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.
Quincentuple Your Money
The Lawrence Arms Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Came with a floded flag.
It said Right now, I'm coming home in a body bag.
It's a pride and a pain
That are one and the same.
It's a burning cigarette,
It's a horrible dream.
There's a man in an office who's going through files
And a woman who watches TV.
And she doesn't get the jokes told by late night talk show hosts,
But for some reason she laughs anyway.
There's this soap in my bathroom, and it's all covered in hairs.
There's this hope in my brain, and it's all covered in prayers.
There's a girl in this town who doesn't know I exist.
There's a wounded sense of pride and a pain in my fist.
There's 12 empty bottles on this table tonight.
There's 4 lungs on fire and 4 burning eyes.
And something will explode, and someone will cry.
And someone will run out and never turn around.
There's a park in this city where I used to go,
But now it's covered with fences and cops and lightposts.
And I'd never go back if anything was the same,
But it kills me to know that it's changed.
There's these kids who have dreams.
There's these dreams that will grow.
Until they get so goddamn big that they explode.
And what's left in the smoke and the falling debris
Is grownups like them and losers like me.
And what's left in the smoke and the falling debris
Is grownups like them and losers like me.
it's grownups like them and losers like me
It's grownups like them and losers like me
Yeah.
Tonight let's go walking down Clark Street
And look at the new buildings that we've never seen.
We'll stop at the bar and pass out on the floor
Tomorrow we'll forget everything
and we'll replay these days again.
The Lawrence Arms's song Quincentuple Your Money narrates the deep loneliness and melancholy of life. The lyrics portray a wide range of emotions - from the pain of losing someone in the military, the mundanity of everyday life, the hopelessness of unrequited love, to the desperation of being a loser. The letter at the mother's house that came with a folded flag indicates the loss of a soldier, it's a pride and pain that are one and the same, and it's an unhealed wound that keeps coming back in a horrible dream. The scene of a man in an office going through files and a woman watching TV is a portrayal of the dullness of life. She doesn't get the jokes told by late-night talk show hosts, but for some reason, she laughs anyway. This lyric symbolizes laugh being the best medicine for a dull life.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a letter at my mother's house,
I received a letter which came with a flag, informing me that someone I knew died in combat.
It said Right now, I'm coming home in a body bag.
The letter informed me that the person who died came home in a body bag.
It's a pride and a pain
That are one and the same.
It's a burning cigarette,
It's a horrible dream.
The feeling of pride and pain is a continuous cycle. It's like a burning cigarette, which will disappear soon but is so overwhelming in the moment, just like a horrible dream.
There's a man in an office who's going through files
And a woman who watches TV.
There's a man working while a woman relaxes at home.
And she doesn't get the jokes told by late night talk show hosts,
But for some reason she laughs anyway.
Although the woman doesn’t understand the late-night talk show hosts jokes, she still laughs at them anyway.
There's this soap in my bathroom, and it's all covered in hairs.
There's this hope in my brain, and it's all covered in prayers.
There's hair on the bar of soap in my bathroom. My hopes are so fragile that I treat them with care, just as I would treat a prayer.
There's a girl in this town who doesn't know I exist.
There's a wounded sense of pride and a pain in my fist.
There’s a girl who doesn’t know who I am but the fact that she ignores me hurts me and makes me feel worthless.
There's 12 empty bottles on this table tonight.
There's 4 lungs on fire and 4 burning eyes.
There are twelve empty bottles on the table because we were drinking heavily. Four of us are smoking and coughing, and all four of our eyes are burning.
And something will explode, and someone will cry.
And someone will run out and never turn around.
Something terrible will happen, and some will cry as someone flees and never looks back.
There's a park in this city where I used to go,
But now it's covered with fences and cops and lightposts.
And I'd never go back if anything was the same,
But it kills me to know that it's changed.
There's a park I used to visit that's now been renovated, turned into a tourist trap, and filled with security systems. Though I don't want to relive the memories of the past, the knowledge that the sanctuary I had as a child was taken away, is heart-wrenching.
There's these kids who have dreams.
There's these dreams that will grow.
Until they get so goddamn big that they explode.
There are kids with dreams, and these aspirations will grow until they become so significant that achieving them feels impossible.
And what's left in the smoke and the falling debris
Is grownups like them and losers like me.
And what's left in the smoke and the falling debris
Is grownups like them and losers like me.
What's left, in the aftermath of the destruction from the broken dreams, is only grown-ups like them, who have given up, and losers like me, who never had much chance to begin with.
it's grownups like them and losers like me
It's grownups like them and losers like me
It's always the same, where grownups like them become successful, and losers like me never have any opportunities in life.
Yeah.
Tonight let's go walking down Clark Street
And look at the new buildings that we've never seen.
We'll stop at the bar and pass out on the floor
Tomorrow we'll forget everything
and we'll replay these days again.
Tonight, let's go on a walk, see the new buildings, and have a good time at a bar. After a night of drinking, we'll forget everything, but we'll remember these moments and have hope for better days again.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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