What's Inside

ROCK CANDY

For ska-punkers Less Than Jake, an upcoming world tour is a chance to reconnect with dedicated fans — and expand a whimsical collection.

In the world of music, Sammy Davis Jr. may well be known as the Candy Man, but Vinnie Fiorello, drummer and founding member of Less Than Jake, is incontestably the Pez Master. Fiorello not only boasts a collection of more than 700 Pez dispensers, he also sports a large Pez tattoo on his left leg and has named songs and an album after the bite-size, bright-colored candies.

“You gravitate to the things that bring you back to the time you were the happiest. It’s that simple, really,” says Fiorello. “Pez reminds me of waking up on Christmas morning as a kid and finding a bike or an Atari 2600 and a bunch of Pez. Everything was good then.”

Fiorello’s passion for Pez was reinvigorated in 1992 when a girlfriend gave him a classic Santa Pez dispenser — just like the one his father had given him two decades earlier. From that moment, “Pez was everywhere I looked. And you pick up one, and then you pick up another. And then your band is playing in Japan, and you find another one that you’d never seen before,” says Fiorello. “Before long, you have a collection without even meaning to.”

It’s an obsession the rest of the band — and its fans — heartily support. In 1995, Less Than Jake debuted with an album called Pezcore, and the next album featured the song “Pez King.” Fans picked up on the band’s predilection for the candy, and Pez-related chaos ensued at shows around the world. “We’d start playing, and fans would hurl Pez dispensers at us,” he laughs. “It was a great way to build up the collection.”

Fiorello, who cites cola and cherry as his favorite flavors (“never lemon or orange”), also frequents Pez conventions around the world. “My head starts swimming when I meet some of these collectors,” he says. “I get starstruck. It’s like meeting a rock star. I’m drawn to the people with the biggest collections because…well, at least with Pez, size does matter.”

As Less Than Jake prepares to promote the rerelease of four of its previous albums, put out a new studio album this summer, and embark on a world tour, Fiorello has his eye on an extremely rare Make-A-Face Pez dispenser — “my Holy Grail,” he says — which could cost upwards of $4,000. “Yeah, it might seem crazy to some people,” he admits. “But it’s better than collecting ex-wives or overdoses, like a lot of rock stars.”

— J. Rentilly