''Hello Rockview'' is the third studio album by

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

band

Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxoph ...

, released on October 6, 1998. Produced by

Howard Benson Howard Benson is an American music producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was nominated for the Producer of the Year Grammy Award in 2007 and 2008. Early life and education Benson was born and raised in a middle-class family in greater Philadel ...

, it is the band's second and final album on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, and recorded at Mirror Image Studios in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

. The album is the first to feature

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Pete Anna, who joined the band during its recording. The album is dedicated in memory of Niki Wood. The album yielded two singles, " History of a Boring Town" and " All My Best Friends Are Metalheads", with "History of a Boring Town" reaching #39 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart.

Writing and composition

The lyrics of ''Hello Rockview'' follow four years of drummer and lyricist Vinnie Fiorello's life when arranged in a non-studio order and is named after one of Vinnie's oldest friends who was imprisoned at Rockview State Correctional Institution.

Artwork

The CD booklet had the unorthodox format of a comic book. It was illustrated by Steve Vance, who would later illustrate the song artwork for "The Ghosts of Me and You" on ''

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

''. Stylistically, it is similar to

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...

. Each page is a separate song, with all dialog, thoughts, and captions being the lyrics to each song. The lyrics themselves all appear in proper order, but the order of the individual songs is different from that of the track list.

Reception

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' listed the album as one of "20 Pop Punk Albums Which Will Make You Nostalgic", saying that it is "A soundtrack to shoving your friends, listening to 'All My Best Friends Are Metalheads' and wondering how you ever liked pop punk which didn't have a trombone."

Cleveland.com ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

ranked "All My Friends are Metalheads" at number 58 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs.

Track listing

#"Last One Out of Liberty City" – 2:01 #"Help Save the Youth of America from Exploding" – 2:53 #" All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" – 3:31 #"Five State Drive" – 2:48 #"Nervous in the Alley" – 2:54 #"Motto" – 3:14 #" History of a Boring Town" – 3:22 #"Great American Sharpshooter" – 1:28 #"Danny Says" – 2:51 #"Big Crash" – 2:43 #"Theme Song for H Street" – 2:43 #"Richard Allen George... No, It's Just Cheez" – 1:46 #"Scott Farcas Takes It on the Chin" – 2:34 #"Al's War" – 3:04 (some versions of "Hello Rockview" came with a bonus disc of Less Than Jake's 1996 release "Losing Streak")

Personnel

;Less Than Jake *

Chris Demakes Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxoph ...

- vocals, guitar *

Roger Manganelli Rogério Lima Manganelli (born October 31, 1973), commonly known as Roger Lima, is an American musician, best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist of the ska-punk band Less Than Jake. He also performs as the lead singer and rhythm guitar ...

- bass, guitar, vocals *

Vinnie Fiorello Vincent "Vinnie" Fiorello (born June 24, 1974) is an American rock musician and businessman. He co-founded the ska punk band Less Than Jake in 1992, and was the band's drummer and lyricist until 2018. He also founded the record labels Fueled by ...

- drums, lyrics *

Buddy Schaub Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxoph ...

- trombone * Pete Anna - trombone * Derron Nuhfer - saxophone ;Additional musicians *

- additional keyboards ;Production *

- producer, editing * Less Than Jake - producer *

Steve Kravac Steven B. Kravac (born June 17, 1964), is a Canadian-born RIAA gold-accredited record producer, recording engineer, musician and composer. He is the owner of the music label Porterhouse Records and its sub-labels Porterhouse Prime Vinyl and Porte ...

- engineer *Ronny Cates - assistant engineer *

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

- mixing * Mike - assistant mixing engineer *Terry - assistant mixing engineer *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

- mastering *Danny O'Bryan - production coordination *Steve Vance - illustration and design *Less Than Jake - art direction

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Less Than Jake albums Albums produced by Howard Benson Capitol Records albums Concept albums