Left to right: Chris Rest, Chris Flippin, Joey Cape, Dave Raun, Joe Raposo
Influences:
- Bad Religion, Black Flag, Descendents, The Vandals, Circle Jerks, Operation Ivy
Influenced:
Lagwagon are a Punk Rock / Pop Punk band from Goleta, California, formed in 1989. The first band signed to Fat Mike's Fat Wreck Chords, they're considered a seminal band in the skate punk subgenre and known for blistering speeds, deft musicianship, and catchy melodies along with Joey Cape's trademark bleeding heart lyrics.
Discography:
- Duh (1992)
- Trashed (1994)
- Hoss (1995)
- Double Plaidinum (1997)
- Let's Talk About Feelings (1998)
- Let's Talk About Leftovers (2000 compilation)
- A Feedbag of Truckstop Poetry (2000 EP)
- Blaze (2003)
- Live in a Dive (2005 live album)
- Resolve (2005)
- I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon (2008 EP)
- Hang (2014)
- Railer (2019)
Tropes that apply to this band:
- Addiction Song: "Drag" is about Joey's smoking addiction.
- Album Title Drop: Hanging is used as a lyrical theme in the first and last track of Hang, "Burden of Proof" and "In Your Wake".
- Beard of Sorrow: "Razor Burn"
- Big Rock Ending: "In Your Wake". YOU'RE NEXT TO HANG!
- Break Up Song: Surprisingly rare for a pop-punk band, as Lagwagon's lyrics are more often about friendships than romance, but "I Must Be Hateful" is a straight example.
- Cover Version: Duh, Trashed, and Railer contained punked-up covers of "Bad Moon Rising", "Brown Eyed Girl", and "Faithfully", respectively, while Let's Talk About Feelings had a straightforward cover of Agent Orange's "Everything Turns Grey".
- Driven to Suicide: "No One" describes a case, and Resolve is centered around the real life suicide of Derrick Plourde.
- Empty Chair Memorial: The music video for "Heartbreaking Music" ends on an empty drumkit.
- Epic Rocking: "Obsolete Absolute" goes on for 6 minutes, 10 seconds.
- Fading into the Next Song: A few cases, though most are on Let's Talk About Feelings.
- Food Songs Are Funny: "Mr. Coffee"
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: "Give It Back"
Don't wanna understand the child abuse,
The past gone violence
Don't justify his violent nature
- Friendship Song: One of their most common lyrical themes is the highs and lows of friendships, especially on Let's Talk About Feelings.
- Grief Song: Resolve consists almost entirely of these, recorded after founding drummer Derrick Plourde's death. "One More Song" on Hang as well, dedicated to Tony Sly.
- Hidden Track: Trashed has one in the form of "Back One Out", a crude Song Parody of "Mama Said Knock You Out".
- Longest Song Goes Last: "Owen Meany" on Let's Talk About Feelings and "Baggage" on Blaze.
- Lyrical Cold Open: Several times per album, typically.
- Of the "before music" variety: "Back One Out", "Bombs Away", "Black Eyes", "One Thing to Live", "Hurry Up and Wait", "E Dagger", "Sad Astronaut", "Creepy", "One More Song"
- Of the "same note as music" variety: "Foiled Again", "Bad Moon Rising", "Ride the Snake", "Choke", "To All My Friends", "Messengers", "Never Stops", "Dinner and a Movie", "Reign", "Burning out in Style", "Parable"
- Miniscule Rocking: "Hurry Up and Wait", clocking in at 25 seconds.
- Non-Appearing Title:
- Duh: "Tragic Vision", "Foiled Again", "Of Mind and Matter", "Stop Whining"
- Trashed: "Coffee and Cigarettes"
- Hoss: "Kids Don't Like to Share", "Name Dropping", "Bro Dependent", "Razor Burn"
- Double Plaidinum: "Unfurnished", "Failure"
- Let's Talk About Feelings: "After You My Friend", "May 16", "Owen Meany"
- Blaze: "E Dagger", "Dancing the Collapse", "Dinner and a Movie", "Billionaire"
- Resolve: "Rager", "Creepy"
- Hang: "Western Settlements"
- Railer: "Parable", "Auf Wiedersehen" (though the English translation of the title phrase does appear)
- Pun-Based Title: "Bro-Dependent", "Alien 8", and Double Plaidinum
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Several, including "Weak" off Hoss and "Poison in the Well" off Hang.
- Sampling: Movie quote and even monologue samples are common on their 90s output, especially Let's Talk About Feelings.
- Shout-Out: Hoss is named after Eric "Hoss" Cartwright from Bonanza, complete with using a vintage in-character photo of Dan Blocker for the cover art.
- Self-Deprecation: See the EP title I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon.
- Singer Namedrop: "Name Dropping", appropriately enough, mentions all of the current band members.
- Studio Chatter: Some can briefly be heard in the start of the track "Lagwagon".
- Suddenly Shouting: "Making Friends"I'll only bleed for you for ONE DAY
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: Hang starts with one in the form of "Burden of Proof". Other songs, such as "One Thing to Live" and "Sad Astronaut", start out light this before breaking into the band's more typical style.
- Train Song: "Train". Duh.
