The Lawrence Arms – Demons

Chicago’s Lawrence Arms are a gritty but clever punk rock three-piece that trace their beginnings back to 1999. Their involvement in bands and the punk scene goes back many years prior however, as the members were involved in Windy City mainstays Slapstick, The Broadways, and Baxter. The band takes its name from a rundown building the members resided in called the Lawrence Arms, which was located in a very lower-class area of uptown Chicago. For the record, they were eventually evicted from the place in the middle of the night.

The Lawrence Arms have done it again with a five-song EP titled Buttsweat and Tears, out now on Fat Wreck Chords.. Its Midwestern power-pop at its finest and they celebrate their 10 year anniversary to boot. Brendan Kelly, singer of The Lawrence Arms chose the title as he explains right here: “When my band, the Lawrence Arms, first started, we had this idea for a seven-inch. We had the title picked out and we even knew what the cover was gonna be. We promised ourselves that our first seven inch would have this name and this cover. Well, we never did a seven-inch (except for one that was part of a label series, which meant that the cover and the title were sort of more beholden to the big picture rather than our dumb ideas) and the whole thing kind of languished, and now, 10 years later, in conjunction with our 10-year anniversary show and subsequent West Coast run (the first run in over two years), we’ve got our first real seven-inch on our hands. And guess what? We fucking named it the name that we thought up 10 years ago.” The result was five songs that perfectly epitomize TLA’s sound and once again flash the band’s slightly askew sense of humor.

Right click (option click for mac) to download!

Demons