Chicago, IL · punk rock · folk-punk

Brendan Kelly

1 upcoming festival

The Lawrence Arms' motormouth bassist-singer, solo and unfiltered — bar-stool wit and self-deprecation over rough acoustic punk, half gig and half stand-up set.

Brendan Kelly is a Chicago punk musician best known as bassist and co-vocalist of The Lawrence Arms, the trio he has fronted with Chris McCaughan since the late 1990s. He has also played in The Broadways and records with his own band, The Wandering Birds. His songs favour dense, wordy lyrics, gallows humour and self-deprecation, delivered in a hoarse shout, and his solo appearances tend to strip the arrangements back to acoustic guitar with a running commentary between songs. Kelly has also written and podcasted, and is known for a blunt, comic public persona that carries over into his stage patter.

punk rockfolk-punk