PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Some find it helpful to position a band’s sound by comparing ingredients of it to other bands. So, if you must, take a little of the lyrical wit found in the Arctic Monkeys’ “Teddy Picker” and “Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts”, and some of The Futureheads sans the harmonies. Eddie Argos’ biting vocal presence is reminiscent of the Violent Femmes, and I might even go so far to say that what I hear in Art Brut’s April 2009 release Art Brut vs. Satan sounds like Joe Strummer on Rock Art and the X-Ray Style – of course, without all the Mescaleros and percussion. But, please, resist the urge to instinctively compare them to the The Streets. If you peel away the male lead and speak-shouting in an aggravated British accent, you’ll find a brilliance that separates Art Brut from the crude, convo-tone delivered by the previously mentioned Streets.

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This’ll be your 3rd album. How do you think this album speaks to where you all are right now, this point in your career and lives?

Eddie: I think the album is a pretty accurate portrayal of us right now. A lot of the lyrics on the other albums were about things that had happened in the past. The lyrics on this one are what Im up to right now. I love DC Comics, Public Transportation and I have just discovered The Replacements. The lyrics on the next album will all be about the future. I think the music on this album sounds the most like us. That is how we have always sounded live. We are all feeling very confident at the moment.

Frank Black is huge fan of yours and produced Art Brut vs. Satan, Frank Black is a legend – especially here in Massachusetts. How do you think this changed or enhanced your latest LP? How do you think collaborating with not just another artist, but another musical vanguard – an innovator – influenced the production of Art Brut vs. Satan?

Eddie: We decided early on we wanted to record this album, in one or two takes as much as possible for a more immediate sound. Black Francis is the expert at this style of recording. That first Catholics album was recorded in one take with no overdubs. SO just having him to agree to work with us was a massive confidence boost. When Frank Black tells you you’ve written a good song its a pretty awesome feeling. Also all the advice he gave us over the arrangements and things we should try was spot on we wouldn’t have written an 8 minute song without his encouragement and im glad we did that. Working with Frank Black was a brilliant experience.

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