Although Brendan Kelly has played music at a semi-professionallevel for more than a decade, he only recently thought ofperforming for a living. But over the last few years he hastraveled the United States and Europe as the front man of the punkband The Lawrence Arms.
In 1999 Kelly was an RTVF student at NU who “had always been ina band.” But when his group broke up, Kelly said instead of beingproductive, he was “sitting depressed and feeling sorry formyself.”
Instead of continuing to wallow in self-pity, Kelly phoned afriend from Norris University Center and asked him to play drums inhis new band: The Lawrence Arms.
Thus it will be a homecoming of sorts Friday night when the bandreturns to the place it all started, playing McCormick Auditoriumwith bands Collossal and The Foster-Walker Complex.
Since that humble NU beginning, Kelly (singer, bassist), ChrisMcCaughan (guitarist, vocalist) and Neil Hennessy (drummer) havereleased four full-length albums in addition to numerous EPs.
They’ve also been touring for nearly 13 months in support ofSeptember 2003’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” their most recentrelease. Between October 2003 and this August, The Lawrence Armswere continually on the road playing U.S. shows.
And though it’s been more than four years since Kelly graduatedfrom NU in 2000, he still draws on his experiences at theuniversity for songwriting material.
“I was forced to ingest a lot of (mass media) crap,” Kellyremembered. “It made me a lot more jaded on what we as a culture inthe new millennium are really capable of.”
Kelly remembered one specific episode at the university thatfrustrated him.
“(We had) supposedly intellectual discourse about ‘The BradyBunch,’ but it’s amazing how fucking stupid some people thatpretend to be smart really are,” Kelly said.
Even at the most progressive colleges and universities, Kellysaid he believes Americans are “stuck in a vacuous culture.”
“Being politically informed has been replaced with voting for’American Idol,'” he said.
Though he would like to change this framework, Kelly admitted heis stuck in the cycle.
“I’m just another facet of our entertainment-based culture,” hesaid. “People would rather just sit around and listen to recordsthan do something constructive.”
Kelly acknowledged that NU is an excellent school, but said healways has been opposed to the institutional learning process.
“I really fucking hate school and have for a long time,” hesaid. “What kind of guy in a punk rock band would I be if I waslike, ‘You know what I really love is the institution of higherlearning.'”
While Kelly currently has few ties to NU, he does not completelyrule out the possibility of being active with the school in thefuture.
“Maybe someday I’ll be a very wealthy guy and I’ll send backsome donations,” Kelly said. “I don’t really need to cling to it(my college experience), and I think it’s a little too close toreflect on it with any sort of objectivity.”
Friday’s show will be put on by Niteskool, a student group thathas been active on the NU campus for more than 20 years.
“We act as a booking agent, manager, and publicity agent for NUbands and musical artists,” said Saira Khan, a Weinberg junior andthe organization’s president. “We put on shows, parties, and weproduce music videos — all for Northwestern bands.”
In the past, Niteskool was best known for its annual release ofan NU student band compilation CD. More recently they beganproducing shows featuring NU musical acts.
“Last year was our first big show in a while with anon-undergraduate band (The Reputation),” Khan said.
After Friday’s show, The Lawrence Arms plans to take a year offfrom touring, at which point Kelly hopes to spend ample time withhis wife and puppy. But for now, he plans to enjoy the music he isproud to create.
“If I set out to leave something behind, all I’m going to do isfrustrate myself,” he said. “People who are remembered did whatthey had to do. They had something inside them and wanted to get itout.”
Tickets for Friday’s show, which will be sold at the door, are$3 with a WildCARD and $5 without. Doors open at 7 p.m.; showstarts at 7:30 p.m.4
Weinberg freshman Chris Danzig is a PLAY writer. He can bereached at [email protected].
