Lawrence Arms - Lawrence Arms

  by Anna Gudaniec

published: 16 / 4 / 2006

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In the latest in our Photoscapes series, Anna Gudaniec photographs Chicago hardcore trio the Lawrence Arms at the London Mean Fiddler

The Lawrence Arms take their name from an apartment complex on the Northside of Chicago that members Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan lived in until they were evicted in the middle of the night The band , who as well as Kelly (bass/vocals) and McCaughan (guitar/vocals) also consists of Neil Hennessy (drums), have garnered a reputation for both intellectuality and comedy, their music merging socio-political concerns and literary references to writers such as Mikhail Bulgakov with surreal, abstract humour. They have a gruff, but melodic hardcore punk sound, and have to date released four albums. Their first two albums, 'A Guided Tour of Chicago' (1999) and 'Ghost Stories' (2000), came out on Asian Man Records, while their two most recent CDs, 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' (2003) and this year's 'Oh Calcutta' have been released on NOFX bassist and singer Fat Mike's Fat Weeck Chords. While Kelly used to do nearly all the singing, he now shares vocal duties with McCaughan. Kelly's vocals are frantic and harsh and McCaughan's are more relaxed and softer. Later records found vocals split, but on 'Oh Calcutta' both singers have sung on every song for the first time. The Lawrence Arms formed originally wth the intention of just being a studio act, but have since gone on to play over 700 shows and have a fiery live reputation. They are currently in the middle of a world tour. These photographs were taken by Anna Gudaniec at the Mean Fiddler in London on April 13th

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