As the California based CAKE get closer to the Webster Theater, we took a little time to sit down with Vince DiFiore (trumpet player in CAKE) and pick his brain.

Harris: I was hoping you could give me a brief background on how the band formed, what the begining was like and where the name “CAKE,” came from?

Vince: There was a small vibrant music scene in downtown Sacramento and John McCrea had returned from Los Angeles. He had had a band in Sacramento then moved to Los Angeles to, see if he could make more inroads into the music industry. He was disillusioned with that scene and came back to Sacramento where he reformed a band and just by picking guys one by one from the music scene here. As things went on, we were together probably you know a month or something like that and I remember riding bikes around town and throwing out band names and John had the idea of CAKE which made sense at the time because of it's a four letter word, had a lot of phoneticums and looked good on a flyer, and in those days we made a lot of flyers and used staple guns to put them up on telephone poles. So that was the beginnings back in the fall of 1991.

Harris: You have worked with a number of labels over the years. I know you were with Colombia, with Capricorn for a while, and then, you started Upbeat Records. How much, influence did you obtain from being on the major labels have and how did this factor in starting your own label?

Vince: Well, when you're with the labels there's a certain amount of letting go you do because you have them because they're doing something you can't do, it's just like an extension of getting your music out to people that you're not capable of doing at the time and at the time we didn't really understand the process and so they did a lot of really good things for us and helped us gain a real followed listener base through radio play, and other types of promotions. I think we sort of watched along the way and started to understand what they did and so, when it came time to make a decision whether we wanted to stay with Colombia or not, we decided to go independent and realized we could do some of the things the labels had done for us—we could do it on our own. You know, by hiring people on our own and, finding distributors on our own. I'm very grateful for everything that Capricorn and Colombia did for us you know they helped us remain visible in a market that was cluttered with a lot of bands. Also, you know, the education of seeing how they worked was valuable and being able to understand the music industry a little bit better.

Harris: Right. Are there any other artists on Upbeat or is it just you?

Vince: It's just us. We didn't want to ruin anyone's career by having them come up on our label. You know, [laughs]. It's like what we do is very hands-on, you know, we're very meticulous with our albums. You know, we spend a lot of time recording, we spend a lot of time on our website. So like really bringing another band—and our studio is very, a kind of personal place for us, so we haven't brought anyone else into the studio to record and we're staying on top of our own business as far as facilitating our music getting our beyond the studio.

Harris: Yeah. I get that. I get that angle.

Vince: I think that's something that's immediately thought of because you know, we always say that we have our own record label and usually when you think of label, it's something that's put on a lot of bands so that's an honest question and something I was always wondering if it was something we were going to do or not and frankly, right now, I'm relieved that we're not. Maybe there will come a time when we're on top of things a little bit more and we can handle something like that. Only if we have something to offer other bands.

Harris: On that note, your last album was recorded in a solar-powered studio. Is that correct?

Vince: Yeah, that's right. Everything has been completely powered by solar energy. Before we started our recording project, we had the panels installed on the roof of the house and we used a company called Borrego Solar, they were great and we actually have a video of the installation on our website. If you go to the homepage of the site, there's an icon of a sun and if you click on that, it will take you to the YouTube page that has that installation video. It's been great. Yeah, it's cost a lot of, I mean it's alleviated a lot of anxiety, you know. When a bunch of guys are in a room together working on something, there's some stressors that come up and one less stress is the fact that we're you know, we're not sucking energy out of the grid—feels pretty good to have that solar energy and be doing something positive energy-wise.

Harris: Right. Speaking of the album, last I heard the upcoming release is Untitled. Is that still correct? Is there any updates on that?

Vince: Yeah, yeah, it's still Untitled. It's fun to collect possible album titles, I have a list of about fifty going on in my Blackberry right now. Just from convos—snips of conversations that are flying around as we're recording. You know with John being the principal songwriter, he usually comes up with an album title. On the eleventh hour, he'll have something that he's been hibernating on and it'll pop out and it is always a good title and so, we'll see.

Harris: So, I was hoping just to get into a couple of songs. You have a very unique genre of music, it’s really hard to define. If you could just talk about how that sound comes about and how your songs generally come together.

Vince: Well you know, a good explanation of our music, which I think, you know what's written, way back at the beginning of the band, somebody in Sacramento paper wrote it was Willie Nelson and Sly and the Family Stone are at a party and they play AC/DC records backwards. And that's a good way to describe it because we really are, we're sort of a combination of country music, and Motown, and west coast funk and a little bit of heavy metal. You know, we have an electric guitar so if you have an electric guitar you tend to get a little bit heavy metal, you know? Yeah, it's basically a combination of a lot of American styles of music. Things that have—different styles that have come up in the 20th century and also a little bit of South American music. I think there's a little bit of Brazilian influence in the music, also.

Harris: Ok, yeah, I know, I can definitely see all that. I took some fan questions. So this one is from Greg in Hartford. He wanted to know, with each record being so diverse, what do you define as Cake's sound?

