Members of the Lawrence Arms have also played in The Broadways, Slapstick, Tricky Dick and Baxter.
The three musicians came together to form the Lawrence Arms in 1999. 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 Chinkees.
The band's records and touring schedule had brought them to the attention of Fat Mike of NOFX, who signed them to his label Fat Wreck Chords 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 label.
Their next album was 2003's the greatest story ever told. Arguably 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, Volume 2 compilation, leading up to the 2004 presidential election and became involved with the Punk Voter campaign.
In December of 2004 Kelly and Hennessy joined with fellow Chicago natives Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio (who had played with Kelly in Slapstick) and Todd Mohney, formerly of Rise Against, to form The Falcon, and released an EP on Red Scare. 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.
The Lawrence Arms spent most of 2006 touring extensively alongside bands such as NOFX, Alkaline Trio, The Draft, Lagwagon, and A Wilhelm Scream. The full-length debut by the Falcon was released that fall on Red Scare. In December, the Lawrence Arms embarked on their first headlining tour of Australia, also playing supporting shows with Frenzal Rhomb.
In March of 2007, guitarist Chris McCaughan released the debut album from his acoustic side project Sundowner, entitled four one five two.
The band toured again in 2007, with their side projects The Falcon and Sundowner as openers along with the recently reunited American Steel.
The 2010s saw minimal studio activity by the band, but for one album. 2014's Metropole was received well, and marked the band's first full-length in eight years. The band took another extended break in between albums again, taking six years before releasing their seventh album Skeleton Coast in 2020.
Alert the Audience!
The Lawrence Arms Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Structurally uncertain, transparent, transgressive
I've stumbled into something and I don't know what it is.
All I-beams, bolts and plaster, corners painted in piss.
Mistakes are the brakes that I'm cutting on me.
Fast down the hill, impossibly free.
Faster and faster, I'm burning the gears.
My enemies I knew too well, they bickered amongst themselves.
I have a rule, that I love to break.
It ends in tears, cursing and shakes.
I'm a clown and I'm choking on blood, teeth and toungue.
Fuck the spectators, fuck the "he was so young"
Fuck forced sympathy through lifeless glass eyes,
Povichian voyeurs drinking my cries.
Fuck faced trilobites waiting to die.
I can't stand the humor, and I can't stand the lies.
The lyrics of The Lawrence Arms's song Alert the Audience are filled with contradictions and conflicting emotions that reflect the inner turmoil of the singer. In the first verse, the singer describes himself as passive, aggressive, confessing, repressive and structurally uncertain. These contradictory characteristics are used to express the singer's confusion and his inability to sort out his emotions. He feels transparent and transgressive, as if he is exposing his innermost feelings to the world, but at the same time, he struggles to come to terms with his own emotions.
The second verse brings with it a sense of urgency and a frenzied pace that speaks to the singer's internal struggles. He talks about cutting the brakes and speeding down a hill, feeling free but burning up the gears in the process. He alludes to tears streaming back into his ears and his enemies bickering among themselves. These words express the singer's feelings of self-destruction and isolation. He is essentially self-sabotaging and, at the same time, completely alone in his own mind.
The final verse is the singer's darkest and most aggressive. He describes himself as a choking clown, bleeding and cursed, and cursing others in return. He talks about "fuck[ing] the spectators" who only offer forced sympathy, and the "Povichian voyeurs" who drink in his cries like an audience watching a car crash. The singer feels like everyone is waiting for him to fail and die, and he is defiant in the face of that. He ends with the line "I can't stand the humor, and I can't stand the lies," which sums up his feelings of rebellion and his rejection of the world around him.
Line by Line Meaning
Passive, Aggressive, Confessing, Repressive
The singer is describing their behavior as a mixture of opposing ways of presenting themselves
Structurally uncertain, transparent, transgressive
The singer is unsure about something, but is being open and bold in their actions
I've stumbled into something and I don't know what it is.
The singer has found themselves in a situation they don't understand
All I-beams, bolts and plaster, corners painted in piss.
The setting around the artist is dingy and poorly maintained
Mistakes are the brakes that I'm cutting on me.
The artist is purposefully making mistakes as a way of slowing themselves down
Fast down the hill, impossibly free.
The singer is quickly moving forward with a sense of liberation
Faster and faster, I'm burning the gears.
The singer is pushing themselves harder and harder
My tears are streaming back into my ears.
The artist is crying and feeling overwhelmed
My enemies I knew too well, they bickered amongst themselves.
The artist is familiar with their foes and knows they are not unified
I have a rule, that I love to break.
The artist enjoys breaking their own rules
It ends in tears, cursing and shakes.
Breaking their own rules leads to emotional turmoil for the singer
I'm a clown and I'm choking on blood, teeth and toungue.
The artist is struggling to speak and feels like a clown or joke
Fuck the spectators, fuck the "he was so young"
The singer is angry at the people watching them and their pity
Fuck forced sympathy through lifeless glass eyes,
The singer doesn't want fake sympathy from people they don't respect
Povichian voyeurs drinking my cries.
The singer feels like they're being watched and exploited for others' emotions
Fuck faced trilobites waiting to die.
The artist is referring to the people around them as primitive, outdated creatures
I can't stand the humor, and I can't stand the lies.
The artist is frustrated by people's insincerity and dishonesty
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
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