The first time Punknews’ Eric Rosso saw The Lawrence Arms was at The Agora Theater in Cleveland, Ohio sometime around 2003 with one of his still-to-this-day best friends. The band, like for many readers of Punknews, has been a continued thread with some of his best friends. That’s why when the chance to interview Brendan Kelly, Rosso jumped at it and immediately hit his group chat with those same friends to tell them about it.
Interviewing someone is always hard, but when it’s a member of one of your favorite bands, it’s almost impossible not to want to list off all the times you’ve seen them live. It’s the same feeling when a member of your favorite band is hanging out selling merch and you can’t fight the impulse to say, “remember that time I saw you” at X club X years ago? Fortunately for Rosso after getting through that impulse, Kelly was, as always, earnestly honest and appreciative about the continued interest in his band and new album.
A month before the release of The Lawrence Arms’ new album Skeleton Coast and in the midst of the shutdown and following uprisings, rosso and Kelly discussed how all of this impacted the record, his favorite parts of the record, and a little about the state of the world while letting Rosso geek out a little about his own fandom and history with the band. Check it out below.
