Surprises are the best, and music surprises are even better. Our week was brightened with the news that Berlin-based band Art Brut have returned after seven long years away.
They’ve released their first new material since 2011’s “Brilliant! Tragic!” in the form of new single “Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!”
It’s a helluva comeback and is just what we would have hoped from the band.
Opening with Eddie Argos proclaiming “I’m just looking for a party”, the rest of the song goes on to explore typical house parties that we all remember fondly.
In a press release, Eddie tells us “This song is about making friends. Art Brut are coming to your party whether you want us to or not. We didn’t want to go home yet, there were still quite a few people we hadn’t met. See you soon”
There have been a few changes to the band, firstly they’ve signed to independent record label Alcopop! Records (home of Johnny Foreigner & Fight Like Apes).
Commenting on the signing, the label’s head honcho Jack Clothier stated “A few years into running Alcopop! I created a little wishlist in my mind of the absolute top five dream bands who I’d love to sign most of all. Legitimately we expected to sign none of them, but, lo and behold, Art Brut are the fourth on the list to sign with us, and we couldn’t be more excited. This new material is undeniably their best yet, and it’s exactly what the world needs right now if you ask me.”
The band’s line-up has also changed as original members Jasper Future and Mikey Breye have departed while Toby Macfarlaine takes over on guitar and Charlie Layton joins on drums. They fill out the line-up alongside original members Eddie Argos, Ian Catskilkin and Freddy Feedback.
“I’ve known Charlie forever,” Argos explains. “He’s also the drummer for The Wedding Present but we always wanted to be in a band together since we were kids. Now it’s been about 25 years of knowing each other, he’s finally in our group. Toby plays bass for Graham Coxon normally but he’s just in the band cos I love him. Ian found him and I looked at his Twitter feed to see what he was about, and he’d posted ‘A Day in the Life of Vivian Stanshall” from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band. I was like “yeah perfect! he’s in!”
