Monday, November 3, 2008

Lagwagon Week: Monday

Greetings earth-dwellers. We're back at the start of yet another crippled week. I've actually been so annoyed with my status and had so much time on my hands (especially in transit) that I've created, for this week alone, a theme week. This week, we'll be discussing a handful of projects which are illegitimate spawn of Lagwagon.

But first, let's talk about dad. Lagwagon is, unquestionably, my favorite punk band of all time. Pennywise was always too repetitive, NOFX was too unpolished, but Lagwagon seemed to find a perfect balance of melodic motions along with angsty 90's rebellion. Formed in 1989, the boys have survived almost 20 years, released 7 studio albums, and 4 EPs. They went on hiatus from 2000-2002, but in the end, found the bed was too cold at night and had to get back together.

During this little break, Joey, Lagwagon's frontman, pulled together a punk-all-stars line up from groups such as Sugarcult, Me First, Swingin' Utters, and The Ataris. Even with all this punk rock in the room, the band opted for a more laid back, almost pop-rock style.

They released three full length albums; Acrophobe, Houston: We have a drinking problem and Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment. However, tragedy struck though in '05 when Derrick Plourde, BA's drummer, committed suicide. Cape would soon after announce this to be the end of Bad Astronaut, " because without Derrick, there is no Bad Astronaut."

Stay tuned as the family tree unfolds throughout the rest of the week. If you're feeling daring, you can even try to guess who's going to be next on the chopping block (though knowing the douche-bag that I am, I'll likely go and change if you do get it right).



-It hurts, but just the way I like