Art Brut
are an English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll
, was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, It's a Bit Complicated
, released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Jean Dubuffet's definition of outsider art -- art by prisoners, loners, the mentally ill, and other marginalized people, and made without thought to imitation or presentation -- South London's Art Brut were tagged by NME as part of the "Art Wave" scene that also includes bands such as Athlete, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party.
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Biography
The band was formed in 2003 and played its first gig in May of that year. The band recorded
Brutlegs
later in 2003 containing the first versions of "Formed a Band", "Modern Art" and "Moving to LA" and made it available.
Angular Recording Corporation put out a compilation featuring "Formed a Band". A journalist heard the song and sent an MP3 to
Rough Trade and the label offered Art Brut a deal to release it as a single.
Frank Black of
The Pixies stated he was a fan soon after hearing them.
"Formed a Band" was released in the UK as a single in May 2004 reaching #52 on the charts. It also appeared on the soundtrack to
FIFA Street 2 - a game for the
PlayStation 2,
Xbox,
Gamecube and
Playstation Portable.
Blender
described them as the best unsigned band in the UK. During the rest of 2004, they played gigs throughout the UK with
The Fades including a first anniversary gig at the
Tate Britain.
Another bootleg EP
Brutlegs 04
was recorded featuring "Good Weekend", "Bang Bang Rock & Roll", and an acoustic version of "Moving to LA". A double A-side was released in December 2004 on Fierce Panda reaching #49 on the charts. The album
Bang Bang Rock & Roll
was released in May 2005 with "Emily Kane" as the first single. The latter missed the UK Top 40 by two sales, yet remains the highest-charting single on Fierce Panda.
Bang Bang Rock & Roll
was produced by John Fortis, who has also worked with artists such as
Razorlight,
Maxim Reality,
The Pipettes,
Neneh Cherry and
Assembly Now.
Art Brut have a quite widespread following of "franchises", whose names range from AB0 (the original Art Brut) to AB3.14/Pi, AB² or even to AB17. The band
We Are Scientists are also an Art Brut franchise, AB47. These franchises often record and play Art Brut songs during performances.
Chris Chinchilla amicably left the band for personal reasons in September 2005 forming new band Macaca Mulatta. He was replaced by Jeff aka Jasper Future, guitarist from Eddie Argos' old band,
The Art Goblins. The band appeared on the cover of the German edition of
Rolling Stone
magazine in September 2005.
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.
[1]
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. Art Brut are also lined up to play various festivals over the summer.
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.
Members
- Eddie Argos (lead vocals)
- Ian Catskilkin (lead guitar)
- Freddy Feedback (bass guitar)
- Jasper "Jeff" Future (guitar, backing vocals)
- Mikey Breyer (drums)
Discography
Albums
- Bang Bang Rock & Roll
(2005)
- It's a Bit Complicated
(2007)
- ''Art Brut vs. Satan (2009)
Singles
- "Formed a Band" (March 2004) #52
- "Modern Art/My Little Brother" (December 2004) #49
- "Emily Kane" (May 2005) #41
- "Good Weekend" (September 2005) #56 (featured in 2007 films, including I Want Candy
and Good Luck Chuck
)
- "Nag Nag Nag Nag"
- "Direct Hit" #194
- "Pump Up The Volume" (February 2008)
- "Alcoholics Unanimous" (6th April 2009)
References
- Billboard, Allmusic