“Beer-gutted, moustached, rambling antidote-spewing Eddie Argos mocks himself and his style of singing (I think we could call it pub/lounge rant act); at one point saying, “Did you hear that? I think I was almost singing there for a moment, wasn’t I?””
“Beer-gutted, moustached, rambling antidote-spewing Eddie Argos mocks himself and his style of singing (I think we could call it pub/lounge rant act); at one point saying, “Did you hear that? I think I was almost singing there for a moment, wasn’t I?””
Art Brut, Hospital Bombers Melkweg, Klein Zaal 9/2/06
Art Brut – Hoax or Not?
Firstly, I have to admit, I’ve started becoming suspect of many bands. With rumors flying around whether the Artic Monkeys were hand picked by the finest rock scientists or the real deal, and hype central regarding just about any and every band coming from the UK today you can understand me right?
Art Brut staggered on stage opening with Formed A Band, which in itself dismissed any and all of my suspensions. I am quite keen to social commenting and mockery; Art Brut does this and more, creating clever comedic and musically intriguing punk-rock-performance-art. I think NME coined the genre, calling what they do as “art-wave”. Their name itself is perfectly picked (for once –ed); Art Brut or outsider art is art created by people with no specific art training and is mostly associated with art that has been made by the mentally unsound. Art Brut looks as if they could be just that, for they are truly a motley crew. During a rant in Formed A Band, front man Eddie Argos threatened to return to Amsterdam in 6 months time and make sure that each and every one of us has formed a band. I am all for it, so who else is in?!
“Art Brut, are you ready? Are you ready Art Brut? This next one is called My Little Brother!” It is sheer brilliance and one of the funniest songs I heard ever. “My little brother just discovered Rock and Roll… see him on the dance floor, go now, boy those moves I just don’t know now.” It is both hilarious and a damn good bit of music.
Beer-gutted, moustached, rambling antidote-spewing Eddie Argos mocks himself and his style of singing (I think we could call it pub/lounge rant act); at one point saying, “Did you hear that? I think I was almost singing there for a moment, wasn’t I?” The rest of the cast have various stage names. The drummer stands while he plays and his name is simply Mikey B, then you have the lanky blonde guitarist Chris Chinchilla who I think goes by Jasper Future now. Then there’s the more modest Ian Catskilkin (“who thinks he’s in Led Zeppelin”). Last but defiantly not least there is the sexy grunge rock tough-girl who could have been in L7, Freddy Feedback, who was smiling and laughing whilst she rocked out the entire show. I think she must have been stoned. It was apparently their final show of a 32 show stint and I think they were quite pleased to be ending their first tour of Europe with this sold out Amsterdam gig. They had to be happy with the amount of people who got fully into the Art Brut vibe, screamed lyrics back at them and danced around spilling beer all over each other. Their fellow countrymen were in high attendance at tonight gig as well, swaying about and slurring out obscenities in between songs. Art Brut must have felt like they were truly at home.
I am not quite sure how much was scripted, as songs and antidotes blended together almost too perfectly. Argos certainly seems to have his stage routine down to a “T”. Songs about the ones who got away (in the 3rd grade), drunken text messaging and good ‘ole Bang Bang Rock and Roll filled the airtime. They closed with Good Weekend, and the Melkweg audience went nuts, chanting “ART BRUT, TOP OF THE POPS!” over and over, nearly taking the roof right off. Apparently Eddie is obsessed with Top of the Pops. Art Brut are fantastic fun, a great laugh and purveyors of good music. That’s for sure.
Opening act for the evening was Hospital Bombers and for a Dutch act they were actually surprisingly good. (Oofph! Careful! – ed) Their sound: indie alt–rock, like Arcade Fire meets The Walkmen and Modest Mouse. Apparently the lead singer/guitarist was in a few bands before this one. The drummer was fantastic, the girl was the musical star as she sang, played electric piano and violin. As the bass player was the only non-musician, needless to say, the bass was not an important part of any their songs. The song highlight was Devil’s Music, which was very catchy and memorable, however it upset me later since it’s really not believable (if you know what I mean) which I’ve found in many Dutch acts. However Theme was, though not as poppy and catchy, it has a great sound. This band has a lot of potential musically and I am looking forward to hearing more from them.
http://www.hospitalbombers.com/
Words: Zoe E. Gottehrer