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 DiFiore (b. 17 December 1963, Torrance, California, USA; trumpet, keyboards, vocals) and Sean McFessel (bass), although the latter was soon replaced by Gabriel Nelson. A one-off single in 1993 (‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Lifestyle’) was followed by their self-produced debut, Motorcade Of Generosity, which was originally sold without any distribution backing. A contract 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 a re-release of the sarcastic ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Lifestyle’, a witty ‘view from the trenches of the music industry’ 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, and a variety of other musical genres, including funk, ska, jazz and rap. 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, and helped propel the album towards platinum sales status.
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 (he had featured on the album as a guest musician). Their first album in over two and a half years, Comfort Eagle, was released in 2001 on the Columbia Records label, although by now the Cake musical blueprint was wearing thin. Nevertheless, the single ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’ enjoyed success on alternative radio. The same fault bedevilled the 2004 follow-up Pressure Chief, with a cover version of Bread’s ‘Guitar Man’ a particular culprit. Drummer Todd Roper was only featured as a guest musician on the album, having left the band shortly after the recording of Comfort Eagle. He was replaced in the line-up by Paulo Baldi. (NB: Not to be confused with the 60s girl group of the same name.)
