Vocalist Eddie Argos (an ex-goth obsessed with Jonathan Richman and Vincent Van Gogh) had previously been in a band, The Art Goblins, in his hometown of Bournemouth. Their stage show would see him “playing a vacuum cleaner” and escaping from a sack. They sounded not unlike cult Glaswegians The Yummy Fur and had songs such as I Wanna Be Johnny Dean and Disco.
Another ‘project’ was The Welsh Elephant, who penned the should-be-classic Fuck The MSP (which contains the catchy refrain “Nicky Wire can suck my cock!”). Having moved to London and determined to be in another band, Argos found himself at a party in Mornington Crescent and set about hassling everyone there to join him. A webzine-editor and guitarist called Chris Chinchilla (a ska fanatic) thought this sounded like a good idea – after all, it was a good way to impress girls. Argos was more concerned about getting on ‘Top Of The Pops’. Chinchilla talked his German flatmate Freiderike Feedback (grunge fan) into playing bass, and thus they got a bass guitar for her off eBay. Argos had a friend from Bournemouth who’d also just moved to London. Ian Catskilkin (thinks he’s in Led Zeppelin, but with better hair) used to be in a heavy rock band called Orco and he agreed to join the new band. Another friend then overheard a German man (who NME would later say looks like “he should be in Interpol”) on a bus telling someone how he played drums and worked in Merc, the shop on Carnaby Street selling cut-price mod clothing. Determined to hunt him down, Argos and Chinchilla went to the shop. He wasn’t working that day, so they left him a note. Mikey Breyer (listens to nothing but Weezer) would then join the band, and that was it – May 2003, Art Brut was born.
Much like Bloc Party, Art Brut’s first gig was an independently promoted show at the Kentish Town Verge. Chinchilla had booked it before the band was ready, at which there was much complaining by his fellow bandmates. Mike’s drumkit had yet to be imported, so he played sitting down (he usually stands up to play). After a number of other gigs round London they recorded a demo named Brutlegs, containing early versions of Formed A Band, Modern Art and Moving To LA, and made it available on their website. Formed A Band first saw the light of day on the debut Angular Records compilation album. After a journalist came across this recording, he sent an MP3 to the label Rough Trade. Within an hour of getting it, the label’s A&R man was in touch offering to release Formed A Band as a single.
Suddenly the band were all over the music press, picking up fans and haters with ease. Many people expected it to be nothing more than a one-off novelty single. They played a triumphant Swedish festival where a guy interviewed them and got confused, thought they were from Manchester (and had all his questions based around the city), and compared them to The Sultans Of Ping. They were also offered the main tour support for Razorlight but had to turn it down due to lack of funds.
Formed A Band was released as a single at the end of March 2004. A gleeful call to arms of sorts, Argos shouts “formed a band! We formed a band! Look at us, we formed a band!” before going on to proclaim how he’s going to “write a song as universal as Happy Birthday” and “play it eight weeks in a row on ‘Top Of The Pops’”. It reached No. 52, selling 5,000 copies, and cropped up in many end-of-year polls as the one of the best singles of the year, including ‘Blender’ – the USA’s second biggest music mag after ‘Rolling Stone’ - who proclaimed them the best unsigned band in the UK.
The rest of 2004 saw them playing numerous gigs from Brighton to Manchester, as well as a first anniversary show at the Tate Modern where they were joined by a couple of a Argos’ heroes – The Vessel (David Devant and His Spirit Wife) and Les ‘Fruitbat’ Carter (Carter USM). As a stop-gap between singles, they offered the new, shaky Brutlegs 2004, this time containing versions of Good Weekend (the one that goes “got myself a brand new girlfriend… I’ve seen her naked TWICE!”), Bang Bang Rock And Roll and an acoustic version of Moving To LA.
The frenzied Top Of The Pops (not a Rezillos cover) was recorded with a number of bands guesting on vocals (including Ciccone, The Boyfriends, The Long Blondes, Abdoujaparov, Prozak, Rhesus and Luxembourg) for inclusion on the Angular Records compilation Rip Off Your Labels, while Moving To LA saw yet another recorded appearance, this time in live form from the Bath Moles on the compilation Bring Your Own Poison: The Rhythm Factory Sessions.
In December ’04, their second single finally saw the light. A double A-side of Modern Art and My Little Brother (with B-side These Animal Menswe@r), it was released on the Fierce Panda label and reached No. 49 – scoring the band a bigger hit than before and, perhaps surprisingly, the highest chart position Fierce Panda has ever had. All the sleeves of the 7” were hand-designed by the band and fans, including one messy session at a Queens Of Noize night at Camden Barfly which ended with the stage (and crowd) being covered in fluorescent pink paint.
The start of 2005 sees them having completed their debut album, pencilled in for release in March, and having picked up even more fans including Graham Coxon, British Sea Power, The Libertines, Hope Of The States and genius boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe. Even the Happy Mondays’ Bez has tried to get onstage at one point with them at the Barfly but was so wasted at the time he didn’t manage it, despite Catskilkin’s attempts at pulling him by his arm.
Sadly, they’ve yet to appear on ‘Top Of The Pops’. Perhaps ‘CD:UK’ will be more accommodating. It’s better, anyway.
In Late August 2005 Chris Chinchilla decided to leave the band for personal reasons and was replaced by former Art Goblin, Jasper Future.
