Lagwagon 'By Request'
Californian underground punk rockers Lagwagon return to our shores later this month, bringing with them a back catalogue of old school sounds, curated by fans themselves! The Australia and New Zealand ‘By Request’ tour has drawn on the pending audience to administer a playlist which has seen marked surprise ahead of the upcoming Lagwagon down under voyage. Voting polls closed in September for fans to nominate songs on the setlist for their city, kicking off at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre, from October 27th.
We caught up with frontman Joey Cape to discuss the pending Australian tour, Section 8 and the band’s somewhat unreliable tour van which would ultimately become a career transcending name.
Lagwagon have 12 releases through Fat Wreck Chords, including nine studio albums, one EP, a live album and a myriad of B sides spanning over some 33 years. Can you discuss this journey and some of your career highlights?
The career highlights Wow, those questions are reserved for people with memories that didn't spend a lot of time in pubs along the way. You know, it's, it's been great. It's kind of an ever changing thing and some ways and in other ways, it's sort of the same gig, you know. It's really hard to isolate stories when it comes to the band, because the things that come to mind are tend to be sort of tragic, and, you know, they and when you first think about it, you know what I mean, if you have a conversation and eventually like some good memories and good things come out and, and, and then a lot of the things that I think of when I think about this journey of the band, for lack of a better word is it's also boring you know, I mean, it's like, yeah, I have this job and it's being a musician, and it's a great job. But, you know, we do things like play shows and make records and create music. It's like, yeah, there's a lot of us. I don't know. But it has been great. And, and there has. I feel very fortunate. You know, not a lot of people can do what they love for as long as we've done it. It’s kind of amazing.
It really is amazing and we're very much looking forward to the tour later this month.
Yeah, me too. It's been kind of tough because our guitar player got sick. You know, he has heart problems. And the other original member that's in the band, Chris Flippin. And, and they're so serious that he can't come. So we're using a fill in out there. Yeah, and that's a little spooky. Not that the fill in that we're using isn't amazing. And just a great friend, and a great performer, guitar player, everything. It's just, you know, you always kind of want your core. Especially me and Chris of the original members, we've played in the band, we've known each other for, like 40 years, you know, so I feel a little bit like, it's like, I'm going to church without my mom, or something. I can't think of a better analogy. And I'm worried, you know we're worried about him. So this is the first tour that he's missing, because of his health. And that's a new thing. And I guess it's normal for people our age, we should expect this to start happening, you know? It's time. And, you know, I'm always excited to come to Australia, New Zealand, anywhere in that part of the world, even you know, Asia, just anywhere that's so far away, that we get to do these great things. And Australia in particular is just, I love it there have so many great friends. I love the beach, I grew up on the beach. And also it's like, it's another place in the world where we actually get to go to the beach and so many good things for the flip side is I'm a little sad. And you know, it's a little, it's a little sad that our buddy’s not coming. The Gentle Giant we call him. Or the big bitch, which is not PC enough these days, we can't call him that anymore.
We wish him good health anyway. So, looking back over the band's colourful history, what has been your favourite moment or achievement, if you could name one?
Oh, well, I immediately think of venues. So, you know, everyone who does what I do, has some venue in their past when they were growing up where they would go see bands. And, you know, sometimes in my case, I was such a huge music fan as a child that I have so many of them, you know in different parts of this country. And it's, it's that moment where you get to play that venue. And I have a bunch of these I mean, they're almost too many to mention. But sometimes it's something that you know, maybe a band made a live album there that you liked when you were a kid. And sometimes it's just a venue that you went to you frequented a lot and sold tonnes of great shows there. And then this funny thing happens; you get on the stage, and you're so excited. Oh my god, we're playing the Palladium or whatever. And you get on stage and you go ‘geez, this is kind of small, this isn't scary and it kind of just looks like a regular show up here.’ Oh, well What was all the hype about you know, but those things I think are, you know, that pops into my head right away. That's those things it's I keep checking them off the list, you know, and there's still a few more, but not that many. I mean, I have to be realistic. There's a lot of venues we're never gonna play but I don't put them on the list. Yeah
Is it true Lagwagons name came from the band's tour van. And is there a story behind this?
