ART BRUT ON TOUR.

Art Brut V.S Satan is out on April 20th. So we are off on tour again. This is a very good thing as I have a booze habit I cant afford.

The first date is in my home town of Poole. The venue we are playing at used to be a pool hall. I'm terrible at pool but watching my friends play was often a lot preferable to being at sixth form. I spent a lot of time at Mr Kyps previous incarnation.

It is also a stones throw away from where Emily Kane used to live and next door to the venue where The Art Goblins played their first gig. Which with a thrill of horror I have just realised was twelve years ago.

There are also loads of charity shops.

I hardly ever go back to Poole. Im almost looking forward to it. 

The rest of the tour dates are HERE and you can buy tickets HERE

PAINTINGS FOR SALE.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I've been mad busy and consequently neglecting THIS BLOG. 

I've started a great big Bang Bang Rock and Roll painting which is probably going to take a while but I have just finished three replicas of "Moved To La" painting they are painted over two 24cm x 30cm canvases in acrylic.

I wont be making anymore they cost 110 pounds for both the canvases and if you live in Europe that includes the postage and packing.

I haven't written the address on the "postcard" yet so if you buy one let me know who you would like it addressed too.

I also have a "Formed A Band" painting left for sale.

If your interested email eddie.argos.resource@gmail.com

Ask Uncle Eddie.

Im definitely the worst person you know to ask for advice.

 Im doing THIS though so if you want some bad advice from me. Send Kate an Email.

Don't forget to put "Dear Eddie" in the heading.

Karaoke.

I don't really like singing karaoke. 

I do enjoy my friends singing it though.

I have in the past spent some very enjoyable nights with The Blood Arm, Black Wire and The Indelicates in Karaoke bars. Also my friend Ben Lee does a very good version of "Bat Out Of Hell" at Karaoke, that I actually prefer to the original.I just hate performing myself.

The main reason I don't like singing Karaoke is that Im really bad at it.

From the second I pick up the mic it all goes horribly wrong. I find it hard to sing and read at the same time so I often start in the wrong place in the song and end up singing verses over choruses or still having lyrics left once the song is finished. Also a song I might have chosen for its humorous qualities stops being funny after about thirty seconds and will ultimately end with me mumbling into a microphone slightly embarrassed for three minutes whilst everybody else in the room avoids eye contact with me (at the time and for at least a week afterwards).

This fear/hatred of karaoke is probably why Art Brut haven't attempted many covers. 

The covers we have attempted are"The Great Escape" by We Are Scientists, as a swap for them covering our song Bang Bang Rock and Roll, and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton" by The Mountain Goats. I think our Great Escape came out ok but our Mountain Goats cover was for Xfm and they decided not to play it so who knows how that one turned out. 

(Although that unplayed Mountain Goats cover did lead me to have an unpracticed attempt at that song with them in The Union Chapel last year, which afterwards looking back was loads of fun.)

Today though Art Brut have added a new cover to their Cannon. We have covered "Catch" by The Cure for a future NME CD. Im very proud of it.

We recorded it with the AMAZING super-producer Keith TOTP who we haven't recorded with for ages. It has all of his signature production sound.

In a similar way to Mark Ronson adding a brass section to all his recordings and crossing his fingers. Keith adds  "blow piano" and handclaps to most things he records. He has no need to cross his fingers though. He knows it will sound ace.

Our cover also has Ian playing the piano on it and to get in the Goth mindset we made Jasper wear a funny hat.

Hopefully its on a free CD in the next couple of weeks. Unless of course the NME  Xfm us.

Eurovision

I wasn't googling myself (for a change). Somebody sent me a link to THIS

I really was pleasantly suprised that it wasn't set up by my Mum or a member of Glam Chops.

I love Eurovision. I dont know how likely our chances of playing on it are but you never know. 

Mr Solo/The Vessel from David Devant and His Spirit Wife who is also in Glam Chops nearly won it for Spain in 2008 with his song CHIKI CHIKI

So perhaps we're in with a chance.

Friendly Americans

Americans are friendly aren't they. I really like them. They're really easy to get along with. Probably the friendliest nation in the world. I mean Keith Murray from We Are Scientists is an American and he is the friendliest and most likable man on the planet. I'd go as far to say that he is supernaturally friendly.

Sometimes though the occasional Americans friendliness can spill over and go a bit too far. On public transport for example. Some Americans just love talking to strangers on public transport.