Art Brut performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 30, 2006, at Pitchfork Music Festival in June 2006, and at the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim and the Dour Festival in Belgium, in July 2006 and are due to headline the Two Thousand Trees Festival in July 2008. Art Brut also released a split 7" with We Are Scientists, which was only released in America. We Are Scientists returned the idea and covered Art Brut's song 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' on the single. Their version of "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" is also available on their b-sides album Crap Attack.
The band released their second album, It's a Bit Complicated, on Mute Records produced by Dan Swift , who has also worked with artists such as Help She Can't Swim, Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Kasabian and Snow Patrol. The first single to be taken from the album, "Nag Nag Nag Nag", was released on 20 November 2006, featuring the b-side "I Found This Song in the Road" and 5 live tracks from the Eurockéennes de Belfort Festival 2006. The song made Single of the Week in The Guardian's "The Guide" section. In 2007 they played on the American NME Rock and Roll Riot tour with The Hold Steady. In the United States, the album reached #14 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #32 on the Independent Albums chart.
On 1 March 2008 Argos revealed on his blog that Art Brut have amicably left EMI. In August 2008 Eddie Argos announced on his blog that the band have been recording songs for the third album. In late 2008 Art Brut returned to the studio to record their third LP Art Brut vs. Satan which was released on April 20th 2009. The album was produced by Frank Black formerly of the Pixies.
In September 2013 the band announced that long serving members Mikey Breyer and Jasper Future were retiring to be replaced with Toby Macfarlaine (guitar) and Stephen Gilchrist (drums).
2) Art Brut is a freejazz and improvisation group
Art Brut is:
Frank Wilke – trumpet
André D. – bass
Vasco Ribeiro Morais – percussions, voices
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Art_Brut/art_brut/
André D. on Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/darius-improvise/tracks?format=html&page=1
Other review: http://dariusimprovise.blogspot.fr/2013/06/art-brut.html
Catch
Art Brut Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A girl I think I used to know
Yeah I'd see her when the days got colder
On those days when it felt like snow
You know I even think that she stared like you
She used to just stand there and stare
And roll her eyes right up to heaven
And she used to fall down a lot
That girl was always falling again and again
And I used to sometimes try to catch her
But never even caught her name
And sometimes we would spend the night
Just rolling about on the floor (rolling about on the floor)
And I remember even though it felt soft at the time
I always used to wake up sore
You know I even think that she smiled like you
She used to just stand there and smile
And her eyes would go all sort of far away
And stay like that for quite a while
That girl was falling down a lot
That girl was always falling again and again
And I sometimes used to try to catch her
But never even caught her name
I used to try and catch her
But I never even caught her name
Other girls went and other girls came
Other girls went and other girls came
Other girls went and other girls came
And I didn't even catch her name
The lyrics to Art Brut's song "Catch" depict the singer reminiscing about a girl he used to know who reminds him of the person he's currently talking to. He describes how the girl used to stand there and stare, often rolling her eyes and making the singer feel like he wasn't there. She also fell down a lot, and the singer would try to catch her but never knew her name. However, despite the girl's quirky ways, the singer remembers spending nights rolling around on the floor with her, even though he'd wake up sore from it. He also recalls how she'd smile and her eyes would go "all sort of far away" and "stay like that for quite a while."
The song's lyrics suggest a sense of longing for something that was fleeting and never fully realized. The singer has this connection to the girl, seeing her in the person he's talking to, but he never caught her name and seemingly never got to know her beyond these fleeting moments. The repeated phrase of "other girls went and other girls came" throughout the song further invokes a sense of impermanence and lost opportunities.
Line by Line Meaning
Yeah I know who you remind me of
I see similarities between you and a girl I once knew
A girl I think I used to know
I'm not entirely certain if it's that exact girl, but it sure feels like it
Yeah I'd see her when the days got colder
I would usually see her around the time of the year when it's colder
On those days when it felt like snow
The days when the weather really felt like snow was coming, she would appear
You know I even think that she stared like you
Your stare reminds me of the way she used to stare at me
She used to just stand there and stare
She had a habit of standing still and staring at me. It was uncomfortable
And roll her eyes right up to heaven
Occasionally, when she stared at me, she'd roll her eyes up, making it look like she found me ridiculous
And make like I just wasn't there
Even though I was standing right in front of her, she acted like she didn't see me
And she used to fall down a lot
She was quite clumsy and fell down frequently
That girl was always falling again and again
Falling was almost a part of her persona
And I used to sometimes try to catch her
Every once in a while, I would attempt to help her by catching her before she falls
But never even caught her name
I didn't know her name, though
And sometimes we would spend the night
We had occasional nights together
Just rolling about on the floor (rolling about on the floor)
We would roll around playfully on the floor
And I remember even though it felt soft at the time
It seems nice at that time, but I cannot get past the pain I felt afterwards
I always used to wake up sore
I would always wake up feeling worn out physically
You know I even think that she smiled like you
Your smile reminds me of the way she used to smile at me
She used to just stand there and smile
Sometimes, when she saw me, she'd simply stand there and smile
And her eyes would go all sort of far away
Her gaze would briefly drift off and her eyes would look unfocused
And stay like that for quite a while
It would take a while for her to return to the present moment after those brief moments of distance
Other girls went and other girls came
I have dated other girls since then, and there have been several more after her
And I didn't even catch her name
She was someone who stood out to me, but I didn't even know her name
Contributed by Wyatt B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.