Eddie Argos, center
Eddie Argos is a music geek. Perhaps the biggest one. As the lead ranter (“singer,” he would agree, is too generous) of pop-punks Art Brut, the sharply dressed Southern Englander spits punch-line-filled metaspiels about loving and playing rock & roll. The Pixies’ Black Francis produced the band’s droll, rowdy latest, Art Brut Vs. Satan, loaded with catchy songs about catchy songs (“Twist and Shout”) and should-be-hits about shit-that-becomes-hits (“Demons Out!”). After talking with Argos, 29, for an embarrassing amount of time about his second love, comic books, we focused on his favorite lyrical topic—Art Brut.
Time Out Chicago: Your new record is mostly about pop music and collecting records. Was that a conscious theme?
Eddie Argos: No, when I write lyrics, I try and make them as conversational as possible. Like, if we were chatting in a pub, I’d be talking about how much I like the Replacements and DC comics. If I talk about these things, people who like them will approach me. I’m just trying to make friends, to be honest.
TOC: You wrote an entire song about how you’ve only just discovered the Replacements, a classic band. What the hell took you so long?
Eddie Argos: It’s really embarrassing. I learned about them off Pitchfork. I always got the Replacements and the Residents and the Rentals confused. I was like, “The Replacements is that guy from Weezer, right?” I’m an idiot.
TOC: Bizarrely, Tommy Stinson from the Replacements is now in Guns N’ Roses.
Eddie Argos: A guy who was friends with our recording engineer had been in GNR for a bit. Just one of the many, many people who’ve been in GNR. They were just recording songs all day long. Axl wasn’t even there. After every five and a half hours, someone’d pop in and say, “More of that, less of this, carry on.”
TOC: Art Brut is the antithesis. You recorded the new album in one take, right?
Eddie Argos: There’s one or two overdubs. At the end of “Am I Normal?” I blurt, “I’ve lost the ability to speak.” There were loads more lyrics, but I literally lost the ability to speak. Black Francis wouldn’t let me do it over. He said, “No, man, you can’t. You can’t replicate that.”
TOC: On “Slap Dash for No Cash,” you mock groups that try to sound like U2. Oddly, U2 tries to sound raw on its latest. Have you heard it?
Eddie Argos: I can’t avoid it. They played on the fucking roof of the BBC in London. What an odd thing to do. People are trying to get home. The last thing they need is U2 getting on the roof of a bloody building. I heard them on the radio saying the new one’s their least-produced record ever. Well, if you want an unproduced record, why would you get Brian Eno involved?
TOC: You’re a vocal fan of the BBC’s defunct Top of the Pops show. How do you reconcile your enjoyment of lip-synched pop hits and Art Brut’s punk aesthetic?
Eddie Argos: That’s the thing about pop music, isn’t it? It’s about contradicting yourself and love-hate relationships. That’s the point of it, I think. I wanted to be on Top of the Pops, but I didn’t want to be on it as a pop band. I wanted to be on it as ourselves. It would have been a victory.
TOC: You sing, “The record-buying public shouldn’t be voting.” For American Idols or government officials?
Eddie Argos: The government. If you can’t even buy good records, why should we let you choose our government? I’m not lying! I’m tired of being forgiving. People who own shit records should have their votes stripped.
Art Brut invades Schubas for five nights, Monday 8–June 12.
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