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Band Bio
Lagwagon, formed in 1990 as Section 8, have been getting bigger and bigger on the punk scene ever since the release of their first record, Duh, in 1992, but had been touring since 1991.
The first Lagwagon was as follows - Derrick Plourde, drums; Darren Yeardley, guitar; Chris Fliipin, guitar and vocals; Joey Cape, vocals. These guys played crazy metal with mad solos and "Sweet Lixx!", I quote Joey on that one.
So, back in '92, the head-sherang, Joey, was playing around with his band. He bumped into Fat Mike (NOFX bassist, lead singer + founder of Fat Wreck Chords) one night at a bar. They had a talk and Joey, on the verge of splitting with Lagwagon because he felt that they were getting nowhere, handed over a demo tape. The next day he got a call from that same guy saying "Let's do a record." And so begins the story of the Lag...
At the time of the release of Duh, the band was Joey on vocals, Chris on guitar, Shawn on the other guitar, Jesse on bass, and Derrick on drums. The band started their Duh tour immediately after their first release, and didn't record their next album till 1994, which they aptly named "Trashed". A cover made of cigarette butts, alcoholic beverages and condoms couldn't be closer to the truth. The music, though, was a different story. They got right back into it in 1995 with their most famous release to date, Hoss. Lagwagon were big Bonanza fans. Hoss was a major transition in styles in comparison to their previous albums, a change welcomed by their cult followers and music critics around the world. They took another break from recording, touring and so on before their return to the studio in 1997 with Double Plaidinum, a smoother sound which received criticism, but I don't know why - I think it's great. There was a line up change for the release of this album (which maybe explains the different sound) - drummer Derrick was replaced with Dave Raun from RKL, who now plays in THREE excellent bands - Lagwagon, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and Good Riddance (<- HOT NEWS! Sean Sellers has left!). The other change for this CD was Shawn left to be replaced by Ken Stringfellow (that's a title for a guitarist, hey), who is ex-Posies.
About 3 years ago, Joey also started his own independent label (doesn't everyone?) called My Records. It currently has 6 records on it - 2 of which are compilations. You'll read more about it later on.
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And here we are in 2000, 2 years after Lagwagon's second last release, Let's Talk About Feelings. It was a very promising album, but I and a hell of a lot of people reckon it's too short - it should have more songs on it. Well, Ken Stringfellow didn't last long - he was replaced by Chris. 2 guitars, 2 Chris'.
Late breaking news - New Lagwagon LP out on My Records (Joey's label)! Features 25 B-Sides, Compilation Tracks and some really old stuff. They also decided to add in the rest of Let's Talk About Feelings, about another half as much again ; ) . I'll write a review of it.
So there you have it -the story of Lagwagon. I'll put up a "Best Song" survey with a full list of all their songs.
