Contributed by drdeath, Posted by Fat Wreck Chords

The Lawrence Arms have posted their first update in some time.

Brendan's lengthy update discusses both the band's plans for a new record (nothing has yet been written), his bandmate Chris' solo project, his other bandmate Neil's production work and his of course, a wrap up on the year past.

As well, Brendan notes his recent "AIMcast" with Red Scare head honcho Tobias Jeg. As the name suggests, the AIMCast is an interesting transcript of an AIM conversation and you can find that right here, timestamps and all.

The band released Oh! Calcutta! last year.

Hey there everyone…sorry it's been so long since I've updated the site. I guess the decompression from going to Australia with Frenzal Rhomb led right into the holidays, then I had to gear up to go to the punk rock bowling tournament in Vegas, and while I was there, I caught a pretty bad case of super bowl fever. Well, the superbowl fever has finally broken (fucking Grossman…sigh) but all the nachos, lil' smokies and so forth have left me as infirm as a little old lady. In layperson's terms, I'm sick. And what better way to while away my hours of lying supine than to converse with you, the last person who still checks this site for updates. Anyway, as you may have noticed by our ever-present faces in your town last year, we spent a lot of time on the road in 2006. It all culminated in the single most deadly journey I have ever been on: the above mentioned Frenzal Rhomb bacchanal.

Man, that was something…something that almost killed us. Everyone was sleeping about one hour a night because of the crazy scheduling (all the shows ended late, and since Oz is so big, you have to [have to…get to is more like it, but anyway] fly to all the shows. All the flights were early as balls) and as a consequence, going fucking nuts. And then we had to compete with Gordy, who's already fucking nuts. Oh, and there was drinking. Here's a fun fact: In Australia, instead of saying 'how you doing?' like we do in the states, they say 'how you going?' Here's another fun fact: our tour manager Nigel is a whiz at seeking out, and quickly satisfying random older gentlemen in any given situation. Seriously, we'd go to the juice bar, there's Nigel, under some old man's table. We're on the plane. There's Nigel, getting kicked out of the bathroom for being in there with an elderly dude. Good on him I say, which is what they say over there as a sort of unironic version of our (almost always ironic, these days) good for you. But enough about Australia. Chris has a new record coming out on Red Scare Industries. The project is called Sundowner and it features Jenny Choi doing some cool backing vocals, cello and keys and also Neil 'the meat' Hennessy laying down the funky basslines. Expect lots of slapping and popping, as that's the meat's favorite shit (he even has a primus tattoo on the small of his back!)

The Sundowner record is called 'Four One Five Two' after the address of Chris's childhood (and sometimes adulthood) home where many of the songs were conceived. He's discussed touring on the record…so look out ladies and ladylike men.

So, I suppose at this point the question remains: "what's up with the Arms for the new year. Well, not much right now. It's cold and dangerous out there and we've been everywhere pretty recently, so we're gonna wait out the weather and see what happens. As I said, Chris is thinking about doing Sundowner shows, and we can't very well tour without him (and doing both on the same bill would be stupid. If you don't know why, you should just trust me on this one). Plus, Neil is doing some studio work, not only recording bands but also playing studio drums for other projects. I'm keeping busy helping Toby Jeg with Red Scare…but fear not. We are playing a show in Dundee, Illinois, boyhood hometown of Dan Andriano, most famous for his bass playing in the band Flowers, and we're trying to figure out when to hit the road again. As for a new record, as far as I know there is still nothing written, but that's the kind of thing that changes rather quickly. For now, we're just riding the winter out.

We're super thankful to everyone who came and saw us during the Oh! Calcutta! Tour cycle and we look forward to seeing you all again soon. Okay, I'm gonna go drink tea and angrily stew while Maury Povich exploits people. See you soon.

Oh… check out the first ever Imcast on the RedScare myspace page between myself and the always perverse and foul mouthed Tobias Jeg.