I really used to love Lagwagon about twelve or thirteen years ago. While haning out skateboarding back then, me and my friends listened to "Trashed" and "Hoss" all the time. I remember thinking that "Hoss" was the ultimate record when I first heard it, with its classics like "Rifle" or "Sleep". Who could top songs like that? Those were the good old days. Bands like Good Riddance, Face To Face and Lagwagon were really an inspiration and got us to start bands of our own.
Naturally, with time, we all moved on to liking other bands and music and the good old Lagwagon was somehow forgotten along the way.
Today, more than decade later, I'm listening to the band's new EP "I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon" for the first time. What has happened since I last gave these guys a good listen? Do I still like it?
The truth is that Lagwagon is still a good band. The music doesn't blow me away like it used to - but to be honest I still have a soft-spot for this band. You couldn't confuse this record with any other band. It's Lagwagon all right. The music is still technical, well-performed and Joey's vocals are still the same in his talk-singing way. What I miss are the anthems that the band used to spew out on their first three records.
The tunes on this one are all ok but some of the energy has gone missing. "Errends" and "Memoirs and Landmines" which are the two fastest ones are reasons enough to give this record a few spins in the future, but the Wagon isn't what it used to be. However, the record is good enough to prove that the band is still alive and that they're doing ok. They're only a bit older, just like me. In a way, the title sort of speaks for itself.