Vince: Right, well, you know, when it comes down to doing interviews and talking about the band you know there's always a lot of words thrown around but really it's a rock band that isn't afraid to show a lot of influences. You know, I guess it's a 'versatile rock band,' is what we are. Yeah. And also, I think another description of the band that, I think, was pretty good is we're like a modern country band, or something like that. But we're kind of like, almost like an extension of the Bakers field sound. You know, like guys who move from Oklahoma, or wherever guys moved from, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas to California, and started kind of like a California country music sound, you know, like Murl Haggard and Buck Owens. You know, our music is sort of like an extension of that. Maybe adding an orchestral element or a pop music element, and a rock music element to that country music. That's sort of a more looser, hard edged, West-coast country, country-western music.

Harris: Leah in Hartford had a question. Is the song, “Daria,” written about a real person?

Vince: Yeah. That was a real person who was an, ex-girlfriend of a friend of John's. And she did go to Alaska to clean up the beaches after an oil spill.

Harris: The next question I actually toyed with in my head whether I should even ask it. I wasn’t sure of it's appropriateness-level, but here goes. Edmund from New York wants to know if the song, “Never There” is really about masturbation?

Vince: [laughs] I suppose someone could interpret it personally that way—it could mean it to them. I think that when John wrote the song it wasn't about that but if that's what it means for that person then I guess it is what it means for that person, you know? That's one thing, I never see John really explaining his lyrics a lot. He does think it's important that people are able to take a song and that there's enough there for them to create their own meaning out of it. You know, but at the same time, it's enough for the complete song itself.

Harris: Well, you know, I've been listening to that song for a long time and I never heard it until he said it and then I listened to it again and I could hear where he's coming from with this question, so [laughs].

Vince: I see, like the trumpet solo section—the sound of that.

Harris: Definitely. You talked about a lot about your musical influences and stuff, do you guys draw any inspiration from non-musical influences, whether it's books, whether it's T.V., movies, history? Is there anything there or is it more a musical base?

Vince: Yeah, you know. Yeah, definitely. We enjoy just like anybody else. We enjoy talking about current events and world politics, national politics. So all of that makes it into the songs. There's usually maybe, like, a third of the songs on an album will seem to have a direct relation to politics or the environment. More as a reference to things that are going on and a reaction other than like, some sort of literal political or environmental activism. You know we're a part of all that and there is sort of a personal reaction to it. But I'd have to say yes to that.

Harris: You mentioned your website a few minutes ago. I know that you use your website to interact with your fans a lot. I'm just curious what that experience has been like and also have you implemented social networking sites in marketing yourself? I know a lot of bands are using Twitter now, and even more are on Myspace. How has that experience been in connecting with your fans?

Vince: We are using Twitter and Facebook now. The real meat of our social networking is definitely the website. You know, cakemusic.com. You know It's enabled us to have a road journal, every show we write about our experience at the show or in that town, what it was like to experience that city while we were there. You know there's an advice column, there's an advice section, there's a poll section that has a comment section so you know the visitors to the site are usually having some sort of dialogue together. So, I mean that seems to experience a lot that's made it less alienating because instead of just making up your own idea of what your relationship is with the audience, and having some diluted idea about what you're doing and keeping some sort of decorum about what you do, but not really having a real idea of the thinking that's going on. That's what the website has done, I believe. It's given us a chance to air out our personalities aside from the music, just to be human being who want to communicate. We've been able to really hear the thoughts of the listeners. So that's been valuable. So it's been a very grounding experience, and fulfilling. The side of understanding the experience we're in and that people are in with us.

Harris: Definitely. What bands have you shared the stage with in the past and do you have like a wish list of bands? Is there a band out there that you're dying to go on tour with?

Vince: Oh gosh! You know we had tours a long time ago with a couple bands that were you know, super huge at the moment and I think it was a good thing for us but you know, we're so used to doing our own shows now and you know, not in a supporting role but headlining our own shows that I don't know. I mean of course, it'd be great to play with a lot of bands but we don't think about that. It's more about doing our own thing and I guess enough of a demand for our own shows that we're not really going out in support of other bands so much anymore.

Harris: Finally, If you had to give some advice to other artists who are just starting out in the music industry, where you guys were a while back, what would you tell them?

Vince: I guess I would say that they should go out on a limb.That if they're going to do this, they should commit a certain time a certain period of time to do it, and really do it all the way, tour a lot in a way that's not self-destructive. Get a mailing list going so people know when the shows are and do what they can to get their music heard. You know, we were lucky. We had good songs and a good band and also label representation at the right time. I know it's not easy for people right now but I guess the most important thing is perseverance. Also, being honest, if you know that you have good music and you have something to offer people, it's really going to show in the audience reaction. So, if you have a really favorable reaction and you're able to gain a local following then it's worth pursuing on a national level.

Harris: Do you have anything else to add?

Vince: No, that's it. I would encourage people to visit cakemusic.com.

Harris: Thank you so much for your time.

Vince: Thank you very much.