The Lawrence Arms is a punk rock band from Chicago. Consisting of bassist and co-lead vocalist Brendan Kelly, guitarist and co-lead vocalist Chris McCaughan, and drummer Neil Hennessey, the band has released 7 full length albums, as well as two EPs, a compilation album, and various split EPs and singles, which have been collected into another compilation album.
The band is characterized by the contrast between Chris's cleaner vocals and introspective songwriting and Brendan's harsh vocals and more aggressive songwriting style.
Discography
- A Guided Tour of Chicago (1999)
- Ghost Stories (2000)
- Apathy and Exhaustion (2002)
- The Greatest Story Ever Told (2003)
- Cocktails & Dreams (B-Sides Compilation) (2005)
- Oh! Calcutta! (2006)
- Buttsweat and Tears (EP) (2009)
- News From Yalta (EP) (2014)
- Metropole (2014)
- Skeleton Coast (2020)
This band provided examples of:
- Album Closure: The Greatest Story Ever Told ends with "Outro (Hobo Reprise)", which serves as an ending to the story being told throughout the album.
- Album Title Drop: Skeleton Coast in "Ghostwriter".
- The Alcoholic: Many of both Brendan and Chris's lyrics talk about getting drunk, or the after effects of doing so.
- Animated Music Video: The video for "PTA".
- Audience Participation Song: The band often has the audience sing parts of the bridge in "Brickwall Views", and the outro lines of "Ramblin' Boys of Pleasure" when they are performed live.
- Bookends: "Introduction (The Ramblin' Boys of Pleasure Sing the Hobo Clown Chorus)" and "Outro (Hobo Reprise)" on The Greatest Story Ever Told.
- Careful with That Axe: Brendan's vocals occasionally go into a scream.
- Cluster F-Bomb: The song "Drunk Tweets".
- Concept Album: Both The Greatest Story Ever Told and Metropole are loose concept albums meant to tell a story.
- Hidden Track: The last track on Ghost Stories, appropriately titled "The Last One", has three hidden tracks, "Old Mexico Way", "Purple Haze", and "Heaven Help Me". These are also hidden tracks at the end of "Turnstiles" on Cocktails & Dreams.
- Intentionally Awkward Title: "Porno and Snuff Films".
- Lead Bassist: Brendan Kelly fits into 1, 2, and 7.
- Long-Runner Line-up: Minus Chris joining as bassist for the second rehearsal and swapping instruments with Brendan halfway through, the band has never had a lineup change since it formed in 1999.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "Faintly Falling Ashes", "The Devil's Taking Names", and "Drunk Tweets", among others.
- Motifs: The Greatest Story Ever Told contains many circus-themed lyrics and references throughout the whole album.
- New Sound Album: Oh! Calcutta! is considered a departure from their normal style, and is overall much more aggressive and fast-paced than any other Lawrence Arms album before or after it. It also features both Chris and Brendan singing together most of the time, rather than taking turns.
- Sampling: "Porno and Snuff Films" samples audio from a Chicago Cubs game. There is also a lot of sampled audio throughout The Greatest Story Ever Told. Skeleton Coast features sampled audio of wildlife near where the album was recorded.
- Something Something Leonard Bernstein: The second line of "Them Angels Been Talkin'" is mostly incomprehensible, aside from the very last word, "dick", which sounds like it's intentionally sung more clearly.
- Shout-Out: The Lawrence Arms' discography is packed with references and shout-outs, often times to either literature or The Simpsons. A notable example is the song "Chapter 13: The Hero Appears", which is a direct reference to the Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita.
- Take That!: The song title “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” was changed to "Joyce Carol Oates Is a Boring Old Biddy" when released on Cocktails & Dreams. According to Chris, "There's nothing more lame than to be asked if you've ripped off, or even worse, were paying homage to Joyce Carol Oates." Oates has a short story with the same name as the original title.
- Title Track: "A Guided Tour of Chicago" on A Guided Tour of Chicago and "Metropole" on Metropole.
- Vocal Tag Team: Brendan and Chris take turns singing lead on songs, and will sometimes even have back-and-forth vocals in the same song.
- Neil also sings lead on one song, "106 South".
