Punk Rock Theory

Submitted by Thomas on Thursday, July 9, 2020 – 18:41

Let’s face it: 2020 is a very, very shitty year. And yet, there is at least one reason to celebrate. If you are a fan of The Laence Arms, that is. On July 17, the trio is releasing ‘Skeleton Coast,’ their first new album in 6 years (not counting the ‘Champions of the World’ comp). We figured it’s as good an excuse as any to ask singer/ bassist Brendan Kelly a bunch of questions about the new album, the end of the world and being a cult band. Among many other things. Spoiler alert: you may find out a few details about the record that may ruin the surprise. Deal with it. (photo credit: Ben Peir) the shit we’ve done (since it HAS been a second since we’ve done anything) and hopefully ramp up to the release of the new record. Doing the podcast has been really fun and the episodes have skewed WAY longer than I think either of us expected.

PRT: It’s been 6 years since you released ‘Metropole’. That album felt like it was a little about coming to terms with getting older. Seeing as we haven’t found the time it takes to sit through all thirteen episodes of ‘Road to the Skeleton Coast’ just yet, we figured we’d just start off by asking if there is a general theme on ‘Skeleton Coast’?

Brendan: Of course there is. At this point I don’t know that we would even know how to make non-thematic records if we had to. Skeleton Coast is about, to be brief, an isolated outpost at the end of the world where all the pain and joy and love and fear you’ve ever felt manifests real real hard, and it’s up to you to find your moments of joy there.