Lagwagon

Lagwagon
Lagwagon performing in 2014
Background information
Origin	Goleta, California
Genres	Punk rock, pop punk, skate punk, melodic hardcore
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Fat Wreck Chords
Associated acts	Rich Kids on LSD, No Use for a Name, Buck Wild, Bad Astronaut, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Playing Favorites, Versus The World, Ten Foot Pole
Website	www.lagwagon.com
Members	Joey Cape Chris Flippin Joe Raposo Chris Rest Dave Raun
Past members	Shawn Dewey Derrick Plourde (deceased) Jesse Buglione

Lagwagon is a Californian punk rock band originally from Goleta, just outside Santa Barbara, California. They formed in 1989 and went on hiatus and reunited several times over the years. Their name comes from the band's tour van, which can be seen on the back cover of their 1994 second album Trashed.

The band has 10 releases through Fat Wreck Chords: seven studio albums, one EP, one live album and a collection of B-sides, compilation tracks and demos. Lagwagon has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America, Europe and Asia. Their moderate success reflected a growing interest in punk rock during the 1990s, along with fellow California bands Rancid, Green Day and The Offspring.

The story about the name Lagwagon is that Joey’s mom was often late picking him and his brother up from school. She drove a station wagon, which his brother dubbed the "lagwagon". After signing to Fat Mike's label Fat Wreck Chords, Lagwagon released their debut album for the label, Duh, in 1992. Frontman Joey Cape commented on how the album was made, "Back then, we were inexperienced in the studio. It was less about the recording process and more about rehearsing. We recorded and mixed Duh in 4 days. There's something to be said for a budget. You have to have your shit together before you go into the studio and the end result is a record that better reflects the band's sound at the time." Two years later, Lagwagon released Trashed, their second record on Fat, which turned out to be highly successful, leading to the eventual production of a video for "Island of Shame." During this time, a number of punk bands, such as Green Day, The Offspring and Rancid, had hit the mainstream and Lagwagon turned down offers to join several major labels. Hoss, the third Lagwagon album, was released on November 21, 1995. After the release of that album and an extensive tour in Europe, Australia, and Japan, both guitarist Shawn Dewey and drummer Derrick Plourde would leave the band and be replaced temporarily by Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) on guitar, and permanently by Dave Raun (RKL) on drums. Shawn Dewey, already in the side project band Buck Wild on Lobster Records would go on to release two full-length LPs Beat Me Silly and Full Metal Overdrive and do two European tours with Good Riddance and Ten Foot Pole.