group processes and individual reactions. In the same way that anyone would need to understand a situation, it has come in handy for that. And also being in the music business can feel a little bit like the rug can be pulled out from underneath you. It can feel like a murky underworld. This netherworld of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. You know, it can seem almost surreal at some point. I feel good that I had that experience of being in school and building my life toward something else. As sort of something to stand on some sort of background where it’s not as spooky to be in the music business.

JCV: With a “Showroom of Compassion” what was your process? How long did it take from the idea, writing and now engineering to it being released? How long did that take the band?

Vince DiFiore: Some of the songs that John wrote for this record he’s been writing certain songs even 20 years ago, just rewriting verses, making it a song that he was ready to let go of and let a band work on. So some of those songs have been worked on for 20 years, but the band itself starting to work on the arrangements for the songs started about three years ago. When we were introduced to the song. Usually what John does is he’ll have a song with all the words and the melody and he will play it for us on his guitar and then At that point we will work bass lines, guitar parts, trumpet parts, harmonies and make the whole thing work out for something that sounds like CAKE.
That’s been the process and we took our time with it because we realized we had something of value and we might as well feel good about it and feel like we had explored every possibility before letting go of it.

JCV: Your band has done something very different in that you installed solar panels to reduce your carbon footprint even with the recording of your new album. What was the trigger behind that decision?

Vince DiFiore: Um, guilt I think. I think it was because our conscience was heavy. We knew about all the environmental news and it was something that we kept track of and that we share on our website with the visitors to the site and it was something positive to do and something to at least put a foot in the right direction. We still have a carbon footprint, but it was something that was in our control something that we had in our capacity to achieve. That made the recording process a little more comfortable. Sometimes when people feel guilty about what they are doing and think that they can be a little bit less impactful to the environment you start to feel guilty and then defensive and take that out on other people. I think that the solar panels helped to create an environment that was more calm and positive.

JCV: What is the band's approach to free file sharing through the internet and how do you plan on making money and staying relevant while advancing alongside the inevitable tide of technology?

Vince DiFiore: Well we would rather that there was not free file sharing because that is how we make our living. You know one thing John [Mcrea] always says, “Sure you can have music for free, but I want a sandwich for free also.” If you could eat a digital sandwich I’m sure people would. We made an album because we had some faith and hope that people would want to buy an album that had some worth. I see no reason why people wouldn’t want to buy an album. People are clunking down you know six and seven dollars for a magazine that they read in a half hour 45 minutes and then pass on. Why wouldn’t you want to buy an album for ten dollars that has a lot of worth to it; something that is going to give you a lot of joy for a long time.

Staying relevant always leads to the music. If you have a song that’s worth singing and you have a band that is working well together and wants to present that song in a good way I think that makes you relevant. You have to listen to music all the time. Listen to old music, listen to new music. You have to practice your instrument. You have to be excited about being able to play music and all those things work together to make you relevant. That relevance comes from the hard work that you do at your craft.

JCV: What is the one thing you love about pop music that you should be embarrassed about but you are not?

Vince DiFiore: The one thing that we love about pop music that we should be embarrassed about but aren’t?

JCV: It could be another artist, a song you randomly dance to that you would like to keep to yourself but I am going to ask you anyway?

Vince DiFiore: Alright, I like that Justin Bieber song, that “Baby, Baby, Baby” song.

[Proceeds to sing the chorus of “Baby, Baby, Baby”]

JCV: Your band mate, John is quoted as saying “We still exist because we’ve always stayed outside of current trends. We’ve watched them inflate and deflate. We’ve never been invited to the party, so we’ve never had to leave the party” Do you ever see a future in which Cake is not making music?

Vince DiFiore: Do ever see a future in which Cake is not making music? Sure every day. That is the thing, it’s great being a part of a band. I love being part of the band every day. The dark part of it is wondering when your last concert is going to be. Every show that I do I perform like it’s going to be the last time because there is always that possibility. We are five guys and there is a lot of individual role involved. We work well as a group, but there are individual decisions being made for personal reasons so you just can’t be in control of that it’s something that you have to face up to. So yeah, of course I can.








Photos By: Matthew Land Photography