Less Than Jake & Bodyjar Take Over, Interview Each Other

This month, American ska punks Less Than Jake return to Australia for a 25th anniversary tour, and they’re taking Aussie mates Bodyjar along for the ride.

In celebration of the bro-down, we enlisted Less Than Jake’s own Roger Lima and Bodyjar frontman Cam Baines to do the heavy lifting for us, putting each other in their respective hot seats by interviewing each other. And look, when someone offers to do your job for you, you take them up on it. Smile, nod, pick up your tinny and leave.

Divulging on on everything from their craziest tour stories to Trump to potential on stage collabs, it’s clear their upcoming Aussie tour is going to be one for the books. Oh, and to set the scene, here’s a look at the guys on-stage together at Warped Tour 2001. Some things never change.

Less Than Jake’s Roger Lima grills Bodyjar’s Cam Baines

Roger Lima: Do you have any idea how hard I nerd out on your band?

Cam Baines: No, but I love the idea of you just studying our band hard in the library with a magnifying glass, how a botanist might study a little-known strain of a very undesirable but rare flower. But there’s much respect for your guys’ music and how you go about it too, you know there’s love. You guys let us on your bus and gave us weed on that warped tour, we worked
out quickly that we had a lot in common.

Roger Lima: Which Bodyjar album do you feel has had the most reach, most fans internationally?

Cam Baines: I think How It Works. Steve Cab got us on the Tony Hawk game and then Nitro released it and we toured with Blink 182 and did Warped we were on fire for about 8 months! But I think that album changed a lot of things for us, even in Australia. We started getting everything listed on our outrageous drink rider.

Roger Lima: What have you been doing while you should have been making more records and
touring?

Cam Baines: I know, right? I’m not sure, to be honest, we had a massive break-up that lasted 3 years until Descendents asked us to tour, so we got back together and made ‘Role Model’, which did well. Then for some reason, we decided to have more time off when we really should have
maybe done another album quickly, but we never seem to do anything the right way; we
prefer the hard and weird way of doing things. Besides, that having kids thing has been
popular in our band, also I opened a skate shop called Locality Store in Melbourne. We sell a
bit of vinyl too, and have sold a few LTJ records!

Roger Lima: In regards to the upcoming shows, what city do you think will have the most shit faced Aussie thirtysomethings?

Cam Baines: Definitely Melbourne. It’s the unofficial home of punk rockers that are old enough to know better. I mean, look at us!

Roger Lima: Am I singing the Descendents cover with you guys again, like I did at 2001 warped
tour?

Cam Baines: Yes! And this time well let you know that we tune down half a step instead of just busting it out in a different key, sorry. Must have been that weed that made me forget to mention.

Roger Lima: I’ve referenced your guitar sounds many times in the studio. What kind of amps and
guitars do you guys use on records over the years?

Cam Baines: Really that’s awesome, man I’m ultra-fussy about that shit. I used to write down the EQ settings on the desk so the producer couldn’t fuck with it after id EQ’d it. Most of the time it was us trying to sound like a mixture of Descendents and early Metallica, Marshall JCM 900, rat pedal, maybe a Mesa here and there, no pedals really, just plug in! I got a killer Seymore Duncan Dimebag pick-up in my SG.

Roger Lima: Are there any side projects with anyone from the band I need to check out?

Cam Baines: Granto has new thrash band called After Burner, then there’s Dad Religion which is basically me, Granto, Gordy, Lindsay from Frenzal and Stevie from Clowns doing punk covers!

Roger Lima: I always get asked, and never know what to say, so I’ll ask you: what is the craziest road/tour story you can think of?

Cam Baines: Probably playing at CBGB’s and partying hard in NYC, or living on that bus with an all-girl band for a month on Warped Tour, or touring Japan and getting the full rockstar treatment or going to Amsterdam for the first time. There’s so many but there a few gnarly ones I can’t talk about here. Ask me on the road!

