Lagwagons latest album is Live in a Dive and was recorded at the most undive place you can think of, The House of Blues. I got a chanced to speak with the Lagwagon spokesperson Joey Cape at 9 am in between him being wrist deep in poopie diapers.
Check out the official website for Lagwagon
Daniel Robert Epstein: Fat Wreck said it was cool to call you this early.
Joey Cape: Yeah Im always up this early now because Ive got a daughter.
DRE: How old is she?
JC: Almost a year.
DRE: First kid?
JC: Yes.
DRE: Whats it like?
JC: Well Im 38 years old so Im an old timer. It hasnt changed things all that much because my wife and I never went out that much anyway. Even when we did go out we were just geeks who went to movies. So it didnt change many things that much but the things it did change were for the better. Life was starting to get boring anyway.
DRE: Why is that?
JC: It can get boring here and there but its definitely not boring now.
DRE: Does anyone else in Lagwagon have kids?
JC: I think Daves wife might be going for it and I know our bass player is.
DRE: Are you going to start doing childrens music now?
JC: Its funny but weve always made this pact that we werent going to do that. But you cant help it because you are always singing stuff to the kid. Inevitably kids songs just start coming out and theyre pretty good. Now my wife and I are thinking about doing a punk rock album for babies. It wont be super heavy but it will be punk. They are all about poop though.
DRE: Poop is very punk.
JC: Yeah, dude. Look at GG Allin, he loved poop.
DRE: GG was kind of like a big baby.
JC: Yeah a big gross baby, fuck. When I was younger I was a janitor at a club where he played. I didnt mind cleaning up at all because I didnt have issues with shit or barf but then that night he threw shit all over the walls and there was blood everywhere. That was the one time I just said, fuck it Im not cleaning that up. They actually didnt fire me because they understood. He was pretty crazy but entertaining.
DRE: Have you heard of SuicideGirls?
JC: Yeah I like it a lot, my wife digs it too.
DRE: When did you first hear of it?
JC: I actually checked it out about a year ago. Im not sure I totally get it though.
DRE: Once we get you a membership it will all make sense.
Fat Wreck sent me this comic book with the Lagwagon CD.
JC: Our bass player Jesse and I came up with that concept then he just took over and did the whole thing. Hes really into the old horror comics. Some of the ideas he came up were a little too creepy. I think originally the one with me and my dog was different [laughs].
DRE: Whose idea was it to do a comic book theme?
JC: Thats just a Fat Wreck thing.
DRE: Was the House of Blues show always going to become a CD?
JC: We recorded two shows and after we did we didnt feel they were the greatest. The crowd wasnt that good and we didnt feel like we played that well. But the thing that was cool was that we played about 50 songs over two nights. So when we decided to commit to the project we just picked the best songs from those two nights. Its a weird thing to do a live record because I dont think it was something any of us wanted to do. I think we all felt a little scared about it because its one night that is supposed to represent you as a band. Plus I always thought that live albums were an excuse to make a best of record. My favorite thing about live records is when the band is funny in-between songs or if the songs sound different. We dont have a ton of gimmicks and we definitely werent funny those nights [laughs].
DRE: Is House of Blues really considered a dive?
JC: No and thats the best thing about it, Live in a Really Nice Multimillion Dollar Complex. I think the whole thing was that it was one of the last places on the tour and the only reason you even really play the House of Blues is because they have such great sound. We wanted to record it the night before at The Glass House in Pomona [California] because its a good club with great crowds and its kind of a dive. But we voted on it and we figured it would be safer to do it at the House of Blues.
DRE: When is the next Lagwagon album coming out?
JC: I have no idea. I think weve written maybe two songs for it. Our name fits us perfectly because we totally lag. It was five years between our last two studio records. Were really lame. Weve been talking about it a lot. Lets pretend that I said were going into the studio this summer to do a double record.
I have this other band called Bad Astronaut and were doing a record thats almost done. That kind of takes me away from Lagwagon.
DRE: So its mostly your fault?
JC: Probably [laughs].
But also Jesse and his wife opened a hair salon so hes busy managing that. Dave, our drummer, is in the Gimme Gimmes with me and the two guitar players Chris and Chris are in this band RKL. So everybody is doing stuff.
DRE: How does Me First and the Gimme Gimmes take up so much time?
JC: It doesnt usually. Its pretty much the easiest band in the world to be in. We get together for about two days before we make a record and we dont practice before we tour.
DRE: How does doing the Gimme Gimmes affect the original songs you do with other bands?
JC: I taught myself how to play instruments and I always thought I would be a more original songwriter if I never learned anyone elses songs. Most guitar players know all these covers from growing but I never learned anything. When I joined the Gimme Gimmes that changed because I had to learn all these covers. It made me a little worried it would affect my songwriting. But it hasnt been bad at all. Its been fun.
DRE: How surprised are you that its become so popular?
JC: Oh my god, its so weird. I feel like Im in an ongoing Twilight Zone episode. But it makes sense because the records are fun to listen to. Its nice to be a band like that when youre in other bands that play mostly serious music.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official website for Lagwagon
Daniel Robert Epstein: Fat Wreck said it was cool to call you this early.
