Randall Joseph Cape (born November 16, 1966)[1] is an American singer and musician. Active since 1989, Cape is best known as the frontman of the California punk rock band Lagwagon.
Cape released his first solo album, Bridge, in 2008. His second album Doesn't Play Well with Others, was self-released in 2011, after he released each song on the album each month of 2010, collecting them all on CD and vinyl in the end of 2010.
Biography
In addition to his work with Lagwagon, he was the lead vocalist for Bad Astronaut until they disbanded due to death of drummer Derrick Plourde and is also a guitarist in the cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Moreover, Joey Cape released two split albums with Tony Sly of No Use for a Name, featuring acoustic versions of Lagwagon and No Use For a Name songs. Both Cape and Sly also contributed one unreleased/new song to the split. Cape's was titled, 'Violet', a song written for his daughter of the same name. He has also contributed a song called 'Minus' for the album Protect: A Benefit for the National Association to Protect Children.
In 1996, Cape created a record label called My Records that released its debut album, Nerf Herder's self-titled album. My Records is no longer in operation.
From 1999 to 2000, Cape spent the hiatus of Lagwagon working on two side projects: Bad Astronaut and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. This slowed down Cape's work on Lagwagon until 2002. Cape, with Lagwagon, later released Blaze in 2003 and Resolve in 2005, the latter being a tribute to Lagwagon / Bad Astronaut drummer Derrick Plourde, who killed himself in 2005. They released an EP, I Think My Older Brother Used to Listen to Lagwagon, on August 19, 2008, on Fat Wreck Chords. In October 2014, they released Hang.
Cape has produced records by The Ataris, Ridel High, Nerf Herder and his own bands Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut. He is also involved in a project called Afterburner, working alongside fellow Bad Astronaut Todd Capps, as well as opening a solo Myspace page with new acoustic songs and demos. He has also written songs for and played guitar with a band of old friends called The Playing Favorites. Their first album titled I Remember When I Was Pretty was released on December 4, 2007.
In August 2009, Cape announced that he was recording material for a second solo acoustic album, titled Doesn't Play Well with Others. In November of the same year, he performed 8 shows alongside Chuck Ragan, Jim Ward, Audra Mae, and Frank Turner as part of The Revival Tour.[2] Cape's album was released throughout 2010, one track at a time, with one song being released by Cape in each month of the year, with the full album with all 12 tracks to be released in January 2011. The album was delayed a few times until it was released on June 1, 2011, on CD and vinyl.
On April 25, 2011, Cape has revealed that he is working on a new band project called Joey Cape's Bad Loud and that he already recorded a full-length album with the band, to feature electric full-band renditions of acoustic songs from his two solo albums Bridge and Doesn't Play Well with Others.[3] The band's debut self-titled album was released on June 9, 2011, on BandCamp.[4]
He is also the founder of One Week Records. A One Week Record is ten songs that are recorded in seven days. The records are produced in his home studio. The artist is invited to his house to eat, drink, sleep and record music for one week. Given the limited schedule, there is no time to overproduce.[5]