Yeah, well, this is a basic story. We had a nine passenger van that was for school. You know, it's a children's van for school. It’s like a mini bus really. And we bought one of those back when we were poor and we're still kind of poor but we were really poor as a band starting out trying to tour and we paid like 500 bucks for this real piece of garbage this thing, but we fixed it up and painted it. And Chris, the guy with health problems in our original drummer Derrick Plourde were both great car mechanics. So they rebuilt the engine. And we made this thing pretty tight.
“We toured in it for years. And really, throughout its history, it broke down on a regular basis. So it got the nickname ‘The Lag Wagon,’ because it’s a wagon and it lags..”
You know, back in those days, we didn't have cell phones or ways to communicate. So if we broke down somewhere in this big ass country, we’d just be sitting there going, Oh, well, ‘somebody want to walk and see if you can get to a payphone’ or something, you know, I mean, sometimes we just couldn't get there. Yeah, so it got the name. And it's kind of funny that it ended up being the band name, because we were called Section 8. That was the name of the band. And people with the label were like, you know, ‘there's a bunch of bands called Section 8, it's not a good name.’ We kept hearing that. And we were like, you know, of course, we were proud. ‘No, we're not going to change our name for anybody. We're called Section 8, and you just deal with it,’ that kind of thing. And then this is the funny part. You know, there were a lot of bands that came out of Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles at the time, like NWA, like these really hardcore Hip Hop bands were coming out of the gang scene in LA. And so we knew there was a band up in Portland, Oregon, called Section 8 that had a seven inch called ‘Drunk, fat and stupid’ because we play shows and people go, is that you guys? Man? I love that song. And we'd be like, No, it's not us. We don't have a stupid song called ‘Drunk Fat.’ We have a song called ‘Beer Goggles,’ which is even dumber. So there was a number of bands. And then just one day, we're on tour, and we're on this record store. And there's a poster for this hardcore rap band. And they're like, holding guns, you know. And so, these dudes, and they look scary. And it says, Section 8, and I, you go, ‘maybe we should change the name.’ We don't really want to get in trouble with these dudes, like, you know, or their fans. And so we decided to give in, and we put all these names on the list, and everybody in the band came up with like, four or five ideas. And I think I suggested Lagwagon. And I don't know how, but it was the only name that nobody really hated. So we ended up with it. And we had already recorded our first album, it just was about to come out. And we were doing the artwork. So it was like, if we're making this decision, it's forever. And it's our first record, which, you know, looking back, it's kind of like, god dammit, you know, I mean, you should have a lot of time to figure out what you're gonna call your band. And not just okay, records coming out, guys. What do you call Lagwagon? That sounds ridiculous. Let's call it that. Yeah, so that's it. We've lived with it forever. It served us well.
There's been a few notable hiatuses, during the band's history due to solo career projects, how has your music evolved since the very beginning?
