GNV FLA

GNV FLA is the seventh studio album by American rock band Less Than Jake, released on June 24, 2008, on their own label Sleep It Off Records.

Following the poor reception to their sixth studio album In with the Out Crowd (2006), the band started writing material for its follow-up less than a year later.

GNV FLA received generally favorable reviews from critics, many of whom praised the return to Less Than Jake's earlier sound, while others complimented the songwriting.

Less Than Jake released their sixth studio album, In with the Out Crowd, in May 2006 through Sire Records, peaking at number 78 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.

[9] They wrote material in a warehouse where they practiced and at Lima's house; they recorded rough sketches that the members used as a reference to suggest ideas for.

[13] He mentioned that when they were on Sire, some members wanted opportunities such as radio play and MTV appearances, while others did not; being on their own label would allow them to find a common goal.

[14] Fiorello mentioned that the band potentially could have worked with labels such as Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records, but they felt they had experience between them that they should self-release it.

[15] At Sleep It Off, Lima described each members' role: frontman Chris DeMakes "doesn’t really do that much, he’s the lead singer he’s allowed to do whatever he wants"; Lima tackles audio; Schaub handles video content; saxophonist Peter "JR" Wasilewski does the online aspect; and Fiorello "deals with everything else", with assistance from their publicist Rey Roldan.

[20] Lima co-produced the sessions; Allison also acted as engineer and mixed the recordings, before the album was mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York City.

[21] Corey Apar from Allmusic writes that: "Less Than Jake have essentially created a bittersweet tribute to their hometown of Gainesville, sparing no detail in naming the album GNV FLA, stringing the liner notes together with bleak snapshots of the city, and littering song names and lyrics with nods to both the state of Florida and the beloved college town of their inception.

"[22] Sputnikmusic staff writer Dave de Sylvia said "in recent years, [Gainesville has] become a hotbed for property development as generic suburbia replaces the individual character the city used to possess".

DeMakes and Lima wrote ideas acoustically for the album on their bus while touring; the pair would have a rough outline for a song, which the rest of the band then worked on.

"[28] Andrew Welsh of Daily Record said it was "[e]ssentially a concept album, GNV FLA turns the microscope on the seamier side of life in the Jakesters’ sun-kissed backyard".

[29] Musically, the sound of GNV FLA has been described by Apar as ska punk, reminiscent of the band's third studio album, Hello Rockview (1999).

[21] Apar said DeMakes and Lima "seamlessly switch off on vocals as driving power chords and sunny ska riffs alternately cut through hammering drumbeats, and high-spirited horns punch their way through it all".

Fiorello mentioned that a majority of the album deals "economics and social-ness of small towns" in Europe and the US, as well as the "middle class that's shrinking because of how the economy is".

[10] Scott Klopfenstein of Reel Big Fish provided trumpet parts on the album, while Neil Hennessy of the Lawrence Arms contributed percussion.

[35] Fiorello's idea for the artwork was taking black-and-white photographs and adding on top "this world that's around Gainesville that you wouldn't necessarily see to the naked eye, but that's there, this sort of hyper-reality".

In addition, it included a copy of the album on CD, a poster and a DVD that featured live and studio footage of the band.

[22] Alternative Press writer Ben Conoley said from the album's opening moments "there is little doubt the band are looking to turn back the clocks to a time when they were ska-punk’s spokesmen for the young and directionless".

[34] Cleveland Scene's Michael Gallucci wrote that it "sounds pretty much like the group's other records: lots of tight, two-and-a-half-minute brass-accented songs that often play the goof card".

[62] Sylvia thought that the album was "arguably their strongest set of songs to date, 14 [...] tracks that blend together seamlessly with only the odd lull in quality towards the middle".

[23] Lauri Wessel of Ox-Fanzine wrote that it was "an attempt to return" to the band's trademark sound, and it was one of their better releases, "but not the best due to some gap fillers in the middle".

An aerial shot of a city.
GNV FLA , the album's title, alludes to the band's hometown of Gainesville, Florida (pictured in 2017) .