Roger Lima: What Bodyjar song would you like to hear LTJ do a ska cover of?

Cam Baines: Man, that would rule! Anything. Something off No Touch Red?

Roger Lima: What band could we add to the line up that would make this the most epic tour of all time? (My vote is Iron Maiden)

Cam Baines: Jawbreaker or Dag Nasty.

Bodyjar’s Cam Baines turns the tables on Less Than Jake’s Roger Lima

Cam Baines: What are your Top 5 albums of all time any genre?

Roger Lima: hmm… whatever I say is just in this moment. I love way too many records equally to really pick! So:

Iron Maiden: Somewhere in Time
Descendents: Everything Sucks
Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Question The Answers
Screeching Weasel: My Brain Hurts
And, ummmmmm..
Bodyjay: How it Works!

Cam Baines: Are there any nerves before you go on stage? If so how do you deal with them?

Roger Lima: I am lucky that I have never had too much of an issue. Chris gets really nervous, though, and I have to talk him down from the ledge every other show or so!

Cam Baines: What’s the ultimate band you love to tour with?

Roger Lima: Let’s see. Descendants? Did that… Bad Religion? Did that… NoFx? Kinda doing that…
I think to top what I’ve been lucky enough to do, it would have to be, like, a reincarnated Ramones or something. Or, just reanimated, Zombie Ramones! Yeah, that’s my answer, Zombie Ramones.

Cam Baines: You guys have such a good energy on stage, is everyone still really stoked to be playing in your rad band?

Roger Lima: Yeah, I mean, we are stoked on surviving. We are stoked on the energy from our fans, and we enjoy our own songs. It feels amazing. It’s like a therapy, a workout and a bonding ritual combined that I think we all feel, along with our fans, every fucking show.

Cam Baines: I’ve noticed you’re not a massive fan of Trump, don’t you think he’s given us some good laughs though?

Roger Lima: Plenty of laughs, but not worth it. I don’t like to get too into politics when it comes to the band on stage, or online, but personally, to say “I’m not a fan” is a massive understatement! I don’t even know where to start. He just SUCKS.

Cam Baines: What’s it like touring the in the USA compared to elsewhere in the world?

Roger Lima: A bus tour in the US is definitely on the easy side. The drives are short usually, and the travel is comfortable. In Australia, the travel is brutal. Flying early morning to more distant cities combined with late night partying can take a toll for sure. Things are a little different everywhere, but I’m glad because if it was always exactly the same, I might as well punch a clock at a factory, right? Variety keeps it fresh.

Cam Baines: We need to talk about Descendents/ALL, have you ever sung on stage with them? I have. Who is your fav singer in ALL?

Roger Lima: I have never snuck up there! I’m always in the crowd with the fans, or at the mixing desk with Andrew who’s just an amazing FOH engineer. I have to say Chad. We toured with ALL a bunch around the time of Mass Nerder and I just love that record. But I love all the records. Dave, Scott, they both did awesome in those eras of the band.

Cam Baines: If you couldn’t play in a band anymore what would you do for a job?

Roger Lima: Oh dang! Well, I would love to be an actor. Can you see me in some B-rated rom-com I can relate to the workflow, it’s kind of like recording an album, and I think I could pull it off. I’d probably have to cut my dreads, however. So, I’ll just stick to the making records for other bands and musicians in the studio. I do really love the producing work I’ve been getting. It’s challenging, creative and I love getting the most out of a song or a part and seeing musicians happy with the results.

Cam Baines: Do you collect anything else besides Pez?

Roger Lima: Pez still dominates, but I have had many collections, but really slowed down in the last few “grown-up/dad” years. Guitars, microphones, effects pedals, snare drums, Star Wars, Toy Story, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure; lots of toys back in the day. I need to start to eBay some of that stuff, but I have no problem hoarding Pez and records for the rest of my life.

Cam Baines: Is there any chance of a guest vocal?

Roger Lima: Hell yeah man, shoot those tracks over, I will put some sweet stank on it!