10.29.15 PRE-FEST SINGLE DAY (ORPHEUM ONLY): Lagwagon, Teenage Bottlerocket, Masked Intruder, Heartsounds, Mustard Plug, Copyrights, Off With Their He

After a nine year lag, it's time to get back on the wagon with the powerful and long-awaited album Hang from punk rock mainstays Lagwagon.

It's not that the band broke up or even went on hiatus after releasing 2005's Resolve. They've continued a robust tour schedule, and frontman Joey Cape has released a steady stream of original material as a solo artist and with his other projects Bad Astronaut, Scorpios, and Bad Loud (not to mention cranking out cover albums with his other other project Me First and the Gimme Gimmes).

"I'm writing all the time," says Cape, "but a lot of times it doesn't feel appropriate for Lagwagon. It's not who the band collectively is at the time, and the mold is constantly changing. Sometimes it takes a decade for all the stars to align!"

That celestial harmonic convergence finally happened a few years ago when the band was on tour. "The lightbulb over the head came on, and I knew what the record would sound like and what we'd be saying. It's less of the '90s punk rock style we're known for. But this is the record my band wanted and needed to make."

Indeed, the overall sound of Hang is darker and more hard-charging than some of Lagwagon's best-known work, as they address themes including loss, betrayal, aging, the environment, and the plight of the common man. It's not a totally bleak picture, though: all that disconnectedness underscores the need to make emotional investments, ensuring that empathy doesn't in fact become obsolete.

The album also includes a musical tribute to Cape's late best friend, collaborator, and frequent tour mate Tony Sly (No Use For A Name), who died in July 2012, just days after the two had wrapped what would be their final acoustic tour. The title of "One More Song" draws from the closing chant of Sly's solo track "Liver Let Die," but was directly inspired by a different song, one we'll never be able to hear.

"The last few days we were on tour together, he was writing a song and he played it for me and it was amazing," says Cape about the song's inspiration. "What happened to that song? I can't remember it. I can't recall it well enough to say "this is the last song Tony wrote."

The band plan to release an arc of three singles with accompanying videos, but won't be appearing in the clips themselves, opting to work with a creative team that will focus on their words rather than their faces. "I think some of the coolest things you see on YouTube are lyric videos: so sophisticated. It's filmmaking, it's about how much vision the person has."

So you won't see their faces on their YouTube channel, but there's an easy way to check out the mugs of a band who once played 284 shows in a single year: on a stage near you once the album is released on October 28. "This is the first record we've made in the history of the band that we wholeheartedly agree that we want to play every single song on the record live," says Joey. "It'll be great to play new songs. Sheesh, please!"


Being that they're one of the precious few punk bands from Wyoming that has a Wikipedia page, I have no choice but to do this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Bottlerocket


Up until now, the only thing these four crooks were good at making was toilet wine in the joint, but we sent them into Atlas Studios to record with Matt Allison (Alkaline Trio, Less Than Jake, Smoking Popes, etc.) and out came a pop-punk/power-pop masterpiece. They looted a vault of hooks, melodies, and many-layered harmonies for this debut full-length. Think Descendents meets Weezer in a dark alley! There's already plenty of squealers and snitches talking about MASKED INTRUDER, and these thugs have been invited to play all the cool festivals and will be touring with Teenage Bottlerocket in support of this release. It's fun stuff and you're gonna like it...or else.


Heartsounds came into being after the demise of Light This City, when Ben Murray and Laura Nichol decided to pursue their passion for punk rock by writing and recording a full length record consisting of 12 fast and melodic tracks, jams!


"What is in a name?" The members of Mustard Plug must have considered this when they casually came up with the title of what seemed at the time to be a short-lived distraction. While also considering the equally ridiculous "Wanker Daddies," "Shrinky Dinks," and "Cookie Puss," it was the title "Mustard Plug" that was chosen as the masthead to carry forth in the band's crusade to bring ska-punk to their humble abode of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Twenty years, 1500 shows and 200,000 album sales later, it can not be denied that the band has surpassed all expectations and permanently staked their claim in contemporary music.

Mustard Plug started out in the punk clubs, basements and dive bars of the Midwest, playing punk influenced ska music during a time most people in the U.S. had never even heard of ska. They clung to a DIY work ethic that had been ingrained in them from growing up in the 1980's hardcore punk scene and applied it to everything they'd do for the next 20 years. They released their first cassette tape themselves (1992's Skapocalypse Now!), and played constantly to earn enough money to record their first cd. 1994's Big Daddy Mulititude was released on legendary NYC label Moon Records and with their new found national distribution and exposure, the band climbed into their van and performed their music to new fans across North America.

In 1996 the band went to the Blasting Room in Ft. Collins, Colorado to record their second cd with their hero, punk legend Bill Stevenson, who at that time had been mainly known as the drummer for the Descendents and Black Flag. This album, Evildoers Beware, was quickly picked up by the then up and coming L.A. punk label, Hopeless Records, and released just as ska-punk music was finally gaining mainstream exposure in the U.S. Evildoers Beware exposed the band to a broader fan base, outside their midwest roots and the international ska die-hards who had thus far rallied around the band. The late 90's became a blur as they hit the road, playing 150 shows a year and opening tours for the likes of Face to Face, The Bouncing Souls, Hepcat, MXPX, Less Than Jake, and many more.

In 1997, the band recorded their version of the Verve Pipe's "The Freshmen" for a local radio compilation. Their version infused ska-punk energy in to a top 40 pop classic and immediately got picked up by several large commercial radio stations coast to coast and became a fan favorite.

