Lagwagon Goes OFF!

After a 10 year hiatus from Orange County, Lagwagon came back! Now, if you aren’t familiar with Lagwagon and you consider yourself a snowboarder, you definitely need to check out pretty much any mid-late ‘90’s snowboard movie because Lagwagon was rocking on almost every soundtrack. You should immediately run to your local shop and buy Stomping Grounds, Simple Pleasures, Decade and Technical Difficulties, (just click on the title to watch their trailers!) This hard charging, group has been representing the roots of skate/snow culture through their music for almost 18 years. And as the crowd gathered around the Anaheim House of Blues, the beers cracked and the California sun blazed the sky, the show went off!

Opening for Lagwagon was A Wilhelm Scream, who I actually didn’t get a chance to see due to the multiple reps of twelve-ounce curls, but I did make it to the front for The Lawrence Arms. This trio from Chicago took the show and ran with it, pumping the crowd up and blasting through track after track. If you’ve never heard these guys you need to check out a few of their tracks. The balance of the Brendan Kelly (vocals and bass) and Chris McCaughan (vocals and guitar) going back and forth with vocals through most of the songs, kept the music fresh and fast. Self described as Midwestern Beer Belly Despair Rock, this trio holds tight to their roots with tracks off of their new album Oh Calcutta!. Harsh and passionate, Brendan belted out song after song from this album. I have seen a lot of shows, but this trio made so much music and played so passionately it was unreal. You could feel the pain and the angst in their voice but even more so in the piercing guitar and pulsing drum beats.

Listen to my top picks from the show:

Are you there Margaret? It’s Me God!-

Cut It Up!-

Great lakes/Great Escapes-

Like A Record Player-

After The Lawrence Arms finished up, it was back to the bar, drink to bar tab to drink and just kept the night going as the crazy crosscut of musical interests intersected at the weirdest place in the world-Disneyland. For those not familiar with the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA it is located in the heart of Disneyland, which made for one of the strangest evenings of my life as the night wore on. Faster and faster the drinking and the debauchery became more prevalent and if a break was needed you could peer over the bar and stare out into a sea of plastic fantasy houses, giant fuzzy creatures-the happiest place on earth. It was strange.

Around 11:15pm Lagwagon grabbed the stage and the place erupted. Classic Lagwagon tunes intertwined with the new songs from the album Resolve, which, if you look at the lyrics (read them here), you can tell is a very somber album. Written by Joey Cape in just a few days after former Lagwagon drummer Derrick Plourder, committed suicide, the songs on Resolve reach back to the hard charging, skater-punk style that everyone knows Lagwagon for.

The feeling and the passion and the hurt that the lyrics represent are strangely comfortable next to the fast pumping guitar and drums. As the first song started (Heartbreaking Music-Listen to it hear!) I dropped my drink at the bar, left the tab open and bolted for the front of the pit, down the weathered wooden steps to the floor as the chorus repeated. As the guitars kicked in, I pushed through the crowd of heads, from old skool skaters to the new age of pop-punkers, as everyone was jumping and pushing and sweating. I wedged myself next to a kid with a signed Lagwagon BBQ t-shirt and a tattooed rocker, threw a fist in the air and just let the music roll over and through the wave of people and danced my ass off! This mayhem continued throughout the entire show with the band never letting up and the crowd pushing right back and keeping the intensity that was beyond any show I have ever been to.

After they finished their set, the crowd went wild, sweating and smelling like everyone else, as everyone was disgustingly tired and worn out. But the chants went up of “Lag-wag-on…Lag-wag-on!” and so they came back to finish the night with the song Sad Astronaut which starts off acoustic and somber, with Joey Cape hollowly echoing his words to a fallen friend as some of the most passionately written words hovered over the crowd, we all waited for what would come next. Then when he had the entire crowd subdued and somber they pulled you back, as the band broke back in and everyone jumped right into the thrashing guitar.

This was the best show I have ever seen! The next morning I was hung-over, tired, couldn’t move my neck, my back was sore as hell and I lost pieces of clothing, but damn if I didn’t have one hell of a time at the show!

Here are my top picks from the show:

Know it all

Violins-

May 16th

Making Friends

Razor Burn

Heartbreaking Music-

Automatic-

Coffee and Cigarettes-

Resolve-

Be sure to watch for the exclusive Lagwagon interview with Leon and Dave!

Check out more Lagwagon!

Check out The Lawrence Arms!

Check out A Wilhelm Scream!

A big thanks to Fat Wreck Chords, Vanessa, all of the bands and the House of Blues, Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, Budweiser, additive-free tobacco and concerts!