It has been more than 7 years since Art Brut‘s last album and tour and now the post-punk band are back with a run of club shows in support of their new album, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!
Art Brut didn’t quite fit into the mid-00’s indie scene that they appeared to be a part of. They were louder and more abrasive than Editors or Maximo Park, didn’t have the radio sing-a-longs of Kaiser Chiefs or Franz Ferdinand and weren’t experimenting with dance music like Klaxons or Bloc Party. As a result, they never quite scaled the commercial heights of those other groups and always remained something of a “cult band” – something referenced in one of tonight’s not-quite-tongue-in-cheek new songs, Kultfigur.
Like many cult bands, Art Brut‘s audience is small but loyal and so tonight’s show is completely sold out as are most of the other dates on this tour. The crowd is mostly made up of those who would have been in their 20s when Art Brut‘s 2005 debut Bang Bang Rock & Roll was released and front-man, Eddie Argos, frequently jokes about this throughout the set. In opening banger Formed A Band, Art Brut are no longer talking to “the kids” but to “people in their mid to late 30s”. This is the first of many lyric changes or comments about how things have changed since Art Brut were last in town.
With a slightly different lineup tonight, Art Brut immediately tear into two of their most popular singles Formed A Band and My Little Brother. Loud, energetic and just the right amount of scrappy, they sound as good as they did a decade ago. The audience may be a little older now but these opening songs are an instant reminder of just how good and underrated Art Brut are and so this Saturday night crowd are moving and shouting along to every word from the outset.
This is more than an exercise in nostalgia, however, as Art Brut have recently put out a very good new record which is as strong as their earlier material. The next two songs – She Kissed Me (and It Felt Like A Hit) and Hospital! – are taken from that album. Many in the crowd are already familiar with these and those who aren’t are instantly on board. These songs are Art Brut doing what they have always done and doing it well; the lyrics are direct, personal and funny and it’s not always clear where the autobiographical parts end and the jokes begin. If you like Art Brut’s old stuff then you’ll like the new stuff.
Eddie Argos remains charismatic and engaging and, for our money, one of the great front-men of the 00’s. He’s still commanding the band (“Ready Art Brut?”) and audience (“when I count to 300, everybody jump“) and everybody complies because he’s just so damn likeable. He climbs into the crowd for Modern Art and takes much delight from “making people in their mid to late 30s crouch on the floor”. He talks about change – in My Little Brother, the brother is now making a YouTube playlist rather than a mixtape, his real-life “out of control” brother is now a 38-year-old teacher with a beach house, Morrissey is now “a racist” and “shouty music is in fashion”.
This last point is important. Art Brut’s post-punk style of music didn’t quite fit onto the radio playlists more than a decade ago and Eddie‘s sprechgesang style of singing wasn’t always understood. In tonight’s show, it becomes clear that their music has actually aged a lot better than many of their mid-00’s supposed comrades. Both the new and old material, Eddie‘s delivery and the band’s style fit right at home amongst Shame, Fontaines DC, Slaves, Sleaford Mods and, of course, Idles. Art Brut know this and Eddie jokes about it – his Mum tells him that his band’s musical style is in fashion now and he comments that Idles are Art Brut if “they were socially conscious pirates” (a joke that, fortunately, goes down quite well in Idles’ hometown.) If you’re into any of these bands and you missed out on Art Brut then go and catch them on tour if you can. We can’t help but think that Art Brut just came out at the wrong time and would be far more commercially successful now.
Like Eddie says, however, “it’s not about making the audience bigger” and Art Brut seem happy to be playing to a capacity crowd of people who are really into the music. The crowd respond to lesser-known tracks such as Arizona Bay andThese Animal Menswear with as much enthusiasm as the big-hitters like the top 40 hit Emily Kane. The main set concludes with the title track from their latest LP and is greeted like one of their classics causing the night’s biggest moshpit.
The long-standing chant of “ART! BRUT! TOP OF THE POPS!” fills the room and the band joyfully return for 4 more songs from 4 different albums.
Perhaps if enough of us shout it loud enough, this brilliant cult band will get the attention and festival crowds that they’ve long deserved.
ART! BRUT! TOP OF THE POPS!
