The Lawrence Arms Sign to Epitaph for New LP

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Nov 4, 2013

Chicago pop-punk vets the Lawrence Arms aren't quite ready to reveal everything about their long-awaited follow-up to 2006's Oh! Calcutta!, but the band have confirmed that it will be issued via new label home Epitaph.

Bassist/vocalist Brendan Kelly announced the move via a guest blog post for Bad Sandwich Chronicles, meaning this will be the band's first LP to not appear on Fat Wreck Chords in over a decade. Prior to that, they had issued a pair of LPs through Asian Man Records.

"There's no reason to leave except for we had the opportunity to try something new and awesome and we decided to spice shit up," Kelly explained. "[Fat Wreck Chords owner] [Fat] Mike is a good friend and a personal hero of ours. We're honoured that he and [co-owner] Erin would even listen to our dumb band, much less bring us in and do all they've done for us. We never wanted anything from Fat that we didn't get. That includes the freedom to try new things when we decide we wanna try new things."

As for moving to Epitaph, he noted that the Lawrence Arms met up with label owner Brett Gurewitz to discuss the deal, with the band deciding "what better way to come back from a long break than on the label that put out most of the records that got us into punk rock in the first place? "

Details on the LP, meanwhile, are still under wraps, but Kelly reports that it had been written prior to signing on with Epitaph. Like their last three records, the as-yet untitled album was recorded at Chicago's Atlas Studios with producer Matt Allison.

Latest Coverage