Well, solo projects to me have always, they've served the same purpose. They, it's, you know, when you start pitching for something else, nobody's not many people are really one dimensional, when it comes to their art, you know, and I think just about everybody in a band has, you know, the need to do certain things that may not always work with what the band does. And sometimes just evolving collectively that way. And it's really amazing to watch. My bands done a bit of that, and, you know, we're trying to make everyone happy. That's kind of the goal. I mean, there's five guys, we're making a record, we're working on these songs. The drummer wants to play this. Let's see what we can do with that bass. But you know, everyone wants to do what they want to do. And that's great, because that's kind of what makes the sound of a band. It's a band, you know, not just one guy's vision. But sometimes, you kind of gotta watch the evolution because sometimes something starts to happen where it's like, oh boy, this is like a different band. And I can remember one experience, a specific experience from we made an album called ‘Let's talk about Feelings.’ I think it was our fourth record, I think. And that album, I, at the time was starting to write songs that had piano and strings and things like that. And I really, really wanted the band to just get a keyboard player and add musicians and just say ‘fuck it’ to convention and just do whatever we wanted to do creatively. The other guys in the band did not so much share my, my enthusiasm for that. And so when we were making that record, there's a couple tunes on that record that once the guys had finished their tracks, and they left I did the thing that you should probably not do. I brought in other musicians and I put on some of these things I put some of these things on the songs is a particular song called Owen Meany, Which, by the way, is one of the most requested songs for this tour, which is very unusual, and makes this story better. Because I thought it was just splendid. I was like, ‘This is fucking amazing.’ Like, I can't wait to try to do this live. The other guys came back to the you know, mixing table and were like, ‘What the fuck is going on, man?’ Like, ‘what the hell is this?’ And you know, everybody liked this song. But I kind of realized, no, this has to be a different band. So I started a band called Bad Astronaut. And I would say the first song Bad Astronaut ever recorded was with Lagwagon. It was called Owen Meaney, you know, because we put it last on the record. It doesn't sit quite right on the record through a lot of people. But yeah, most requested song on this tour. I mean, maybe I was right. I don't know. We’ll see
Is that a bit of a giveaway for your ‘By Request’ Tour then?
Yeah, dudes gotta learn the song, man. I mean, the Aussies are demanding. And I'm really excited to play that. So we have played it before, because we've done some some of those album shows where we've done we've done that album a few times. And yeah, it's just, it's cool to have things that are different. But yeah, side projects are important. And the other guys in the band do some things. And you know, I think, you know, I've always encouraged it. I don't like the gang mentality thing. I think it's really silly.
“Music is this beautiful thing. I mean, everybody should do everything they want to do with it if they can. There shouldn’t be any kind of rules and it’s not about loyalty. Loyalty is a totally different thing.”
But some people are really weird about that stuff. Like, I've heard stories of big rock stars that have clauses like when they bring someone into a band, you know, it's like, you can't have any side projects. Like they're an athlete or something like you only play for this team. That seems really odd to me.
Lagwagons by request tour kicks off later this month, and has been carefully curated by Australian and New Zealand fans in what could be described as an interactive user experience. Were you surprised at the setlist determined for you?
I was really surprised by a few of the requests. So generally, I've done these kinds of things on a solo. I've done streaming gigs, where I take all requests and, and it's great fun. It's challenging. But generally speaking, there's like five songs that even bands who don't have hits have hits, you know what I mean? Like Lagwagon has four or five songs that we pretty much have to play at every show, because people want to hear those songs. And they're not singles, they weren't videos, you know, but they just kind of have to be in the set, because people just like them. And it's interesting, because usually, when you do an all requests thing, those are the songs that people request. You know, it's very predictable most of the time. I don't know why, but not with the Aussies. This one is real different. And there's four or five songs; there's a couple that we haven't played since the early 90s, you know, that are kind of like, Oh, boy, alright. Challenge accepted. And then the thing happened with the guitar player and of course that makes it more complicated because now this poor guy that's our dear friend is filling in and he's gonna have to learn, he's got to learn a lot really fast, boy, yeah, no, yeah, it's cool. Owen Meaney, that's one of them. Yeah, I mean, it's great. I just I think it just shows that we've got some deep code fans out there. It makes me really happy.
Yeah. And this is obviously a way that you relate to fans both on and off the stage by, you know, allowing these requests.
Yeah, it's one of those things where, you know, nowadays, if you don't have a new album, you know, and you're doing a tour, I mean, people have kind of worn out the album tour thing, you know, we did quite a few of those. You know, everything gets boring. But you have to do something slightly special, just so people, you know, that are on the fence about going to the show, don't just say, I saw them three years ago, they'll be back, they always come back, you know. So I had the idea of the whole request thing and everybody in the band dug it. And here we are. And, you know, sometimes you do something like that you don’t get that many requests. But oh, my God, we got a lot. I mean, every city like every night of this tour, the setlist is gonna have to be a little bit different. Because it's also a broad spectrum. You know, Torquay versus Sydney, and or, you know, Melbs or whatever. These requests are pretty vast. I don't know, it’s cool what I mean, I think I'm starting to see the dialects, you know,
It's been a long 4 years since the last studio album Railer was released. Is there any new music in the pipeline to tease fans about?
