Art Brut

WASABI (We Are Scientists Art Brut International) is a collaborative album release from Art Brut and We Are Scientists for Record Store Day 2019 on 12″ vinyl from Alcopop! Records.

Art Brut playlist

Contributor: Lee Horrey

I considered to try writing this in the style that the wonderful lead singer Eddie Argos would use, which would basically mean UPPER CASE, lots of short snappy sentences like ‘TOP OF THE POPS’, ‘ART BRUT ROCK N ROLL’ and ‘LO FI MOTHERF**KERS’ but frankly who I am to try to copy a true original?

I only discovered Art Brut in 2018 with the release of their most recent album, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!, mainly because it featured the at-the-time Wedding Present drummer. However, once discovered, I hoovered up the back catalogue in record time and in April 2019 got to see them live – an amazing experience, a cross between two of my favourite things, a rock n roll gig and a stand-up comedy show.

The band started gigging in London in 2003. Their first album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, was released in 2005 with albums every two years thereafter (including two produced by Frank Black/Black Francis/Charles … the man from Pixies). The run ended with their Best-Of compilation in 2013, and the loss of a couple of band members. Then … silence/a long hiatus until the comeback in 2018. Currently, Eddie has a Dylan cover album (see video below) and a solo album in the pipeline, but Art Brut toured in September 2021 and are surely back to save us from mundane rock n roll.

The Art Brut lead ‘singer’/lyricist is a unique artist who has done things his way, and made it work. His autobiography “I Formed A Band” is an almost unbelievable tale of perseverance but his talents should not be underestimated. He dared, and made it. His side projects are varied and hard to track down in some cases, but always worth the effort.

I can’t listen to Art Brut without a smile appearing on my face. Try Formed A Band and tell me of a more perfect debut single. Songs about music, discos, bands, girls, drink, being skint, and living life to its fullest – the perfect soundtrack when you don’t know where your life is taking you, and you’re not sure you care too much about it either.

“I know I shouldn’t, Is this so wrong,
To break from your kiss, To turn up a pop song”

He can’t talk to members of the opposite sex
He starts to talk, they start to look perplexed

“When I get out of the hospital, I’m gonna be unstoppable, I’m gonna drink plenty of water and eat my greens, He’s gonna join the straight edge scene”

“When they reissue the album of your life
The bonus tracks and demos will prove you right”

“Those records aren’t for playing, those records are for e-baying.
Art Brut do not make limited edition singles.
We make too many. There is a SURPLUS.”

Art brut is a French term that translates as ‘raw art’, invented by the French artist Jean Dubuffet in 1948 to describe art such as graffiti or naïve art which is made outside the academic tradition of fine art.

“It’s the same sort of time now as it was in 2005, isn’t it? When we first started, that’s why I was angry at everything, because it was all terrible. The music in the charts was bad (but then it’s always bad), but there weren’t any guitar groups that I liked. I think if Art Brut started now we’d do alright. There’s a lot more stuff that I like now, like Parquet Courts and Fidlar – we’re not like them, but if I was in a new band now I’d like to play with them. I think we’d do just as well now. Art Brut: a band that could be reasonably successful at any time.” Eddie Argos, Loud And Quiet magazine, 2015

“I believe the song Formed A Band was the first thing they ever did as a band. They did an album which was produced by Black Francis but this is an amazing song because it just lays out all their ambitions of the band in a structural way and it is also incredibly rocking. I invite everyone to check out Art Brut’s Formed A Band. I have currently played it 570 times.” John Flansburgh, They Might Be Giants

Art Brut official website

Art Brut at Discogs

Art Brut lyrics

Art Brut (Wikipedia)

Eddie Argos (Wikipedia)

Art Brut and We Are Scientists
Group chat transcript at the Dork magazine website (April 2019)

Art Brut biography (Apple Music)

Lee Horrey is a Brit living in Milan. This is his first post on this site. He loves music, especially small gigs, and can be followed on Twitter @elhozzo3.

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