Interview with Lawrence Arms for Sink Hole 'Zine #2 DIY Records - Orlando, FL 10/7/00 by Josh Sullivan The band is: Brendan (ex-Slapstick and Broadways): Vocals, Bass Chris (ex-Broadways and Tricky Dick): Guitar, Vocals Neil (ex-Baxter): Drums Josh: My first question is, what's the connection between the name of the band and the apartments (in Chicago)? Did you guys all live there? Brendan: Well, Chris and I lived there for a year. It's an apartment building called the Lawrence Arms and Neil hung out there quite a bit. It was kind of like the place where, I don't know... Traditionally in our group of friends, I guess we've always had one house where people kind of congregate, and I guess that was kind of the house where everybody congregated. Josh: Did you guys ever play there? Would they let you? Brendan: NO! It was an apartment building. Chris: We would never get away with stuff like that. Josh: You guys just got done with the Plea for Peace tour, and you were with a bunch of the other Asian Man Records bands. How did that go, playing with everyone? Neil: It was awesome. That was my first tour I ever did in my entire life, and I didn't even know any of those guys before we went on the tour; it was just awesome to meet them and hang out with them. Brendan: It was 41 people traversing across the country in a big drunken summer camp. It was super fun. Chris: Yeah, it was CAMP! Asian Man Camp. Neil: It was to help for an awesome cause and the causes in general that need the money and... Chris (sarcastically): Yeah, Neil. Neil: Shut up! Josh: How'd that end up turning out? Did they end up raising a bunch of money? Chris: Mike's (Park) waiting for people to make suggestions to where all the money should go. Neil: I think it was somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000 raised for various organizations all over the U.S. that, as Chris stated, is going to be divided up to what Mike thinks needs the help. Brendan: If we can't make a decision, we're all just going to get ... a bunch of kegs, some hookers. Chris: Yeah, some kegs and hookers. Maybe hit Vegas for awhile, buy the Lawrence Arms a jet. No wait, that's not enough money to buy a jet. Josh: On the current tour, with Lanemeyer, have you guys been playing with them the whole time? Brendan and Chris: Every day! Brendan: Except for one, two! Neil: They broke down in Houston, so we played two shows without them. But it's been great. We've been out for seven weeks tomorrow. Josh: You got a month left on it? Neil: 23 days. Chris: (laughs) ...Counting the days. Josh: How's the European tour coming up? Are you guys still going to do it? Chris: Apparently it's happening. You know, sometime we'll be there. Brendan: Yeah, it's funny, because Mike Park's in Japan right now. He's living there doing the label and stuff, doing Asian Man Japan, trying to get that organized. So Miya's (advertising, promotion for Asian Man Records) kind of in charge of being the liaison between us and the guys in Europe. She really doesn't know the guys in Europe. Mike talks to the guys in Europe, but he can't really talk to them because he's in Japan. So we don't know ANYTHING about the tour. Neil: We fly in on the 10th. We meet the drummer from Servo -- he's our driver -- and then we tour for 30-some odd days and then fly back home. Josh: Are you going to play all sorts of different countries? Neil: Yeah, all over. Chris: You could pretty much throw darts... Josh: In "An Evening of Extraordinary Circumstance," off of A Guided Tour of Chicago... Brendan (sarcastically): Yes, we're familiar with the song. (Everyone laughs) Josh: The first I heard of it, it was off of Magnetic Curses, the Chicago punk compilation, and during the show you said it was about masturbating and watching T.V. and just wasting time. Is it pretty much just about daily life, band life, or life in general? Brendan: Um... I don't know. I'd say it's a song about living in sort of like a cycle. I don't want to sound too zen about this. Just like this perpetual cycle of crap where you get up and you do the same thing every day. Your days are interchangeable, and all you do is get up and you ... It's your evenings. That's when you're supposed to be able to throw off the shackles of what you do with your life to get by. I found that all I was doing in the Lawrence Arms building was sitting on my ass, watching T.V., beating off, getting really drunk and just doing stupid idiotic things. Chris: (laughs) I don't do any of those things anymore: beat off, get drunk. Stupid things! Brendan: Now that we live in the van, it's a lot harder to beat off. The thing I think is important about THAT song really is the end: sort of a desire to change and an optimism that that kind of thing is possible. It can and does happen. Josh: My favorite line is "Tonight, I'll bang out another shitty song (that's unsatisfying! It's been so fucking long since I really felt any other way)." What was the line intended for? Brendan: I was writing these lyrics and I was looking at them and I 'm like, "This is just another one of these stupid, shitty songs I write in some vain attempt to try to make my life some sort of artistic meaningful statement." When really, it's just exactly what the rest of the song is about, you know what I mean? Chris: Video games and jars of mustard, specifically. Neil: And sleep. Brendan: That's an inside joke. Chris: Neil sleeps 14 hours a day. Brendan: That's really exciting, but Chris loves the mustard, so I love the way that we pick out of that song... Neil: I sleep a lot, you like mustard... Brendan: ...and I wrote the song. Neil: You wrote the song. I sleep a lot! Josh: You guys have the new split with Shady View Terrace. How'd that come about? Brendan: Actually, there's a kid named Paul. He's a young guy. Brendan, Chris, and Neil: Hi Paul! Brendan: He's from New Jersey and Paul just called me up, or e-mailed me one day and was, "Do you want to do a split record on my label? I'm a young kid and this is my first thing, but I have the money. I'll pay for you guys to record, and we're going to have great distribution." So I said, "Sure," and that was it, pretty much. Josh: Do you guys know Shady View Terrace? Brendan: The first time we met them was the CD release show for the split. It was in New Jersey. We met them there. Great guys. Awesome live band. Josh: I was reading the Web site. Did you ever find out if their name was from an apartment? Chris: Yeah, it's a building... Brendan: No, it's not a building. It's a street. Chris: Oh really? I thought it was a complex. Josh: What are your plans when you get home? Brendan: We don't really have homes per se anymore. Chris: We get home for a week and then we go to Europe and then we get back for a little while, probably not being that long. Then, we'll probably go back out in January. Neil: Yeah, we're not really going to be home for awhile. It's all touring. Chris: This is our luxurious apartment (looking at the van) right here in front of us. Brendan: I guess when we go home, we'll plan on driving to wherever we stay tonight. Getting out of our home and going into someone else's home. Lawrence Arms' first two albums, A Guided Tour of Chicago and Ghost Stories, are on Asian Man Records. For ordering information, check out: http://www.asianmanrecords.com Their new split CD with Shady View Terrace is on Castaway Records (19 West Mount Drive Livingston, NJ 07039). All three are just incredible works. The band is also featured on the Magnetic Curses compilation on Thick Records and the Plea for Peace benefit CD on Asian Man. If you ever get the chance to see LA live, do it! They are amazing, and you won't be disappointed. Check out their site at: http://www.angelfire.com/il/BaxterMusic/la.html Their e-mail address is: lawrencearms@hotmail.com You can write the band at: Lawrence Arms 4216 N. Whipple Chicago, IL 60618