Something to Love-With Brendan Kelly

Playing punk shows in Chicago for the last ten years, there’s always been this thing with this band, The Lawrence Arms, specifically, their lead singer, Brendan Kelly. He’s outspoken, enjoys the occasional cocktail or 7, and sings like he’s just smoked a carton. Interesting stat, (though 100% made up) 4 out of 5 lead singers in today’s Chicago music scene are trying to be Brendan Kelly, in one way or another. Let’s get to know Brendan Kelly’s musical background.

“I play bass and guitar and sing in bands such as the Lawrence Arms, the Falcon and the Wandering Birds. I took about 2 or so years of folk guitar lessons and a year of bass when I was in middle school/high school. Bass lessons were the last thing I did and ended when I was a sophomore in HS.”

Dr. Jim Stopher is an avid sight reader and conductor, Miguel Chen is a punk rocker who happily admits dumping theory for the power chord. Devin Peralta seems to be a blend of the two, so where does Brendan Kelly fit?

“I have almost nothing in the way of analytical theory based training. I know how to identify a key and I'm sort of familiar with notes. That's about it. I haven't really taught myself much since my lessons either. I’m generally not much of a musician besides the fact that people like the crap I do and I surround myself with talented players.”

How has the power chord shaped you as a musician?

“Well, it's the sound of rock and roll. I play a lot of power chords because they sound great. I also play barre chords and open chords and I even dabble in playing riffs here and there, but truly, the power chord is the democratizer that is easy, sounds great, and enables hacks like me to play music in popular bands.” 

When did you first realize you wanted to pursue music? 

“Eh, I guess I've always been interested in it. I used to write songs when I was four and five. It's been something I've always been consistently interested in. I started my first band and did my first multi-track recordings when I was 12, way before I could so much as hold a guitar properly.” 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of your musical persona?

“Hmmmm…I guess the disadvantages are apparent. I've got limited talent and therefore extremely limited range. That being said, creating within those constraints requires unexpected methodology and solutions in order to pull off anything interesting, so in that regard, I'd say that's my advantage as well. How about that?” 

Reaching people

In your musical career, what has been the single most significant, defining event and why?

“I honestly don't know, but selling out the Metro is always a thrill and the Lawrence Arms ten year anniversary show saw a bunch of people coming to the metro from as far away as Australia, Europe and Japan. That was a pretty unbelievable experience.” 

It seems you've been incredibly active over the last few years, playing in different bands, and playing shows/writing etc. What keeps you inspired to keep writing? 

“I write as a more obsessive activity than as a hobby. I'd liken it to the way that people compulsively exercise or diet. I get almost panicky when I don't create something and I just go for it and go for it. When I'm writing songs, I write probably four songs a day, and often more. When I'm not writing songs, (and lotsa times when I am) I work on blogs, stories, books, scripts, movies, pitches for network shows, etc. It's really not a matter of inspiration at all, though I HAVE been inspired, it's nowhere near my main motivator. This isn't entirely accurate, but it seems to me that fear is more of a motivator in my process than inspiration. Inspiration, in my case, seems motivated by work, not the other way around.” 

What has been your greatest struggle with music? 

“I think the above…that I'm bound to compulsively create and that if I don't it starts to affect every facet of my personality, to the point where I can't sleep or focus (not that my focus is spectacular to begin with). Music just happens to be where I've had a small level of success. If I was a successful self-help book author, I'd have struggles with self-help books. It's ridiculous.” 

Have you learned anything from playing punk for decades?

“I don't know that I've learned shit. I have learned about specific people, I've learned a little about the industry and I've learned some jargon, but I don't know that I've learned anything about real truths that I wouldn't have learned just traveling and meeting people, if that makes any sense. Punk rock is just an aesthetic trapping, and any statement to the contrary is necessarily dismissive of other interests. Yes, people love punk rock, but people also love S and M or Zoology or surfing and consider it to be a real, important discipline practiced by devout and dedicated people. Punk rock is no different. Don't mistake me, I love it, but that's all it is. It's something to love.”

What does the perfect song have to have?

“Any art succeeds when it makes the listener understand that someone else (usually someone a little bit more articulate or funny or direct) feels similarly about things to the way they, the listener also feels.

It can be a new idea, that makes the listener go "wow, I didn't even know I felt like that but I do" or it can be something as simple as making a relatable statement about love. A good song also tends to cast a little corner of existence in a beautiful light, (I say this with the clarification point that there's beauty tied up in passion and frustration and hatred and sadness as much as in love or peace or whatever). If you can do this, you've got a good song on your hands.

Also, never underestimate a good melody as one of the most effective ways to convey all of this even in instrumental or mindless songs. Universal truths are at the core of this, and that shit is simple: love, hate, loss, redemption, confusion, etc. Basically, watch a dog. Their emotional range sums up universality pretty well.”

Intelligence as a weapon

The other punk rockers I have spoken with often site punk band Bad Religion as the source of early epiphany. Brendan Kelly, much like punk rocker Russ Rankin, concurs.

“The first time I heard No Control by Bad Religion, I was drawn to the urgency and intelligence like I'd never been drawn to anything before. I grew up a nerd and that album really kind of recapitulated the notion of intelligence as a weapon rather than something that made me some kind of pantywaist.”

To each his own…

If you could get everyone you care about to listen to one song, name it.

“I don't have an answer to this. Music is important for so many different reasons to different people. I can't imagine that I could write one prescription that could please or even impact everyone I know. Townes Van Zandt doing that Pancho and Lefty live in London is profoundly awesome, but my brother would hate it, for example.”

Is Imitation Flattery?

(Earlier I mentioned the seemingly endless laundry list of Lawrence Arms knock-off bands across Chicago and really across the country.) I just so happened to ask Brendan what he hates. Here is his reply.

“If I'm being honest, the stuff I usually end up hating the most is the stuff that's very similar to what I do but poorly done. Any time that I can look at something and see where the artist is coming from but not feel it, I'm gonna be super turned off. I don't like Mystical, (for example) but he has such a different thing going on that I'm not even sure what his desired ends are, therefore, I don't hate his output at all. It's just not relatable. That's like me hating a specific type of infusion suite chair or a certain brand of fertilizer. However, when I hear some rock band full of white guys ruminating about the futility of life and the desire to try to find a place in the world anyway, and it's done poorly or obviously, that's what I hate the most. I hate stuff that's very similar to what I do. I think this is more universally true than most people would like to admit.”