Established sometime around 1989, seminal SoCal punk band Lagwagon was one of the first to have an album released by independent label Fat Wreck Chords. To finish out a year of strong releases, Fat Mike (vocalist and bassist for the long-running punk band Nofx and owner and operator of Fat Wreck Chords), decided to celebrate Lagwagon's contribution to the scene by reissuing five of the band's full-length albums individually and in a box set called Putting Music in its Place. A much deserved honor, without a doubt, as Lagwagon has influenced over twenty years worth of emerging punk artists, with their fast, melodic sound, rapid drums, technical guitar parts, clear, emotive vocals and intelligent, and sometimes humorous lyrical content.

Once the idea for the re-releases was hatched, the band members and Fat Mike assembled re-mastered versions of all the songs from Lagwagon's albums Duh (1992), Trashed (1994), Hoss (1995), Double Plaidinum (1997), and Let's Talk About Feelings (1998). These reissues come complete with nice gatefold cases with improved image clarity to the original artwork, liner notes with specifics about each album directly from the band members themselves, and loads of extra listening material, demo versions and previously unreleased songs. With the box set, of course, there are a few extra goodies one doesn't get if one opts to purchase the reissues individually, such as a live DVD (CD box), or a poster, an Angry Days 7", and live DVD (vinyl box).

Now, one can only guess why the band's last two full-lengths, Blaze (2003) and Resolve (2005), were not included among the reissues or in the box set. While I cannot speculate on Blaze, I can only assume that they chose not to re-release Resolve because of its highly personal nature, since it was dedicated to Lagwagon's original drummer, Derrick Plourde, whose life tragically ended in 2005 when he committed suicide. As it stands, it is evident that they made the right picks, starting with their debut Duh, going on to middle albums like Trashed and Hoss and Double Plaidinum, and finally ending with Let's Talk About Feelings, the one released just before going on a long hiatus.

Lagwagon has had a number of incarnations, frontman Joey Cape and guitarist Chris Flippin being the only two constants throughout, with past members including Shawn Dewey (guitar), Ken Stringfellow of The Posies (guitar), Jesse Buglione (bass), and of course Derrick Plourde (drums). Throughout the years, the members toured extensively all over the globe, wrote and recorded together, and made Lagwagon one of the most memorable, important and influential punk bands of all time.

Speaking of Lagwagon as one of the most important and influential punk bands of all time, they have remained consistently underground, never aiming for mainstream success. Even when bands like Green Day, The Offspring, and Rancid were commonly in the media, shown on Mtv around the clock, and signed to major labels, Lagwagon never jumped on the bandwagon and sold out. Clearly, for them, it was all about the music and the scene, not fame and fortune, which is very admirable.

It was during my sixteenth year or so, in 1995 or thereabouts, that I was first exposed to Lagwagon's songs. A good friend who had just relocated to Pennsylvania from Orange County, California had arrived with a rather large punk collection. Many of the bands I had never heard of, with the exception of the seemingly universally known ones, and I quickly became acquainted with the sounds of Strung Out, Guttermouth, Propagandhi, and Lagwagon. These albums revealed an entirely new area of the punk sound to me. You see, I had grown up with the likes of Gorilla Biscuits, Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, Crass, Oi Polloi, Nausea, The Exploited, and so on, all of whom occupied the opposite end of the punk spectrum, as it were.

Lagwagon became a favorite, at any rate. So much so that I picked up a copy of Hoss as soon as it hit the record store shelves. That album, along with a small handful of others, is still one of my favorites today. In fact, I remember vividly how my friends and I drove around Philadelphia at all hours of day and night, listening to Hoss, and during more exciting and adventurous times air drumming and singing along to every word. It was the same when I listened to those songs in my bedroom or at my girlfriend's place. A bunch of the band's songs became the soundtrack to my youth and early adulthood -- "Angry Days," "Bye for Now," "Violins," "Razor Burn," "Leave the Light On," and "May 16," to name a few. One of the bands I played in actually covered "Violins" off of the Hoss album at a few of our shows. And before long I had collected all of their albums, picking up news ones as they were released.

Both the individual reissues and the box set were released by Fat Wreck on November 22, 2011. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on this one. It's well worth it.

And if you are a fan of Fat Wreck bands, don't forget to check out the other worthwhile 2011 releases, such as From the Dumpster to the Grave by Star Fucking Hipsters, Moscow Penny Ante by Dead to Me, Here, Under Protest by Swingin' Utters, Got Your Back by Pour Habit, Agitations by Cobra Skulls, and Guts n' Teeth by Old Man Markley, among others.