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. They set up Sleep It Off Records after leaving Sire Records and recorded their next album in March and April 2008. It was produced by both Matt Allison and the band's co-lead vocalist and bassist Roger Lima. GNV FLA is a ska punk and pop-punk album that recalls the sound of the band's third studio album, Hello Rockview (1999).
GNV FLA received generally favorable reviews from critics, many of whom praised the return to Less Than Jake's their earlier sound, while others complimented the songwriting. The album peaked at number 61 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, after selling over 10,000 copies in its first week. "Does the Lion City Still Roar?" was released as the album's lead single; coinciding with this, the band went on a US tour with Goldfinger until August 2008. They toured Canada with Reel Big Fish and ended the year with an appearance at The Fest. In early 2009, they toured Australia as part of the Soundwave festival, and went on an US East Coast tour with the Expendables, leading to performances on the Warped Tour.
Background and writing
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. The band had disagreements with the producer of the album, who wanted a rock sound, whereas they wanted a different sound. The album was poorly received by their fans; trombonist Buddy Schaub said he band was equally dismissive of it. While touring in support of the album, the band would only play a few songs from it live, instead opting to focus on the rest on their past releases. In February 2007, the band performed a series of shows where they played a few of the albums from their back catalogue in their entirety.
In March 2007, the band said it would a "writing year for us", hoping to release an album the following year. Two months later, they announced that they had left Sire and its parent company Warner Music Group. In July and August 2007, the band went on a co-headlining US tour with Reel Big Fish. Following this, work on a new album began in earnest. 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. Drummer Vinnie Fiorello said the full-album shows "set a good direction in writing new songs". In September and October 2007, they embarked on a tour of the UK and Japan, and ended the year with an Australian tour.
Label and recording
In January 2008, the band started their own label, Sleep It Off, through which they reissued their back catalogue. Alongside this, Fiorello revealed that they were allowed to leave their contract with Warner, despite still owing them another album. 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. 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.
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. The album was recorded between March and April 2008 with producer Matt Allison at Atlas Studios in Chicago, Illinois. The workdays typically consisted of midday to midnight hours. 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.