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
Moving To L.A.
Art Brut Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's not much left to bring us together
Sunshine on a rainy day
Makes me want to move away
But I think I've got it sorted
I'm gonna get myself deported
[Chorus]
(He's considering a move to LA)
Hang around with axel rose
Buy myself some brand new clothes
Everything will be just fine
Where the murder, rape is in decline
Do me some relaxin'
Maybe grab a piece of action
[Chorus]
And when I get off the plane
The first thing I'm gonna do
Is strip naked to the waist
And ride my harley-davidson
Up and down sunset strip
I might even get a tattoo
My troubles'll never find me
I'm not sending any letters or postcards home
I'll drink tennessee
With morrisey
On a beach
Out of reach
Somewhere very, very far away
[Chorus]
The lyrics of Art Brut's "Moving To L.A." may seem straightforward on the surface, but upon closer inspection, there are hints of irony and desperation beneath the surface. The song begins with a commentary on the often-dreary weather in England, which leaves little to unite its residents. The singer longs to escape this unifying factor and seeks refuge in the sunny paradise of Los Angeles. However, the mention of getting deported implies that he has no real means of getting to his desired location and may be using this idea as a coping mechanism for his current situation.
The chorus reinforces this idea of escape, with the singer desiring to hang around with famous musicians and indulge in hedonistic pleasures such as buying new clothes and relaxing. The lines "where the murder, rape is in decline" hint at the darker side of Los Angeles, but the singer seems unfazed by these realities, believing that everything will be "just fine."
Line by Line Meaning
Not much glam' about the english weather
The English weather does not have a lot of glamour.
There's not much left to bring us together
There are not many things that unite us.
Sunshine on a rainy day
The sunshine during a rainy day.
Makes me want to move away
The sunshine during a rainy day makes the singer want to leave.
But I think I've got it sorted
But the singer thinks he has a solution.
I'm gonna get myself deported
The solution is to get deported.
I'm considering a move to LA
The singer is considering moving to LA.
Hang around with axel rose
The singer wants to hang around with Axel Rose.
Buy myself some brand new clothes
The singer wants to buy new clothes.
Everything will be just fine
The singer thinks everything will be okay.
Where the murder, rape is in decline
The singer hopes to move to an area with less crime.
Do me some relaxin'
The singer wants to relax.
Maybe grab a piece of action
The singer wants to participate in some action.
And when I get off the plane
When the singer gets off the plane.
The first thing I'm gonna do
The first thing the singer will do.
Is strip naked to the waist
The singer wants to take off his shirt.
And ride my harley-davidson
The singer wants to ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Up and down sunset strip
The singer wants to drive up and down the Sunset Strip.
I might even get a tattoo
The singer might get a tattoo.
My troubles'll never find me
The singer thinks his troubles will never find him if he moves.
I'm not sending any letters or postcards home
The singer will not send any letters or postcards home.
I'll drink tennessee
The singer wants to drink Tennessee whiskey.
With morrisey
The singer wants to drink whiskey with Morrissey.
On a beach
The singer wants to drink on a beach.
Out of reach
The singer wants to be out of reach from his troubles.
Somewhere very, very far away
The singer wants to move somewhere very far away.
(He's considering a move to LA)
The singer is considering moving to LA.
Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: CHRIS WARD, EDDIE ARGOS, FREDERIKE SIEPE, IAN WILSON, MIKE BREYER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
gummiships
I will never get tired of listening to Art Brut. Never, ever, never, ever.
Scruffy P
They are meant to be a bit annoying and once you get past that annoyance they are so fucking good. I get it now :)
Anarka Akaza
I'm really liking Art Brut!
Gary Showbiz
Classic
ProtoVelez
good song!
Julieann1912
Sex Pistols must have been a great influence-especially for the Chorus! Not bad, grabbed my attention!
Arthur Anita
Julieann Decker Ya think so??
bulletproof
i love the way he says "AXL ROSE" ! :d
vkristupaitis
Hey buddy, just checking if you ever moved to LA!
Ecléctico Iconoclasta
If he updates this song it should include a reference to legal marihuana in LA. For that alone the song will make so much sense as that will never happen in the UK since it seems it will be ruled forever by the tories