Art Brut - Formed A Band (7″) Single
19/08/15
About a decade ago Eddie Argos and his ramshackle gang of artsy oddball uni graduates and mega musical marvels appeared out of nowhere. They delivered their debut LP 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' rather elegantly and began to take the world by storm. I watched them for the first time at La Route Du Rock Festival ten years ago this week and supported them many times with my old group The Valentines later on. 'Formed A Band' gave off a sarcastic and enthralling approach that the UK music circuit had been lacking in massively, so to see and hear this group down in dungeon clubs such as The Buffalo Bar in Islington was more than overwhelming to say the least. They vastly became pioneers of the Artrocker scene (one of the greatest music publications to grace the known universe). The best line in this song is "Dye your hair black, never look back". Lyrically, they nailed the hammer on the head of everything that was going on at the time; most notably Eddie's rants at gigs became an essential part of their live show. Slagging Pete Doherty's drug influence and terrible example towards that generations youth "Pete Doherty is a very bad man, keep off the crack!", also the throwing of socks onstage, the Brut started that bizarre trend along with Eddie naming every band on festival bills they were part of shouting "Top of the Pops" after he had named each group! "You Say Party, We Say Die!... Top of the Pops", utter legend. LONG LIVE ART BRUT
By Gavin Tate
for Gavin Tate's Music Journal
Below I’m pictured wrapped around Eddie Argos when my former band The Valentines performed with Art Brut at Jersey Live Festival 2005