The band's momentum continued to grow, allowing them to headline tours throughout North American and eventually Europe, Japan, and Brazil, and play to huge crowds at seminal clubs like CBGB's in NYC, the Metro in Chicago, Emo's in Austin and The Whiskey in L.A.

Towards the end of the 90's the band returned to the Blasting Room to record the critically acclaimed Pray For Mojo and continued to hit the road constantly.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the band continued their mission of bringing their music to the masses. Despite ska music's fall from grace, the band returned to their grass roots base and continued to tour. In 2003, they released the ska-punk gem Yellow #5, this time going to Detroit to self produce and record it. In 2004 the band turned the public's perception of ska on it's head by co-headling the initial run of the Ska Is Dead Tour, playing in front of packed concert halls from coast to coast.

In 2007, the band returned to the Blasting Room to record In Black and White. The album was hailed by many as a return to form, while creating a modern take on the ska-punk genre. Since then the band has continued to tour internationally and write new songs. Several new singles have been released including split 7 inches with Bomb the Music Industry and Montreal's The Beatdown. During the past year, the band has continued to hit the road, including a tour of Europe that saw them at Belgium's massive Groezrock Festival and conquering the 1500th show benchmark in the U.S. The band continues to write songs for an upcoming album.

As Mustard Plug looks back over their twenty years of relentless touring and recording, they are proud of their accomplishments and see no reason to slow down.


When it comes to unpredictable, self-deprecating, beer-swigging, working class punk rock, you don’t have to look much further than Off With Their Heads. Whether they’re playing to a crowd of twelve at a dingy sh*thole in Iowa or in front of thousands on tour with bands like Against Me, one thing is always certain, OWTH deliver honest rip-roaring punk rock in it’s true form time and time again. And as the band readies the release of their second full length album, In Desolation, OWTH soldiers on in their busted up RV, playing to those who’ll listen and self-loathing every minute of it.

Formed in 2002, Off With Their Heads went through a slew of musicians before finally cementing the lineup with Ryan Young on vocals/guitar, Justin Francis on drums, Zack Gontard on guitar and Robbie Swartwood on bass. Since their inception, the band has released an impressive catalog of music including seventeen 7”’s, one LP and a few comps, and has toured relentlessly in US, Europe, Canada and Japan for the past five years with bands like Against Me, Youth Brigade, The Bouncing Souls and Municipal Waste to name a few.

It was during Off With Their Heads’ 2009 tour with Against Me when the band got the call from Epitaph’s owner/president Brett Gurewitz saying that he was a fan of the band.

“Off With Their Heads might be the best punk band going right now, Epitaph needs them; music needs them,” says Gurewitz.

“I remember the first time I'd heard of Epitaph,” Young adds. “It was when I was in junior high and Rancid had just released Let’s Go. I saw the video, and immediately went and bought the record. I got into the compilations, and that started me on the road to finding all these great aggressive catchy punk bands. Living in a small farm town, I had never been exposed to this kind of music before, and from there I learned about punk. I guess you could say Epitaph was my gateway into everything that I would wind up becoming. For that reason alone, I am ecstatic to be a part of one of the biggest influences on my life.”

Off With Their Heads are well on their way to carving out their own punk rock story with their modern take on vintage punk fueled anthems. As the band begins the next chapter of their career they took the time to record their best album to date.

Produced by Off With Their Heads and Jacques Wait at the Terrarium in Minneapolis, In Desolation is 34 minutes of non-stop gut wrenching honesty. Singer Ryan Young’s candid lyrics about life’s misadventures, stress, drugs, love, death and everything between add a raw surly edge to the band’s full-throttle music.

“This record is kind of a collective mix of all the styles we've done in the past,” Young explains. “Everything from aggression to sappy bullshit, because that’s who I am! This is going to be the record for people who like the whole spectrum of what we do.”

From its first track, “Drive,” a petal-to-the-metal opener about Young’s incessant habit of over thinking things and becoming his own worst critic, to the harsh reality of OD’ing on the sobering yet rowdy song “Trying to Breath” and the explosive middle-finger-in-the-air sing along “Their Own Medicine,”
In Desolation is authentic punk rock to its core from a working band who lives and breathes it every day.

When it comes to touring virtually year round it isn’t a choice as much as it’s a lifestyle for Off With Their Heads, and after years on the road the band has finally taken a brief break.

“Until the record comes out in June, we won’t be doing any shows,” says Young. “That’s the longest stretch in almost two years that we haven’t been on the road. People ask us how it feels to finally get to relax. I'm fucking bored. The other guys are bored. We want to get back out. Not to further our band, but just because we love doing it and are used to it. The title In Desolation comes from a lyric in the song “ZZYZX” on the record. I chose that because after years constantly on the road, being 100 percent by myself sounded pretty rad.”

In June Off With Their Heads will once again pack the RV and head out on another indefinite tour strapped with one of the year’s most engaging punk rock records and the sheer will to keep the wheels turning.


We are a punk band from sunny Minneapolis, MN. What do we sound like? Well, imagine if Jawbreaker, Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio got in a knife fight and Jawbreaker won - but just barely. That's what we sound like. Does that even make sense? Probably not.

Nate also plays in The Gateway District and used to play in The Pyongyang Metro and Off With Their Heads. Nate and Nick used to play in Rivethead. Danny used to play in These Riffs and Cave Deaths. Cory also plays in The Manix. We've all had illustrious careers.

Contact us!
PO Box 8995 Minneapolis, MN 55408
bannerpilot at gmail dot com
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