Cake’s Vince DiFiore on Self-Releasing, B-Sides & Rarities, and the Secret Smell

Fifteen minutes on the phone.
That was the deal, June 2007.

Angela “AJ” Jenson called Vince DiFiore of Cake for AltSounds, just as the band was about to do the thing most bands only threaten. Leave the majors. Put the records out themselves.

What came back was half business plan, half nonsense. Labels and risk and politics on the website. Then a jewel case you could scratch and sniff, a secret smell, gasoline, money, and gum off the sidewalk.

It ran on AltSounds on 15 June 2007. Here it is again, from the Vault, as it was said.

Cake has a killer new record coming out called B-Sides and Rarities, which they are self-releasing. Support independent music… buy Cake!

I got the chance to talk to Vince DiFiore from the band (for 15 whole minutes) and ask him some questions about the new albums, leaving the major labels, their video content, and much more. I hope you enjoy… this guy was a lot of fun to talk to.

So, how’s tricks?

Things are good, just getting ready to put out these records!

Doing a lot of these interviews?

Yeah, we’ve been talking to a lot of people, trying to get the word out. We’re releasing on our own now, so we need all the help we can get.

Hey, that’s actually the first thing I wanted to ask you about! You’re self-releasing now… labels be damned!

Hahaha, yes! We have worked with labels in the past, and it went alright. We made a lot of concessions and did what we could to make the label happy and make them money, but there is never any guarantee that they can get it out there for us. Being on a label doesn’t make it a sure thing. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but we’re ready to do this on our own. It’s up to us. It’s on our shoulders. We feel this is a good time to do it. We’re really putting ourselves out there, you know?

Are you nervous about it?

A little, sure. Putting out your own records can go either way. It’s definitely a risk, but we’re willing to make the sacrifice and not get support from the majors to get more control over what we release. That’s why we’re starting with B-Sides and Rarities. It will be the first release on Upbeat, our label. We are only releasing Cake records, by the way. Haha. We don’t want to jeopardize someone else’s chance. I mean, what if it doesn’t work out? I couldn’t be responsible for ruining someone’s career.

Can’t fault you on that one! You also have a live record coming out, right?

Yes. Initially we wanted to put out the live record first, because it’s really fun and it sounds great. But then we decided to put out B-Sides and Rarities before the live album because we think it would be a better transition for our fans.

How did you decide what songs to put on it?

Well, we wanted to create something with more of an emotional payoff for our long-time fans. There were a number of songs that never made it onto our albums. We have cover songs we decided not to include before because we already had a cover song, and we have songs from soundtracks that were never on our records. So, it’s kind of like a retrospective. All of these things from our past put together on one album. Oh, and it’s scratch and sniff.

What?

It’s scratch and sniff! We have 4 different covers: Red Rose, Yellow Banana, Brown Leather and Purple Grape. Hahaha. There is also a secret smelling surprise on the inside.

The secret smell isn’t ‘butt holes’ is it?

Hahahaha… I can’t say. But let me ask you this: do you like the smell of gasoline?

You know, in a really weird way, I do. It’s probably just the American in me… it smells like money.

Money smells weird.

The best smelling money I’ve ever found was in a roller rink. Something about the combination of odors in those places makes their money smell good. I can’t explain it.

Don’t feel bad, I used to eat gum off the sidewalk when I was a kid.

And you don’t get sick now, do you?

Nope!

I keep trying to tell people not to be so scared of germs! You have to build up immunities!

Exactly.

Ok, we have gone way off track. I did want to ask you about your website though. There is a lot of political discussion taking place there, but you don’t seem to be a particularly political band. Are those views going to make their way into your new material or is it just something you like to discuss?

You know, it’s like a water cooler in the office. We talk about things that aren’t work-related, and we all like to discuss politics. Putting it on the website is kind of like being at a bar and someone decides to be unpleasant and bring these things up. Some people think it’s out of place, but we think they’re important discussions that many people are having. We’re no different.

Has there been any backlash from fans because of the politics postings?

Yeah, a couple people didn’t like it very much. We got a few emails from people saying we lost them as a fan forever because of the ‘propaganda’ on the site.

That’s pretty intense. You guys don’t really seem to be affiliated with one party or another. No real agenda. You’re kind of just raising questions and saying ‘Did you hear about this? Crazy, huh?’

We’re in no way anti-Republican. But we ARE anti-corruption in government. It’s nothing personal. It’s just information. We post links and try to remain objective and we welcome people to leave comments and discuss the issues.

So what’s the big deal?!

Hahaha… some people are touchy, I guess.

Ok, so B-Sides and Rarities. Are you happy with how it came out?

Well now that I have seen it all together, opened the jewel case, smelled it, listened to the whole thing, I’m very happy with it. It’s a satisfying feeling of closure.

What’s next?

We have the live record from Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, and then we’ll be releasing our 6th studio album.

Oooo… what’s the word on that?

Well… we haven’t actually started recording it yet. We promised not to put out something lame, so it could take a while! But seriously, we want to maintain our integrity and not put something out just to put something out, you know? So, we’re taking our time.

Awesome, keep us posted on that! So, I just caught your new video for War Pigs. You did a user submission contest, how did that go?

Yeah, this was a first for us. We got a lot of entries, but there were about 15 really good ones. Picking a winner was difficult, but we’re happy with our decision. Can’t say the same for the other entrants.

Oh really?? They were pissed?

Not everyone agreed with us. I wasn’t sure about this contest to begin with. I mean, I don’t like making people work. I especially don’t like making people work and not getting anything for it. I definitely had reservations. But, I know there are people out there who LIKE making videos. They enjoy the experience of being creative in that way, so I hope the overall feeling was positive. We could tell a lot of people worked really hard and spent a lot of time on their submissions. It was really fun to watch all of those videos and I hope anyone following the contest was entertained. I really hope the filmmakers are glad to have been a part of it and sour grapes are kept to a minimum. We enjoyed the submissions and thought they all did a really great job.

Well, they’re giving me an insanely short amount of time to talk to you and I can hear your phone beeping, so I’ll hop off.

Yeah, I should probably take this call. Or at least be off the phone when they call back. It was great talking to you though!

You too! Good luck with everything, and should you come this way on tour, let’s play some Guitar Hero.

Hahaha… I got to play a little of that in a Best Buy once. Very cool game. It’s kind of like that dancing game, right?

Click.

What happened next

They took their time.
Three and a half years of it.

The sixth album, Showroom of Compassion, came out in January 2011 on Upbeat, the label they started in this phone call. It went straight to number one on the Billboard 200.

It got there on about 44,000 copies, the lowest-selling number one since SoundScan started counting in 1991.

Small enough to count.
Big enough to win.