Cake Tickets

About Cake

This Sacramento, California, USA-based outfit was founded in 1991 by John McCrea (vocals/guitar), a songwriter who had spent the previous decade playing in various bands. McCrea recruited Frank French (drums), Greg Brown (guitar), Vincent di Fiore (trumpet/vocals) and Sean McFessel (bass), although the latter was soon replaced by Gabriel Nelson. A one-off single in 1993 was followed by their self-produced debut, Motorcade Of Generosity, which was originally sold without any distribution backing. A deal with Capricorn Records followed, although French and Nelson were subsequently replaced by Todd Roper and Victor Damiani. Cake made their first impression on the charts in 1995 with the sarcastic "Rock 'N' Roll Lifestyle", a witty "view from the trenches of the music industry" taken from their debut that quickly became the band's signature song. Nevertheless, the single was only partially representative of their true songwriting canon, which combines the alternative rock nuances of the Butthole Surfers and Beck with classic country textures derived from the work of Hank Williams and George Jones. Alongside band originals on Fashion Nugget, their second, self-produced release, were cover versions of "Sad Songs And Waltzes" (Willie Nelson) and "I Will Survive" (Donna Summer). The lead-off single, "The Distance" also attracted strong reviews and radio support.

Further line-up changes saw Nelson returning in place of Damiani in mid-1997, and the departure of Brown in January 1998 during recording sessions for the band's third album. Released in September, Prolonging The Magic included the band's biggest hit to date, "Never There". Following the album's release the band added new guitarist Xan McCurdy to the line-up. Their first album in over two and a half years, Comfort Eagle, was released in 2001 on the Columbia Records label.