Over the last 25 years, few punk bands have been as consistent as Lagwagon.

Two of the five members have remained the same, while the other three have only been switched once or twice and only out of necessity. They’ve never broken up (although there’s been a hiatus or two for some solo projects); they’ve never taken a very long break from touring and they’ve never gone more than three years without releasing music. Hell, they’ve never even switched record labels (Fat Wreck Chords). There aren’t a whole lot of bands that can boast that kind of consistency for a decade, much less two-and-half.

Sure, Lagwagon never had the big radio single, but they’re cool with that. If anything, not “selling out” has given them a bigger fan base within one of the genres often proven hardest to please, as you’ll be hard-pressed to find a punk fan with too many bad things to say about the California-based quintet.

With their eighth studio record, Hang, out for just over a year now, Lagwagon shows no sign of slowing down. While the content and attitude of the songs have changed, the energy and signature sound are still unmistakably the guys who released Duh and Trashed in the early ‘90s.

Myspace chatted with frontman Joey Cape while he was taking care of some touring duties (read: laundry) about longevity, looking back on songs and balancing Lagwagon with his solo shows.

Lagwagon hasn’t had a ton of mainstream success or major hits, but has a huge following in the punk world. Why do you think that is?

I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest with you. It’s definitely brought us a certain amount of longevity, and I guess it was kind of by choice. We’ve only made a few videos, and we never really solicited the radio. We don’t really have big hits, but at the same time, it’s sort of a joke that we’ll always have hits. Songs like “May 16” and “Violins” are what people always want to hear. If you stay together for long enough, you’re always going to have songs that people want to hear. We may not have the biggest following, but we have a very loyal following. Our shows have had the same attendance pretty much the whole time.

As you pointed out, Lagwagon’s had more longevity than an awful lot of bands out there. What’s the trick to keeping a band together even after a hiatus or two?

You have to allow for a certain amount of anxiety and conflict in a band. Don’t be too sensitive about little things. There are going to be problems in any band, just like there are problems in any family. You might not talk for years, but you have to work through it. You have to have thick skin. You might grow in different directions, but it’s about wanting to do it and wanting to keep the band together. You see bands break up because of one big fight, which means they weren’t in it from the start.

Over the course of that time, have you ever looked back at some of your older songs and thought “What was I thinking when I wrote that?”

I think we have about a 90 percent success rate on the meaning behind the songs’ longevity. Everyone is going to have some that they look back on and think “Oh boy, why did I do that?” That’s how life is though. There are tiny little things that live on through a song. There are times when some of those things change right after the release of the song, but that’s life. As we grow and change, these songs are our historic time stamps. The goal should be to have the song be about that moment, and I think we’re mostly successful with that.

How do you balance your time between your solo stuff, Lagwagon, and everything else you have going on?

The biggest thing is just to get a calendar app. Obviously, Lagwagon has the first right of refusal for my time, so I plan around that. It’s rare that there’s a contradiction, but if there is, Lagwagon gets priority.

What’s the near future hold for yourself and for Lagwagon?

Well, I still have a lot of touring still for both. Lagwagon just put out Hang last October and I just put out Stitch Puppy, so I have at about two years of touring left for both of those. We’re going to Europe, Australia, Japan, and a lot of other places, so while I’m out on tour with Lagwagon, I might as well stay there and play some solo shows as well.