Posted on November 4, 2009 - by Editor

Butts and Balls: The Lawrence Arms

The Lawrence Arms

The Lawrence Arms are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year and on the back of their first new material in three years. One third of the Chicago misfits, vocalist and bassist Brendan Kelly, lent us some of his invaluable wit & time to talk cocks, fans, music and the future of the Larry Arms.

So 10 years young as a band, is that something that surprises you when you look back at the formative years of the band?

Brendan: Well, I dunno. I guess it seems kinda crazy that we’d still be a band, but it’d be way weirder if we’d broken up. I mean, we didn’t get into this for the fame or the hoes or the coke or anything else except just to play some songs that we wrote and kind of have something to do that wasn’t sitting around drinking. So, the fact that we never got any fame or hoes never came up. We still love getting to play songs we write and we still all get along. I’m not surprised about either of those things.

So you and Chris were friend’s first, band second. The early releases came to light with the help of Mike at Asian Man records. How important have you found the close ties with good people have allowed the band to last and grow and cut through the BS bands have to deal with?

Brendan:  Well, simply put, good people make for easier situations 100% of the time. I don’t know that any of the last ten years would have really worked out if we hadn’t all been friends first, and then been fortunate enough to become aligned with a bunch of really supportive and great people. That said, I can’t stand Mike Park or Chris for that matter. And don’t fucking get me started on Fat Mike or Neil. Bunch of fucking penis kissers.

So penis kissing aside the last 12-18 months has been quiet for The Lawrence Arms for some obvious reasons; yourself becoming a dad and all three in the band involved in solo or other musical projects. Was there any doubt the band would continue as I’m sure some fans have been sweating it out?

Brendan:  Nah. Like I said, there’s never been an endgame with us, so there’s never been a reason to stop. There’s no point where one of us is gonna throw up our hands and say “man, I told myself that if we weren’t selling out the Astoria by the time I was thirty five, I’m done with this band” because frankly, we never even thought we’d ever play a show outside the States when we started. This band’s priorities will always shift and evolve as our priorities shift and evolve, but I think we all like each other, play together too well and have too similar of ideas about how music should sound and how to pull it off for there to be any chance of us disbanding.

And the two big recent events; the new EP (the first new material since ‘Oh Calcutta’ in 2006) and the 10th anniversary show/s. If I start with the latter, how did things go on the 24th October at the Metro?  Was it as good as hoped, I’m sure like most fans, I’m bummed to have missed it.

Brendan: The show was amazing. At the risk of sounding like a real dildo, it was a real special event. There were people there from all over the US and all over the world and there was just a vibe of…I dunno. Hard to say, especially from the middle of the whole thing, but man, what a great bunch of fans we have, and what a fun night. I’m just glad we surprised ourselves and put on a show that was worthy of such a cool night.

How did the advertised DJ set go down and how was the fans response for voting on the set list? Was it as eclectic and diverse as you would have hoped, or did you throw it out and start from scratch?

Brendan: The DJ set was really nothing. It was me playing songs off my phone and hanging out with the kids who were at the show and eating some pizza and drinking some beer. It was low key and pretty painless. The set list was great, and very diverse, and that’s because I didn’t ever check the votes even once. We made the list up in our practice space, changed it around, and slaved over making sure it was near perfect, and we did a good job because we know what songs work live and what songs don’t. We know what songs kids SAY they want to hear and what songs kids REALLY respond to. That’s because, unlike everyone else on the earth we’ve been at every Lawrence Arms show. All one thousand of them.

Sure, man, that set list thing was purely a scheme to get kids excited, and here’s a secret, kids: That’s what EVERY BAND does EVERY TIME they do something like this. No one tallies the votes. Ever. Believe me. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I know this from experience. I’m just the only one cool enough to let you see behind the curtain. So, don’t hate on me just because I’m the only one man enough to treat you like grownups. Did it get you involved? Short answer ‘yes’. Long answer, “kind of, not really, but…” BUT, man, that’s all this crazy magic carpet ride has ever been. It’s an interactive rock and roll conduit. In that way, the set list experiment was a great success. Oh, boo hoo, your email was never seen. Listen. We played an hour and forty five minutes. It was a great time. You’re such a fucking self important baby. Who cares about your precious email? sheesh.

Ok….Were you shocked at all by the length (literally) some fans travelled to be there? Does that inspire you to get back on the road and record at all?

Brendan: Yeah, oh yeah. It was incredible. I said it before and I’ll say it again, best fans in the world, hands down. It’s really humbling to see that kind of support. I’m already writing songs for a new record, and as I type this, ‘Buttsweat and Tears’ has been out for six days, so we’ll see.

The show was filmed too I believe, what are the plans for that? Is there a “best of” in the works?

Brendan: We’re gonna bounce around a few ideas. Most likely we’ll do a DVD release. The guy that filmed it, Travis Brooks, is a really talented kid and I’m glad we could have him on board to make the shit look all shiny and pro.

The support line-up was pretty nice too, mix of old and new (The Mezzingers and La Plebe), Dan Adriano, Mike Park-with a birthday song too? Is there anyone else you would love to play in your other planned shows in the US?

Brendan: Yeah man, The Cobra Skulls and Teenage Bottlerocket. Two of my favourite bands right now. Great guys too. That’s why we’re bringing them to the west coast. Uh oh. Looks like I pre-empted your next question…

Yeah, so you are hitting the road with Teenage Bottlerocket and Cobra Skulls to support the EP and the anniversary shows, how much are you looking forward to that and playing with them?

