With the release of Cake's 1994 debut album, "Motorcade of Generosity," and its first single, "Rock & Roll Lifestyle," the Sacramento-based band cast a scornful eye at what they saw as the pompous arrogance that had infested post-grunge alternative rock -- and laughed.

The band lampooned the excesses not only with frontman John McCrea's sly and wry delivery and lyrics, but also in the creation of the band's sound -- a deconstructionist sort of pop that sought to peel back rock music to its most basic elements.

Two years later, Cake whipped up its driving rhythm section, a staccato lead guitar and peels of trumpet into the crossover hit, "The Distance," a song whose underlying tale of futility was lost on those whom McCrea says only viewed it as a "sports encouragement anthem."

A catchy cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" followed, and Cake spent some 14 months on the road in support of its sophomore album, "Fashion Nugget." But the road eventually took its toll on the band, which last year was forced to replace bassist Vic Damiani mid-tour with original band member Gabriel Nelson.

Shortly after the tour, guitarist Greg Brown departed for his own band, which in turn left Cake in a bit of a lurch as it prepared to head into a studio to cut the highly-anticipated follow-up to "Fashion Nugget." But rather then wait until they had settled upon a replacement guitarist, the members of Cake invited some of their friends and accomplices from other bands to sit in on the sessions and pressed on.

In the end, Cake said that the ingredients that went into "Prolonging the Magic" produced an album with a surprisingly more subversive blues-ish and country & western-ish flavor than it's predecessors -- something McCrea admits tapping into for Cake's new video, "Never There."

In the wake of a (literally) fiery performance at New York's Bowery Ballroom last month, Cake singer-guitarist John McCrea and drummer Todd Roper talked with MTV News Online's David Basham about how the band handled the recent turnover in personnel, the new album's union of alt-rock, torch and twang, and where Cake sees itself in relation to the rest of the pop music herd.

So, are you ready for the country? Because Cake says it's time to go...