I know its me thats in the wrong. I should be friendlier. But I like listening to music when I travel or reading and I know its really terrible but I don't like having to make the effort to be personable. I prefer just sitting with my own thoughts.

The worst is transatlantic flights as they are very very long. I've worked out how to get out of conversations on transatlantic flights though. The second somebody starts talking to me I just say to them what I imagine is the worst thing to hear at the start of a long flight.

"Im really glad you started talking to me. I was meaning to ask you, Do you know Jesus, I mean do you REALLY know Jesus? Let me tell you about him"

That normally stops them wanting to talk me. 

I had a chatty American try and start a conversation with me on the train today. It was especially frustrating as I was really enjoying listening to the new Rivers Cuomo album and having a really good game of Klondike on my Ipod.

I took my ear phones out to talk to them briefly, but I feel bad as I was clearly trying to get out of the conversation and although I looked up from game of Klondike I didn't stop playing it.

Eventually the chatty American went to sit in another carriage. When I looked up near the end of my journey I saw that the entire carriage was laughing and joking and having a good time.

I suppose the end of this story should be me realizing  that if I loosened up a little bit I'd make more friends and have a better time. As I looked into that other carriage though all I could think was "Thank Fuck, I didn't sit in there, it's full of them"

AN INTERVIEW

The best answer I have ever read to the question 

"What do you want played at your funeral?" 

is

"Ice Hockey"

Jim Bob from Carter USM said that.

I've just done an interview unfortunately that question was phrased differently

If your interested in what music I would like played at my funeral

 (just in case anything happens to me) the answer is HERE

BIFF! BANG! ALL MY TIME DEDICATED TO WRITING AN ALBUM!!

I've finally got round to writing a new Pow! To The People

It is HERE

Helen Love

I first heard Helen Love in session on Mark and Lard's radio show about eleven years ago. Mark and Lard were on quite late at night. So I used to record their show even though I was listening to it. Just in case I fell asleep. 

The first thing I did the morning after Helen Love were on was to fast forward through the tape to find the session. Helen Love were so good I thought I must have dreamed them. 

After I found out that the session was indeed real I played it over and over. It was before the internet. My local record shop didn't stock Helen Love records. So I only had that session to listen too whilst waiting for the albums. They took ages to arrive. 

Whilst waiting for those albums I taped the only three songs that I had over and over on to the same tape. As a sort of make shift album so I could walk the entire way to school listening to Helen Love on my walkman without having to fidget around with the rewind button.

I like Helen Love a lot.

If you haven't Heard Helen's music before go have a listen HERE.

Now go vote for her on Steve Lamacq's Rebel playlist HERE

Blog.

My girlfriend is trying to make me eat healthier food. 

I had to wait around for her in Whole Foods yesterday and I was bored so I started reading the ingredients on the health conscious energy drinks. 

One of the drinks claimed that its ingredients are "a healthy blend of caffeine and guarana"

I think thats a bit cheeky. Those are the same ingredients as all the other energy drinks. 

Is that how Whole Foods make their food healthier, with semantics?

Using that method Coffee is a healthy energy drink.  A healthy blend of Caffeine and Milk.

Whilst I was in Whole Foods I thought I'd try it out. So I tried to convince my girlfriend that New York Style Cheesecake is a healthy blend of Eggs, Cream Cheese, Butter, Cinnamon, Sugar  and Graham Cracker Crumbs.

It didn't work.

Blog.

I had an ace Christmas. I spent it at my girlfriends parents house in San Francisco. 

Even though I was so far away from home Father Christmas still managed to find me. 

He brought me The Audacity Of Hope by Barrack Obama and a Tea Cosy.

When I unwrapped the Tea Cosy at first I thought it was a wooly novelty hat.I think I even said thank you for the Hat. 

Being very British and therefore incredibly polite, even though I would have looked ridiculous in it.I had every intention of wearing the "hat" all day and acting as if I thought I looked great in it. 

Then as I started to take it out of the wrapping I noticed that it had a hole in one side. Instead of noticing the tea cup though and realising what it was I thought to myself

 "Is this a balaclava? are they taking the piss?" 

Once I found the other hole and eventually worked out what I was holding. I gave a very loud sigh of relief. 

I was very grateful for a tea cosy as I drink a lot of tea. As the relief from not having to wear it in public streamed across my face though. I must have looked insane with gratitude.

Dyans Parents must now think that I really really like tea cosys