Brendan: Not at all.  Those guys are dipshits of the highest degree and their bands both suck.

Haha good thing you don’t like sarcasm. Do you think it will be tough to leave the family behind for periods of time if you do start touring more often? Are you worried about missing out on your kid growing up?

Brendan: Nah, I dunno…it’s one of those things. I need to weigh all the pros and cons every time I make a decision these days. It’s not like a few years ago when I could simply leave for thirteen months at a time and not think about what I was missing out on. These days I’ve got lots of things going that are important to me, and those things include my kid and my family and my band and my friends. It’s important to have a balance, and I’m trying to find it, you know? Not saying it’s easy. I’m sure I’ll fuck it all up somehow. Seems to be my style. We’ll have to see how it all goes.

Now to the EP, “Buttsweat and Tears’. Obviously the band has grown as musicians and songwriters; with your voice

Buttsweat and Tears EP

harsher and more nasal by the record while Chris is the melodic juxtaposition to that. There seems to be a good balance here , how natural is it for you all to write songs and bounce ideas after this length of time? Does anyone take the lead on things?

Brendan:  Eh, hard to say. We’ve got such a system worked out these days that our song writing process is almost invisible to me. I’m sure if you stood in the room you’d probably see someone taking the lead or see the subtleties of all the contributions from each of us, but to me, when we’re in there it’s just the business of fleshing out a melody the way the three of us do. The process isn’t some separate fourth part or overt structuring mechanism. It just is. It’s like when that dude is looking at the code in the matrix when Neo walks up and says “man, I don’t even see the numbers anymore, I just see blonde, redhead, blonde…” How’s THAT for a nerdy reference?

That’s pretty nerdy. The EP is released digitally and as a 7” with the song ‘Demon’ now as a free download after it was originally going to be on the digital release only. What as the original thinking behind that and why the change of heart? Also can you fill us in on what happened with the coloured vinyl offer to the first 100 at the show?

Brendan:  Well, we were always gonna do a free download, because that’s how shit goes these days in terms of marketing records. They came to me and asked what song to make free, and I told ‘em to make the bonus song free, so the kids that supported us by buying the vinyl would be able to get all five songs. Just seemed fair, you know. As for the colored vinyl, you pretty much covered it. The first one hundred people got free purple vinyl, the only one hundred copies in existence. It’s kind of a thank you to the most dedicated of nerds in our fan base.

This album also been produced by Matt Allison, who has produced your releases since ‘Ghost Stories’. You seem to have a bit of an understanding with him? What do you enjoy about working with Matt?

Brendan: He’s talented and he’s a great friend. I’ve been close with Matt since I was a teenager. He’s very willing to get really into our recordings and our band and he not only knows how to get good performances out of us, but he’s a fan, so we can really see the way shit works or fails through his ears. Also, we’re fans of his work, so there’s a mutual respect that makes for a good vibe overall when he’s not showing up late and hungover with some hankering for burger king or watching baseball when we should be recording. Also, he lets me do my vocals naked. Truth.

The Lawrence Arms "Oh Calcutta" Circa 2006

On the song ‘Demon’ you explained on your blog recently (in addition to rubbishing rumours about the incident taking place at Tom Gabel wedding) that the demon is “The specter of youth and the inevitability of coming face to face with its disappearance and your perceived subsequent irrelevance no matter how hard you try to ignore it.” If you took some retrospective, could you say there is a smug smile on your face with how things have planned out?

Brendan: Eh, not really. I don’t know. I struggle with that shit as much as anyone. I love where I’m at in life, but I’ve got the demons and insecurities that song is about in spades. That’s how come I wrote it.

Demons aside, ‘Spit Shining shit” was originally penned as a Falcon song wasn’t it? Why was it adopted into the Lawrence Arms?

Brendan: Nah. It was written by me and performed by the Falcon because we were playing a show and we wanted to do something new because we only have a fourteen song catalogue. At the end of the day, we thought the song was strong enough that it should see the light of day on this release rather than wait for the next Falcon release, whenever that is. I don’t have as much time as I used to, so don’t expect two full lengths from me in the same year again for a while.

“The Slowest Drink at the Saddest Bar on the Snowiest Day in the Greatest City” is probably my favourite on the record, can you tell us a bit more about that song?

Brendan: Well, Chris wrote that one and I can tell you that he wrote it not long after sitting at the bar I tend at drinking bookers on the rocks all night. That’s about all I can tell you about it except it features what I fancy to be a very German sounding disco bassline near the end.

Ah crazy disco, and talking crazy; you play guitar and Chris plays Bass on the last song “The Redness in the West”. Were you messing around when you decided the switch or was it just one of those “why not?” moments?

Brendan: No. It’s just that the first minute and a half of the song is just guitar and vocals, so it would be almost impossible to do it with me singing and Chris playing. I needed to play the guitar and sing or it would fall apart. It was a pragmatic solution to a structural issue. That’s all.

Finally you said you gotta look ahead, no matter how hard it is to never look back. So what’s ahead for The Lawrence Arms?

Brendan: Who knows, man? I’m not trying to figure it all out tonight. I just wanna hang out with your daughter a while.

“Buttsweat and Tears” is out now via Fat Wreck Chords