Cake Biography
Stridently from California's fertile Central Valley, this Sacramento band has attracted the kind of ecstatic response most newcomers only dream of and seasoned veterans justifiably envy. Based almost entirely on the strength of their live performances and on word of mouth, CAKE has built up a sizable following that is fast billowing out of the northern California region in a sort of reckless eastward expansion.
With the release of their new CD, MOTORCADE OF GENEROSITY, there is emerging a sound of non-negotiable high quality (not necessarily high fidelity); a juggernaut of true musical enjoyment, virtually unfettered by the uptight and unyieldingly narrow confines of genre and fad which make most music so disposable and landfills so plentiful. Yet this does not make CAKE "quirky" or "eclectic"--the band is dead-serious and is likely to inflict grave personal injury upon those who must lazily define anything not huge and lumberingly monolithic as such. CAKE is bored with "alternative" rock and prefers a sound more decorous and economical. "CAKE doesn't ask you to suck its angst," writes Donnel Alexander of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Since CAKE views genre as essentially wasteful and divisive, the group has shared the bill with a wide variety of well-known entertainers including the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphopricy, Jonathan Richman, the Monks of Doom, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, and Vomit Launch. CAKE is all-purpose and can bring stern exuberance if not serious enjoyment to even the most discriminating and/or self-conscious audience.
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So much GOOOD. | Reviewer: Anonymous | 4/11/13
I have been listening to Cake for approximately 3 months, yet it feels like forever. Cake is not a band, or a group of people at all, or an artist. It is a fluid entity, like Rorschach of Watchmen. The same body, but eternally changing faces. I cannot claim to have heard all of their songs, but I can claim to love them unconditionally, like a dog to its master. Cake is coated with a thin layer of sarcasm, and this was the original hook for me. The first song I heard officially was the first song of their first album. Set the tone of my entire obsession:
"You need to straighten your posture, and suck in your gut.
You need to pull back your shoulders, and tighten your butt.
Come Comanche, Comanche, Comanche, come out,
If you want to have cities, you've got to build roads."
Maybe I'm still a child and butt is still undeniably a funny word. But maybe John McRea is still a child and I am still a child and butt is still undeniably a funny word. Regardless, if you tell me Cake is not humorous, and I will laugh in your face. But if you tell me they are not a serious band, I will laugh in your face again. The lyrics... Oh, the lyrics... So unlike anything I have ever heard in my life. The Distance is a masterpiece of sound. And World of Two, so similar to something I have heard, yet tweaked. A few words of the general formula altered, to create an entirely new meaning.
Oh, and about that Rorschach thing... I was talking about the various voices he takes on. All of the songs are sung by the same PERSON, but not by the same PERSONA. Comfort Eagle and Jesus Wrote a Blank Check are both John, but they are entirely different in character. It's quite amazing the way he can change face like that.
...Cake is deserving of an essay... I don't have that kind of time.
its all about the layers | Reviewer: ryan | 11/5/07
cake-its all in the layers. This band complementarily builds one instrument on top of another in such a way as to obliterate genre and satisfy the taste of any right-minded individual who respects,likes,understands music. they are one of the most important bands on the planet right now and have been for at least ten years. indeed, i must declare cake is my favorite band. they never fail to turn me on (not sexually!) and they know how to ,polemicise,engage,provoke, rap, riff,rock, swoon, serenade,dance,groove,bounce,
jam, ,harmonise and if youve read this far your thinking....SHUT THE FUCK....UP!
Cake! | Reviewer: Gemma | 8/6/06
cake are a great band ! the frontman has such a sexy voice and the first time i actually heard them was in the movie " me myself and irene" with the song "hem of your garment" which i love , its one of my all time favourite songs i really like "perhaps perhaps perhaps" too. (im a girl, just to confirm , everyone always thinks im a boy )
love.
cakealicious | Reviewer: chuck the girl | 3/1/06
I have been an obsessive fan for the last eight long years. it is time that the rest of the world followed me and gave their brains over to Cake control. also time that i actually bought some tickets and went to see them live!
cake rocks! | Reviewer: cakelover | 10/8/04
cake is the greatest band ever! i love their song "no phone"
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