Derrick Plourde

Derrick William Plourde (October 17, 1971 – March 30, 2005) was an American drummer, musician and artist. Born in Goleta, California, he was active from 1989 until his death in 2005. Although best known as a former member of Lagwagon, Plourde also played in several different bands like Bad Astronaut, Jaws, The Ataris, Mad Caddies and Rich Kids on LSD, among others. Besides drums, he played guitar and was described as a multi-instrumentalist. Aside from music, he was known as a skilled painter and gifted carpenter, and was appreciated for his off-beat sense of humor. After a long battle with drug addiction, Plourde died by suicide on March 30, 2005. Plourde first caught the attention of the pop-punk underground in the Goleta/Santa Barbara scene in the early 1990s in the band Lagwagon (then called Section 8). That recognition expanded beyond the Southern California scene in 1992 with the release of Lagwagon's debut album Duh (the first release from Fat Wreck Chords) and the two follow-up albums Trashed and Hoss. Plourde left Lagwagon in 1995 and was replaced by Dave Raun of RKL. In 1997, Plourde contacted Kris Roe of The Ataris, who were looking for a rhythm section at the time.