Always! Always! The real question is, I mean, you know, obviously, the pandemic put a little slowdown in the way, you know, some roadblocks. But the question is always a matter of, when are we not going to be on tour? And when is everybody busy doing whatever they do? Because a lot of the guys in the band have other jobs. And it's more a matter of when can we get together to start working on new music? Before the pandemic hit we were already working on new music. I mean, we've finished Railer and I had all these other songs. And I think we demoed like, five or six. And, and then stuff happened to the world. So the answer is always, but the the other part of the answer is like, I have no idea when or what, you know, I mean, it's just, that's how it is, for some reason, at least in our band. Hopefully soon.
So I suppose the ‘By Request’ tour is only going to feature a back catalogue then and nothing new for fans?
Well, we had to make a list and we had to not put a lot of songs from the very first record. Because if I'm being completely transparent, I can't sing a lot of those songs anymore. I'm getting too old. I mean, I'm going to be 57 this year, pretty soon. And I was like, 21 years old when I sang some of those songs and it's a long time ago. And 22 I think, and you know, some of them are just too high, as if I had like an endless lung capacity, or I don't know what you do when you're a kid, you know. So we made the list and the request is almost every song, almost every song we've ever recorded is on that list. I figured that's enough. But when there's not a whole lot of requests for the newer albums, as it always is, you know, people tend to go back. So yeah, it always works out to be kind of legacy classics. You know? That's good.
The ‘By Request’ tour winds up in Hobart on November 5, what, what's next for Lagwagon after the Australian tour? And are there any new projects?
Well, we have one more of these hanging on makeup tours from all the cancellations that I mean, we, you know what that pandemic thing was like, We get back on the road and start to make up the tours that had to be cancelled. And then there was another wave and it went on. Oh, my God. I mean, if you're in a band, after a while, it was like, let's just wait like five years until this thing’s over. Because we kept booking things and then having to cancel again. We have a tour in Canada coming up. And this, I think, the poster we called it ‘Third time's the Charm.’ But honestly, it's the fourth time. It's absurd. And, that is the last of the makeups. So we still have to do that. And that's not too long after the end of the Aussie tour, but other than that, I don't know maybe, maybe we'll be working on some new music.
Is there anything you'd like to say to your Australian audience ahead of the much anticipated ‘By Request’ tour?
Can’t wait. It's gonna be, it's gonna be wild, I think. Yeah, hopefully we pull it off. We're gonna try to play, we're trying to play. We sorted through the requests. And there are quite a few songs that got up, you know, we had to kind of go by votes. You know, it's like, if a song got 12 votes in a city, we're gonna play it. And, yeah, there might be some moments. We'll see. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. I mean, for me, it's just, it's exciting. Just that we're doing even a few songs here and that are that different. I mean, that makes it, for me, more exciting. But yeah, we always love Australia. We always love the show, so it should be a blast. Can't wait!
Lagwagon Australian & New Zealand Tour Dates:
Tues, Oct 24: San Fran, Wellington
Wed, Oct 25: Galatos, Auckland
Fri, Oct 27: Princess Theatre, Brisbane
Sat, Oct 28: Torquay Hotel, Torquay
Sun, Oct 29: The Croxton, Melbourne
Wed, Nov 1: The Basement, Canberra
Fri, Nov 3: Manning Bar, Sydney
Sat, Nov 4: ‘Schooner or Later’ Harbour Cruise, Sydney
Sun, Nov 5: Uni Bar, Hobart
Tickets on Sale Now
By Pieta Clarke
