Cake’s John McCrea Shows No Mustache Compassion on New Album
When Cake frontman John McCrea sat down to write his band’s sixth studio album, ‘Showroom of Compassion,’ he knew it was high time that he faced his fears and penned a song about a lifelong concern. And so, McCrea wrote about mustaches.
“I think people are dealing with mustache issues in our culture,” McCrea tells Spinner. “A lot of people grew up with men around them who had mustaches, and I think it’s a therapeutic thing for us to talk about it.”
Never one to shy away from hard-hitting issues — the band even recorded their new album solar power — Cake’s founder explains that he saw the funky tune ‘Mustache Man (Wasted)’ as a means to reconcile some nightmarish run-ins he had with crumb catchers as a youngster.
“The song was certainly therapeutic for me having grown up in California in the ’70s and ’80s,” he deadpans.
“You rarely see a waxed mustache anymore, but I have a few traumatic memories from childhood, like of dudes who used wax to make the ends of their mustaches into a sharp object. Yeah, it’s f—-ed up. As a kid, I saw this, and even then, I knew this was such a strange world.”
The musician is no stranger to facial hair — although he sticks strictly to the bearded look — and honed in on the perfect vibe for his mustache track. The playful number has a sexed-up, retro swagger that will make you want to rock your own ‘Magnum P.I’ ‘stache, or perhaps stroke someone else’s, as you get down to the ass-shaking rhythms and party whistle. Yup, we said party whistle!
“It’s kind of a creepy song to be honest,” laughs McCrea, finally cracking.
Had Cake’s new record arrived a few months prior to its upcoming Jan. 11 release date, ‘Mustache Man (Wasted)’ might have been the theme song to Movember, the November charity event where guys sprout mustachios to raise funds for prostate cancer. McCrea says his horn-powered ditty still might be used as a call to arms when it comes to ditching the razor. Apparently, the California band have their own hairy plans.
“We thought about having a mustache contest, and we still might do that. We might have a ‘Best Mustache in the World’ contest,” says McCrea, noting he’s all for the grow-off just as long as some styles are off-limits.
“Remember, the Banana Slug mustache? That’s f—-ed up.”
-Published Jan. 5, 2011 on Spinner
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