Cake go green, using only solar energy to record new album - VIDEO HERE

October 13, 8:29 PMMusic ExaminerPaul Gargano

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Music Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The band Cake are going the distance once again. This time, it's for the environment.

Best known for their hit singles "The Distance," "Never Enough" and their 2007 B-sides and Rarities compilation featuring covers of Frank Sinatra, Black Sabbath and Kenny Rogers, Cake are the indie darlings of  alternative music.

Their sixth studio album, currently scheduled for a Spring 2010 release, will be entirely green, as Cake are writing, rehearsing and recording the album solely with solar power.

Hailed as one of the "greenest" bands on the planet by Billboard magazine, in 2008 Cake removed their hometown Upbeat Studio from the Sacramento, CA, power grid by teaming with Borrego Solar to install a system of solar panels. "I believe in science, and science is telling us that we need to make adjustments," says songwriter and lead vocalist John McCrea. "Living in California, it seemed like a waste not to take advantage of all the free electricity."

"We work in the spirit of cooperation," adds trumpeter Vince DiFiore, "and when there is something like solar energy above your head, there is a little bit more levity added."

During the recording of the new album, Cake will share songs with their fans via a series of six free ringtones. The first ringtone, "Long Time," is available now to members of the Cake mailing list (sign up below). A new song/ringtone will be released each week for the next six weeks.

"We weren't sure if people were still even listening to albums, so we thought we might just release ringtones and car commercial music instead," says McCrea, with probably only a hint of sarcasm. "This allows people who own cell phones a chance  to sample our wares long before an album is ever released."

Founded in 1992 and reaching worldwide attention via their platinum albums Fashion Nugget and Prolonging the Magic, Cake's music has been described by Rolling Stone magazine as "modern pop that is both mechanized and organic...highly developed and virtually unique."

To sign up for the Cake mailing list and receive their free ringtones, click here.

To watch a video documenting Cake's conversion to solar polar, click here.