Bad Astronaut

Joey Cape leads the melodic pop-punk quintet Lagwagon on vocals and guitar while also heading the indie rock project Bad Astronaut. The three-piece initially consisted of former Nerf Herder and Swingin' Utters bassist Marko 72, who is also affiliated with Sugarcult, and Lagwagon drummer Derrick Plourde; they made their first appearance together in Santa Barbara at the start of 2000. Their polished yet mature and complex sound, reminiscent of Cape's primary band, surfaced on the debut EP Acrophobe, issued by Honest Don's Records in early 2001. A split with Armchair Martian arrived later that year on Owned and Operated, followed by the full-length Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem in fall 2002. By then the group had expanded to seven members with the additions of Angus Cooke on cello, guitar, and percussion, Todd Capps on piano, Thom Flowers on guitar, and Jonathan Cox on programming. Sessions for a third album continued sporadically over the next several years until Plourde's suicide in March 2005 left Cape devastated. Cape's grief produced the Lagwagon album Resolve and initially prompted him to abandon the remaining Bad Astronaut material. He ultimately resolved to finish the record as the band's final statement, completing tracks already featuring Plourde's drumming and recruiting close friend and drummer Jonathan Gorman for the rest. Titled ironically by Plourde and Cape before one of their last sessions together, Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment appeared in November 2006 on Fat Wreck.