IPOD
RADIO
Lagwagon - Joey Cape
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Jun 24, 2005
Lagwagon’s 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 I’m always up this early now because I’ve got a daughter.
DRE:
How old is she?
JC:
Almost a year.
DRE:
First kid?
JC:
Yes.
DRE:
What’s it like?
JC:
Well I’m 38 years old so I’m an old timer. It hasn’t 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 didn’t 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 it’s definitely not boring now.
DRE:
Does anyone else in Lagwagon have kids?
JC:
I think Dave’s wife might be going for it and I know our bass player is.
DRE:
Are you going to start doing children’s music now?
JC:
It’s funny but we’ve always made this pact that we weren’t going to do that. But you can’t help it because you are always singing stuff to the kid. Inevitably kids’ songs just start coming out and they’re pretty good. Now my wife and I are thinking about doing a punk rock album for babies. It won’t 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 didn’t mind cleaning up at all because I didn’t 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 I’m not cleaning that up. They actually didn’t 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. I’m 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. He’s 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:
That’s 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 didn’t feel they were the greatest. The crowd wasn’t that good and we didn’t 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. It’s a weird thing to do a live record because I don’t think it was something any of us wanted to do. I think we all felt a little scared about it because it’s 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 don’t have a ton of gimmicks and we definitely weren’t funny those nights [laughs].
DRE:
Is House of Blues really considered a dive?
JC:
No and that’s 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 it’s a good club with great crowds and it’s 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 we’ve 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. We’re really lame. We’ve been talking about it a lot. Let’s pretend that I said we’re going into the studio this summer to do a double record.
I have this other band called Bad Astronaut and we’re doing a record that’s almost done. That kind of takes me away from Lagwagon.
DRE:
So it’s mostly your fault?
JC:
Probably [laughs].
But also Jesse and his wife opened a hair salon so he’s 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 doesn’t usually. It’s 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 don’t 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 else’s 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 hasn’t been bad at all. It’s been fun.
DRE:
How surprised are you that it’s become so popular?
JC:
Oh my god, it’s so weird. I feel like I’m in an ongoing Twilight Zone episode. But it makes sense because the records are fun to listen to. It’s nice to be a band like that when you’re in other bands that play mostly serious music.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Lagwagon’s 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 I’m always up this early now because I’ve got a daughter.
DRE:
How old is she?
JC:
Almost a year.
DRE:
First kid?
JC:
Yes.
DRE:
What’s it like?
JC:
Well I’m 38 years old so I’m an old timer. It hasn’t 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 didn’t 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 it’s definitely not boring now.
DRE:
Does anyone else in Lagwagon have kids?
JC:
I think Dave’s wife might be going for it and I know our bass player is.
DRE:
Are you going to start doing children’s music now?
JC:
It’s funny but we’ve always made this pact that we weren’t going to do that. But you can’t help it because you are always singing stuff to the kid. Inevitably kids’ songs just start coming out and they’re pretty good. Now my wife and I are thinking about doing a punk rock album for babies. It won’t 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 didn’t mind cleaning up at all because I didn’t 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 I’m not cleaning that up. They actually didn’t 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. I’m 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.
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. He’s 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:
That’s 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 didn’t feel they were the greatest. The crowd wasn’t that good and we didn’t 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. It’s a weird thing to do a live record because I don’t think it was something any of us wanted to do. I think we all felt a little scared about it because it’s 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 don’t have a ton of gimmicks and we definitely weren’t funny those nights [laughs].
DRE:
Is House of Blues really considered a dive?
JC:
No and that’s 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 it’s a good club with great crowds and it’s 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 we’ve 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. We’re really lame. We’ve been talking about it a lot. Let’s pretend that I said we’re going into the studio this summer to do a double record.
I have this other band called Bad Astronaut and we’re doing a record that’s almost done. That kind of takes me away from Lagwagon.
I have this other band called Bad Astronaut and we’re doing a record that’s almost done. That kind of takes me away from Lagwagon.
DRE:
So it’s mostly your fault?
JC:
Probably [laughs].
But also Jesse and his wife opened a hair salon so he’s 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.
But also Jesse and his wife opened a hair salon so he’s 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 doesn’t usually. It’s 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 don’t 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 else’s 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 hasn’t been bad at all. It’s been fun.
DRE:
How surprised are you that it’s become so popular?
JC:
Oh my god, it’s so weird. I feel like I’m in an ongoing Twilight Zone episode. But it makes sense because the records are fun to listen to. It’s nice to be a band like that when you’re in other bands that play mostly serious music.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
