It's Just Another Saturday: Lagwagon

As I skim over my music collection, I have come to view certain bands as "bands of the year", where I view a band or artist as a major component of a year depending on how many albums I get by them and how often I listen to them. In 2013, there were Tool and Rush. In 2014, there were Jawbox and Dag Nasty. For 2015, there were a couple of groups that could serve as bands of the year, such as Hot Water Music, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Strung Out and Lagwagon, the latter of which I will be talking about in this entry.

I had heard of Lagwagon in passing every now and then for several years, but I never paid much attention to the name and never bothered checking them out. I knew they were associated with NOFX and thought, for some reason, they were some overtly political group like Anti-Flag, which made me even less interested in them. However, they piqued my interest when I was scanning a venue's website and saw they were playing a show in the next month. For whatever reason, I decided to check them out only to realize I had knew their song "May 16" in the game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X and liked it. Unfortunately I never got to go to the show, but nonetheless, I had become aware of the band and I knew I liked some of their work.

About a month later I was checking out the punk section at record store in Silver Spring. There, I came across a copy of Let's Talk About Feelings, the album that "May 16" originated from. By that point I was still only familiar with that one song, but for five dollars, I figured, "Why not?" and bought it. After a while, I grew to really love that album and began looking into the rest of the group's output. In fact, I got copies of the albums Trashed, Double Plaidinum and Hoss around the same time as Hot Water Music's Fuel For the Hate Game and have since associated songs from those albums with the trip to Disney World I took soon afterwards.

Over the course of the year, I became familiar with other projects led by the band's lead singer Joey Cape. These projects include the indie side projects Bad Astronaut, The Playing Favorites, and Joey Cape's Bad Loud, as well as his acoustic solo work which including two split albums with No Use For A Name's Tony Sly. I could go on about these projects, but want to focus on Lagwagon now and will likely do a post about these other acts in the future.

The band's sound is typically upbeat, peppy melodic punk rock that also takes cues from pop and occasionally heavy metal. While it is still punk, the band members are all skilled instrumentalists and the music is actually much more technical that what is expected of bands in the genre. This can be heard through the interplay between the two guitarists as well as the solos. With this group I soon became acquainted with their contemporaries such as Strung Out and No Use For A Name among others, which both follow the same general sound with their own signature flavor.

Breakdown of My Collection

1. Duh (1992, CD) - Compared to some of their later albums, I have not listened to Duh much. It was one of my later additions to the collection and I have only recently begun listening in depth to certain songs. The production is cheap and raw and the music seems a tad rushed, however, the more I listen to it, the more songs I like.

Highlights: "Tragic Vision", "Angry Days", "Beer Goggles", "Child Inside"

2. Trashed (1994, CD) - The group's second album builds off the first and begins really solidifying the group's sound, and is seen as one of the band's strongest efforts. That being said, I don't listen to this album much. While many fans seem to really enjoy this one, I struggle to find many songs that really stand out. However, it may be the case that if I make myself sit down and listen to it more, there will be more songs that create a lasting impression, but so far, not many have seemed to do so on this one.

Highlights: "Island of Shame", "Give It Back", "Coffee and Cigarettes", "Brown Eyed Girl"

3. Hoss (1995, CD) - It took me a while to really get into this album. When I first bought it, I like "Violins" and "Sleep", but it didn't stand out all that much. I only really came to like it once I heard some of the acoustic interpretations Joey Cape did on his acoustic album with Tony Sly. Since then, it's become one of my favorites by them. This is one of the band's highest points in my opinion.

Highlights: "Violins", "Move the Car", "Razor Burn", "Sleep", "Bombs Away"

4. Double Plaidinum (1997, CD) - When I bought this album along with Hoss and Trashed, this was the one that stood out to me the most. Of all the albums I listened to on that Disney World trip, I listened to this one the most and have the most associations with this one. However as I have become more familiar with the rest of the group's output, I left this album behind. As I look over the album, though, I am reminded of all the songs I enjoyed off it.

Highlights: "Alien 8", "Making Friends", "Unfurnished", "Choke", "To All My Friends"

5. Let's Talk About Feelings (1999, CD, Vinyl) - I love this album. Plain and simple. It's the one that got me into the group and it still stands out as their strongest in my opinion. The songwriting is sharp and is easily the most pop influenced. The only real downside is that the album is really short compared to some of their other albums, lasting only 25 minutes. If I ever need to recommend an album by these guys, this is easily my go-to album.

Highlights: "May 16", "After You My Friend", "Leave the Light On", "Change Despair", "Everything Turns Grey", "Allison's Disease (Bonus Track)"

6. Let's Talk About Leftovers (1999, CD) - In the couple years, Fat Wreck Chords reissued all of Lagwagon's albums with bonus tracks and demos. Unfortunately, all my copies are original editions. Instead, I have most of these songs on the compilation, Let's Talk About Leftovers. The first third of the album was recorded at the same time as Feelings and were left off, so there is some strong material. Overall, the album is comprised of b-sides and outtakes from their previous albums, contributions to Fat Wreck Chords compilations, covers, and early tracks. It's not a bad collection, but like I said, you can find the material on this CD spread across most of the band's reissues as bonus tracks, and there are even more bonus tracks on each album that weren't on this one.

Highlights: "A Feedback of Truckstop Poetry", "Burn That Bridge When We Get to It", "Narrow Straits", "Want",

7. Blaze (2003, CD) - Another late addition to my collection, and another album I have least listened to. That's not to say the music is bad, it's simply that I haven't been able to sit down and get a full grasp of the album and I can only identify a couple of songs.

Highlights: "E Dagger", "Falling Apart", "I Must Be Hateful"

8. Resolve (2005, CD) - This album was written and recorded in tribute to founding drummer Derrick Plourde, who recently committed suicide, and has a heavy tone, both emotionally and musically. That being said, the music is more inspired, focused, and memorable than its predecessor, Blaze. In the end, the music is a heavy hearted, yet strong tribute to a fallen friend.
Highlights: "Automatic", "Resolve", "Heartbreaking Music", "Days of New"

9. I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon - EP (2007, CD) - The final addition to collection, I have only really sat down and listened to this EP in full once or twice. With that in mind, I can't say much. The music is standard Lagwagon but the EP just seems to lack some of the pep and charm of the group's earlier output.
Highlight: "Memoirs and Landmines"

10. Hang (CD, 2014) - The first studio release after a seven year gap, the group returns with the a strong comeback. The songs are slower and heavier, and Joey Cape's voice has matured with time, fitting with the more serious nature of the music. As shown on the album cover, the album has recurring themes of death, hanging... and bees, representing mortality as well as hive mentality and conformity. While I feel like the group peaked in the 90s, this is probably my favorite post-90s album.
Highlights: "Made of Broken Parts", "A Cog in the Machine", "Obsolete Absolute", "Burnin Out In Style", "In Your Wake"

Since discovering Lagwagon, I slowly began to uncover other works and projects that Joey Cape has done such as Bad Astronaut, The Playing Favorites, as well as his solo work, all of which contribute to my notion that this group is one of my "bands of the year" for 2015. If you want strong 90s punk that isn't Green Day, Rancid or the Offspring, I'd recommend these guys. I don't think you'll regret it.