Vincent "Vinnie" Fiorello (born June 24, 1974) is an American rock musician and businessman. He co-founded the

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...

band

Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Buddy Schaub (trombone), Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone) and Matt Yonker ...

in 1992, and was the band's

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

and

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

until 2018. He also founded the record labels Fueled by Ramen, Sleep It Off Records, and Paper + Plastick, in addition to several local businesses in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

Biography

Fiorello was born on June 24, 1974, in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...

. He grew up in New Jersey but moved to

, at age 16. Vinnie Fiorello and Chris DeMakes founded the band

while attending the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1992. Band members have told various media outlets different versions of the origin of the band's name. DeMakes has stated in interviews that the band's name came from Fiorello's family's pet parrot. His story claimed that the parrot would squawk during the band's practice sessions, leading to Fiorello's mother telling the band that they needed to stop playing because they were disturbing the bird. This would lead to the band referring to themselves as being "less than Jake." In June 2020, however, Fiorello clarified that Jake was not a parrot but was, in fact, an English Bulldog. In 1996, Fiorello co-founded the record label Fueled by Ramen with John Janick. He left the label in 2006. In the summer of 2015, Fiorello and his friend Eric Jazvac opened a tattoo parlor, Wunderland Custom Tattooing, in downtown

. On October 24, 2018, Fiorello announced that while he would remain a member of Less Than Jake, he would no longer be touring with the band. After Fiorello's announcement, the band recruited

Teen Idols The Teen Idols were a pop punk band originally from Nashville, Tennessee. They were formed in 1992 by Phillip Hill and originally broke up in 2003. The band reunited in 2008 in Chicago, Illinois, with a retooled lineup before breaking up again ...

drummer Matt Yonker as their touring drummer. On September 1, 2019, Roger Lima announced via social media that despite prior reports, Fiorello was no longer with the band in any capacity and would not be participating in the creation of the band's upcoming album. In October 2019, ''

High Times ''High Times'' was an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing d ...

'' reported that Fiorello had founded a CBD brand called Sailor Diggen's Finest. In 2020, Fiorello co-founded the ska-punk supergroup/multimedia project, The Inevitables with Obi Fernandez of Westbound Train, in which Fiorello is also the drummer and a songwriter for.

Personal life

Fiorello has a daughter, who was born on September 3, 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiorello, Vinnie 1974 births American punk rock drummers American male drummers Living people Musicians from Union County, New Jersey People from Port Charlotte, Florida Musicians from Gainesville, Florida Port Charlotte High School alumni University of Florida alumni 20th-century American drummers 21st-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Businesspeople in the cannabis industry American music industry executives 21st-century American businesspeople American lyricists People from Rahway, New Jersey Drummers from Florida Drummers from New Jersey

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links