About Derrick Plourde
Derrick William Plourde 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). The two immediately hit it off and Plourde would stay with the band through the recording of their debut album Anywhere but Here. Later in 2001, Plourde teamed up with his friend and former bandmate Joey Cape in the band Bad Astronaut and played on their first two albums, Acrophobe and Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem. 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.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.