Joey Cape: Yeah Im always up this early now because Ive got a daughter.
DRE: How old is she?
JC: Almost a year.
DRE: First kid?
JC: Yes.
DRE: Whats it like?
JC: Well Im 38 years old so Im an old timer. It hasnt changed things all that much because my wife and I never went out that much anyway. Even when we did go out we were just geeks who went to movies. So it didnt change many things that much but the things it did change were for the better. Life was starting to get boring anyway.
DRE: Why is that?
JC: It can get boring here and there but its definitely not boring now.
DRE: Does anyone else in Lagwagon have kids?
JC: I think Daves wife might be going for it and I know our bass player is.
DRE: Are you going to start doing childrens music now?
JC: Its funny but weve always made this pact that we werent going to do that. But you cant help it because you are always singing stuff to the kid. Inevitably kids songs just start coming out and theyre pretty good. Now my wife and I are thinking about doing a punk rock album for babies. It wont be super heavy but it will be punk. They are all about poop though.
DRE: Poop is very punk.
JC: Yeah, dude. Look at GG Allin, he loved poop.
DRE: GG was kind of like a big baby.
JC: Yeah a big gross baby, fuck. When I was younger I was a janitor at a club where he played. I didnt mind cleaning up at all because I didnt have issues with shit or barf but then that night he threw shit all over the walls and there was blood everywhere. That was the one time I just said, fuck it Im not cleaning that up. They actually didnt fire me because they understood. He was pretty crazy but entertaining.
DRE: Have you heard of SuicideGirls?
JC: Yeah I like it a lot, my wife digs it too.
DRE: When did you first hear of it?
JC: I actually checked it out about a year ago. Im not sure I totally get it though.
DRE: Once we get you a membership it will all make sense.
Fat Wreck sent me this comic book with the Lagwagon CD.
JC: Our bass player Jesse and I came up with that concept then he just took over and did the whole thing. Hes really into the old horror comics. Some of the ideas he came up were a little too creepy. I think originally the one with me and my dog was different [laughs].
DRE: Whose idea was it to do a comic book theme?
JC: Thats just a Fat Wreck thing.
DRE: Was the House of Blues show always going to become a CD?
JC: We recorded two shows and after we did we didnt feel they were the greatest. The crowd wasnt that good and we didnt feel like we played that well. But the thing that was cool was that we played about 50 songs over two nights. So when we decided to commit to the project we just picked the best songs from those two nights. Its a weird thing to do a live record because I dont think it was something any of us wanted to do. I think we all felt a little scared about it because its one night that is supposed to represent you as a band. Plus I always thought that live albums were an excuse to make a best of record. My favorite thing about live records is when the band is funny in-between songs or if the songs sound different. We dont have a ton of gimmicks and we definitely werent funny those nights [laughs].
DRE: Is House of Blues really considered a dive?
JC: No and thats the best thing about it, Live in a Really Nice Multimillion Dollar Complex. I think the whole thing was that it was one of the last places on the tour and the only reason you even really play the House of Blues is because they have such great sound. We wanted to record it the night before at The Glass House in Pomona [California] because its a good club with great crowds and its kind of a dive. But we voted on it and we figured it would be safer to do it at the House of Blues.
DRE: When is the next Lagwagon album coming out?
JC: I have no idea. I think weve written maybe two songs for it. Our name fits us perfectly because we totally lag. It was five years between our last two studio records. Were really lame. Weve been talking about it a lot. Lets pretend that I said were going into the studio this summer to do a double record.
I have this other band called Bad Astronaut and were doing a record thats almost done. That kind of takes me away from Lagwagon.
DRE: So its mostly your fault?
JC: Probably [laughs].
But also Jesse and his wife opened a hair salon so hes busy managing that. Dave, our drummer, is in the Gimme Gimmes with me and the two guitar players Chris and Chris are in this band RKL. So everybody is doing stuff.
DRE: How does Me First and the Gimme Gimmes take up so much time?
JC: It doesnt usually. Its pretty much the easiest band in the world to be in. We get together for about two days before we make a record and we dont practice before we tour.
DRE: How does doing the Gimme Gimmes affect the original songs you do with other bands?
JC: I taught myself how to play instruments and I always thought I would be a more original songwriter if I never learned anyone elses songs. Most guitar players know all these covers from growing but I never learned anything. When I joined the Gimme Gimmes that changed because I had to learn all these covers. It made me a little worried it would affect my songwriting. But it hasnt been bad at all. Its been fun.
DRE: How surprised are you that its become so popular?
JC: Oh my god, its so weird. I feel like Im in an ongoing Twilight Zone episode. But it makes sense because the records are fun to listen to. Its nice to be a band like that when youre in other bands that play mostly serious music.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
ware77 said:
Monica said:
i used to listen to hoss 8 billion times a day when it first came out
ditto...it still makes the rounds in my cd player on a monthly basis - probably my fav punk album of all time.
Same here. I've listened to that cd for so many years that it is in terrible shape and won't even play now!! I need to get a new one.