| Hello Rockview | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 6, 1998 (1998-10-06) | |||
| Recorded | 1998, Mirror Image Studios,Gainesville, Florida, U.S. | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:52 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Less Than Jake chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Hello Rockview | ||||
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Hello Rockview is the third studio album byska punk bandLess Than Jake, released on October 6, 1998. Produced byHoward Benson, it is the band's second and final album onCapitol Records, and recorded at Mirror Image Studios inGainesville, Florida. The album is the first to featuretrombonist 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.[2]
The lyrics 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 atRockview State Correctional Institution.[3] The recording ofHello Rockview in 1998 marked the first time producer Howard Benson used theAuto-Tune software, which had been released to the public the previous year. He recalled in 2014, "I remember putting it into the computer and the singer Chris DeMakes was probably the first rock singer ever to sing through Auto-Tune because it didn’t exist before then." Benson adds, "I remember thinking 'oh my god', because at that time, we tuned vocals usingEventide harmonizers, whatever we could do to change pitch. And it was a horrendously archaic way of working."[4] Benson has also said that he believes he overused it on the record, with the software even being used to tune the horns.[5][6] Benson claimed that tuning the horns "was a huge mistake", because "they sound like square waves on that record. It was a different sound because I put it on everything. I was like 'hey this’ll tune everything'. I put the guitars through it. It didn’t work on everything."[4]
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" onAnthem. Stylistically, it is similar toDick Tracy. 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.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Kerrang! | [8] |
| Ox-Fanzine | Favorable[9] |
| Wall of Sound | 67/100[10] |
NME 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."[11]Cleveland.com ranked "All My Friends are Metalheads" at number 58 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs.[12]
(In 2000,Hello Rockview was re-released with a bonus disc of Less Than Jake's 1996 releaseLosing Streak)
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard 200[13] | 80 |
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.
