The Lawrence Arms

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The Lawrence Arms

Background information
Origin	Chicago, Illinois
Genre(s)	Punk Rock
Years active	1999–present
Label(s)	Asian Man Records Fat Wreck Chords
Associated acts	Slapstick The Broadways Baxter The Falcon
Website	thelawrencearms.net
Members
Neil Hennessy Brendan Kelly Chris McCaughan

The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999 and currently recording for Fat Wreck Chords. They have released five full-length albums and toured extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped Tour. Their music and lyrics exhibit their propensity for juxtaposing references from history and literature with American pop culture.

1 Band History
2 Discography
3 Videography
- 3.1 Music Videos
4 External links
5 See Also

[edit] Band History

[edit] Pre-history

Prior to forming the Lawrence Arms, the three band members were active in other Chicago-area bands. Brendan Kelly had played in the ska punk band Slapstick alongside Dan Andriano, who would later join the Alkaline Trio (the two would reunite in 2004 to form The Falcon). Chris McCaughan had played in Tricky Dick before joining Kelly in The Broadways. McCaughan and Kelly also shared an apartment together on Chicago's north side. Neil Hennessy, meanwhile, had played in a band called Baxter. Both Slapstick and the Broadways released albums on Asian Man Records, a small record label based in Monte Sereno, California that would later release albums by the Lawrence Arms.

[edit] Formation and Asian Man years

The three musicians came together to form the Lawrence Arms in 1999, taking their name from the apartment complex in which Kelly and McCaughan had lived before being evicted in the middle of the night. Although punk rock bands in their infancy generally start out by releasing EPs and 7" vinyl singles, the band members used their existing relationship with Asian Man Records to immediately begin recording a full-length album, A Guided Tour of Chicago, which was released later that year. A second album, Ghost Stories, followed in 2000. Both albums focused heavily on the members' own stories of growing up and living in Chicago.

The band's next two releases were split EPs with other bands. The first, a split with Shady View Terrace, was released in 2000 and was their first release to be recorded by Matt Allison, who would continue to record and produce all of their subsequent releases. A second EP, Present Day Memories, was released in 2001 and was a split with the band The Chinkees.

[edit] Signing to Fat Wreck Chords

The band's records and touring schedule had brought them to the attention of Fat Mike of NOFX, who signed them to his Fat Wreck Chords label in late 2001. Their first release on the label was a 7" vinyl single, part of the label's "Fat Club" series of 7" records. This was followed by the full-length album Apathy and Exhaustion, released in 2002. The album spawned the band's first music video, for the song "Porno and Snuff Films," and they toured extensively with NOFX and other bands from the Fat label.

Their next album was 2003's The Greatest Story Ever Told. Their most ambitious album to date, it demonstrated the band members' continued growth as musicians and songwriters and included extensive footnotes to the lyrics detailing their many references to history, literature and pop culture. It also showed an evolution in the band's vocal style. Kelly had sung most of the vocals on their first album, while on subsequent releases he and McCaughan had split vocal duties almost equally from one song to the next, with Kelly's voice tending to sound more harsh and urgent while McCaughan's sounds more relaxed and melodic. With this release, however, the two began to move towards more of a duet style of singing which would feature prominently on their next album. Extensive touring following the album's release saw the band on the road for much of 2003 and 2004. They also contributed a song to the Fat Wreck Chords Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2 compilation, leading up to the 2004 presidential election and became involved with the Punk Voter campaign.

[edit] The Falcon and Oh! Calcutta!

In December of 2004 Kelly and Hennessy joined with fellow Chicago natives Dan Andriano of the Alkaline Trio (who had played with Kelly in Slapstick) and Todd Mohney, formerly of Rise Against, to form another band called The Falcon, and released an EP on Red Scare Records. Meanwhile, with interest in the Lawrence Arms increasing and their EPs out of print, Asian Man Records planned a CD release of the band's EP tracks. The resulting compilation album, Cocktails & Dreams, was released on Asian Man in June of 2005 and included their songs from both EPs along with nearly all of their compilation tracks, rare songs and b-sides.

The Lawrence Arms re-entered the studio in October and November of 2005 and recorded the album Oh! Calcutta!, which was released on Fat Wreck Chords in March of 2006. It had an overall faster and more urgent feel to it than their previous album, and demonstrated another step in the development of their singing as Kelly and McCaughan shared vocals in a duet style on nearly every song. They filmed a music video for the song "The Devil's Takin' Names" and toured, first with NOFX and then with the Alkaline Trio and the Draft.

[edit] Recent activity

The Lawrence Arms spent most of 2006 on the road. They toured extensively alongside bands such as Alkaline Trio, the Draft, Lagwagon and A Wilhelm Scream. A full-length album by the Falcon was released that Fall, and in December the band embarked on their first headlining tour of Australia.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year	Title	Label	Format	Other information
1999	A Guided Tour of Chicago	Asian Man Records	CD	First album.
2000	Ghost Stories	Asian Man Records	CD
2002	Apathy and Exhaustion	Fat Wreck Chords	LP / CD
2003	The Greatest Story Ever Told	Fat Wreck Chords	LP / CD
2005	Cocktails & Dreams	Asian Man Records	CD	Collection of b-sides and rare tracks.
2006	Oh! Calcutta!	Fat Wreck Chords	LP / CD

[edit] EPs & 7" vinyl

Year	Title	Label	Format	Other information
2000	Shady View Terrace / The Lawrence Arms split EP	Castaway Records (EP), Asian Man Records (CD)	EP / CD	Out of print. All songs reissued on Cocktails & Dreams.
2001	Present Day Memories	Asian Man Records	CD	Split CD with The Chinkees. Out of print. All songs reissued on Cocktails & Dreams.
2002	Fat Club 7"	Fat Wreck Chords	7" vinyl	Out of print. The band's first release on Fat Wreck Chords.

[edit] Non-album tracks

Year	Album/Source	Label	Song(s)	Other information
2002	1157 Wheeler Avenue	Failed Experiment Records	"Nebraska" (live)
2002	Fat Music, Vol. 6: Uncontrollable Fatulence	Fat Wreck Chords	"Presenting: The Dancing Machine (Il Robot Con la Testa di Scimmia)"	Track reissued on Cocktails & Dreams as "Presenting: The Dancing Machine (The Robot With the Monkey Head)"
2003	Oil: Chicago Punk Refined	Thick Records	"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"	Track reissued on Cocktails & Dreams as "Joyce Carol Oates is a Boring Old Biddy"
2003	Experiments in Audio Rocketry	1-2-3-4 Go Records	"Traditional"
2004	Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2	Fat Wreck Chords	"Necrotism: Decanting the Insalubrious (Cyborg Midnight), Part 7"	Track reissued on Cocktails & Dreams
2004	MySpace download	none	"Criminal"	offered as a download on the band's official MySpace page, recorded in November 2004
2006	Oh! Calcutta!	iTunes download	"The Rabbit and the Rooster"	offered as a bonus track with the iTunes download version of the album only
2006	official website download	none	"Cut it Up" (live)	offered as a download on the band's official website, from a live set recorded for Fungus 53

[edit] Videography

[edit] Music Videos

Year	Title	Album
1998	"An Evening of Extraordinary Circumstance"	A Guided Tour of Chicago
2002	"Porno and Snuff Films"	Apathy and Exhaustion
2006	"The Devil's Takin' Names"	Oh! Calcutta!

[edit] External links

[edit] See Also

Slapstick Family Tree

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