“I’ll never be Ozzy/ On stage when I’m fifty” bemoans Lagwagon’s primary songwriter and frontman Joey Cape on the track ‘Falling Apart’, from 2003’s Blaze.
The song pokes fun at the age of aging, crusty rock stars, coming from the California skate punks after their first album in a five year absence.
Turning 46 this year however, Cape is slowly edging closer to this day where he will be ironically singing those exact words on stage when he’s precisely 50.
No bad things since signs of slowing down this seems inevitable rather possible, as Cape keeps himself busy with his various projects and musical outlets.
“If you’re a painter, you don’t stop painting. If you’re a writer, you don’t stop writing,” Cape says of his high level of musical output, which includes prominent roles in Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, Me First & The Gimme Gimmies, The Bad Loud, and his own solo work.
“I’m a musician and that’s what I know how to do. It’s what I love to do so all the different projects that I involve myself in; they entertain me,” he affirms. “The process of songwriting is the same in every case, but they fulfil me in slightly different ways and it keeps me busy and keeps me creative.”
Cape however speaks most fondly of his original and most successful project; Lagwagon, explaining, “everything that I write usually goes to Lagwagon first, generally speaking.”
“Some of the things that I’ve done were kind of built on the back of Lagwagon. They’ve just sort of been things that were outtakes and things that didn’t really work for the band, but work perfectly for something else,” says the restless creator.
Cape’s most recent release Acoustic Vol. 2 is an example of this, a far cry from Lagwagon’s trademark ‘in your face’ sneer. A split acoustic album with long-time friend Tony Sly of fellow California punk band No Use For A Name, the album consisted of acoustic re-workings of their respective bands’ material and was released in June of this year.“He was one of my best friends, and obviously it’s like a hole that will never be filled.” – Joey Cape on Tony Sly
However the just-for-fun side project has since gone on to represent something much more, with Tony Sly passing away a little over a month after its initial release.
“Ultimately I guess, I’m really proud and happy that I was able to do another thing with Tony,” remembers Cape sombrely of his final project with Sly.
“He was one of my best friends, and obviously it’s like a hole that will never be filled. When I see the record, and I look at it, it makes me really proud.”
Yet, it was a little known project with Sly – dubbed Scorpios – that Cape is particularly disappointed will never reach its full potential. “That was a record that we liked better than the split to be perfectly honest.”
Self-produced and released on an extremely limited run in late 2011, the Scorpios record featured Cape and Sly alongside Jon Snodgrass, of Colorado’s Drag The River, and musician Brian Wahlstrom.
“Everybody in the band were Scorpios; that was the idea behind it…” begins Cape. “We’d just have four songwriters and we’d just work together and that was becoming a thing that felt like a retirement plan almost, this was a thing we loved to do and we could do forever.”
“We pressed vinyl, but we sold them out immediately when we toured. I have a few of them with me here – I think I brought ten for my solo shows in Australia. They were the last that we had. The only reason that I’m parting with the last 10 that I have, is because no one in Australia would certainly know about it and it would be good for people to hear it – the Tony songs on it especially.”
In tribute of his fallen friend, Cape is planning an upcoming celebration of his life in a tour, a “sort of an homage kind of tour next spring,” says Cape. “There’s a few bands going out that I’m in – but Scorpios are going to be the last band of the shows, in Europe.”
These limited Scorpios shows, says Cape, will pay tribute to their fallen bandmate, featuring Sly’s work “as well as a bunch of songs of our own, but just the 3 out of the 4 of us. But when we do that we’re coupling the tour with the release of that record – an actual release.”
However, it’s the new Lagwagon album that is at the forefront of Cape’s mind. “Everybody’s really psyched. As soon as we get done touring – I think this Australian tour is the last tour for quite a while – we’re going to get in a room together, and start working on some stuff,” enthuses Cape.“Hopefully by next summer we’ll be in the studio recording a record. Because, geez, it’s been a long time,” – Cape, on the new Lagwagon album
“Hopefully by next summer we’ll be in the studio recording a record. Because, geez, it’s been a long time,” the first since 2005’s full-length album, Resolve, in fact.
As for what fans can expect of a new Lagwagon record, the frontman is cautious.
“I don’t want to say too much about it because it is an unpredictable kind of animal when you start working on music, and everyone has an influence on where it goes. But I feel like it’s going to be a return to the riffier kind of music that we played in our early days.”
After a loving and reflective ramble on his attempts to start the new record, Cape continuously stumbles over his own gushing and abruptly stops himself before simply saying “I think what I’m trying to say is… it might be kind of metal,” before bursting into laughter.
Yet it’s Cape’s punk rock roots that define his being, and when quizzed on what it means to be punk in 2012, his answer shows a hardened wisdom.
“I think punk as a definition; it’s going to be something different to everyone. And that’s ok. Because it’s bigger than a unified definition – it’s bigger than that. It should mean a sort of a change in your life.”
Adding, “It should be about when you discovered something that made you feel independent, whether it was ideologically or musically, you bonded with it and it became part of you.”
Has that fundamental idea changed? “The lines get really convoluted now – everything’s really convoluted now, because there’s so much saturation,” responds Cape. “Anything can be anti-establishment now. Yet everything isn’t at the same time. It’s a strange world we live in…”
Thankfully, Lagwagon have remained a constant in this strange world since their initial days as Fat Wreck Chords’ first signed act.
There’s something comforting in the fact that coming into 2013, the snot-nosed punks responsible for Duh and Trashed are still kicking around and looking to their early material for inspiration.
As ‘Falling Apart’ closes, with the line “maybe we will try to pull it off for another year”, the song has become more prophetic than tongue in cheek as the years go by, and Lagwagon continue to chug along, seemingly taking it as it comes.
Joey Cape and the legacy of punk he leaves in his wake is as strong as ever, and there really seems to be no foreseeable end.
Cape departs with his final words, speaking on Lagwagon’s frame of mind, exclaiming “this whole year, it’s been exceptional! The chemistry has been just great; we’ve been pretty much on fire. It’s been so inspiring.”
Lawagon are currently on tour around Australia through December. Full dates and details here.
