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.
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10 comments:
xfm you?
Yes. I suppose that doesnt make much sense.
Xfm didn't play our Mountain Goats cover even though we painstakingly recorded it for them, even adding a twin neck guitar.
Ive decided that to "Xfm" is to not use something Art Brut have recorded for you.
I liked your version of Je t'aime with the Last Army. Probably better than the original
Oooh, "Catch" is one of my favourite Cure songs. This may actually lead me to buy the NME (or convince one of my housemates to do it).
That Vengaboys cover caused me to get kicked of the library when I was at college on about three separate occasions. Even now, I can't watch it all the way through without pissing myself.
See you when you hit Leeds again, fella :-)
Oh bugger, so I'm gonna have to buy another copy of the NME, because of you.
I used to like it, but its all a bit SNL now.
Oh and of course, I have happily XFM'd you, with the HL song. I say I, more like her, but still...
hurrah
One time I got invited to a celebrity karaoke thing where all the drinks were free and we had our own room. I was apprehensive but the drinks were bountiful and would have been very expensive. How could I not rock the shit out of All Saints, Elton John and Kanye West classics? How many times did we do 'Ghostbusters' I hear you ask? Many I retort.
Could you get hold of and upload the MG cover?
I love when my favorite bands (Art Brut included) do covers. Damn the critics! Damn the cynics! I love covers! *cough*
I was quite thrilled when you guys covered WAS and they covered you. I hope there are more cover versions down the line for you guys. The odder the better. How about covering a song you hate, just to see if you could make it better?
Thats amazing catch is my favouristist of all the cure songs ( duh -perhaps thats why you know it so well...!!)
I started writing a book, and the line from catch is the first line of the book, spooky xxx
I should explain that vw morrison is a psuedonym you can guess who I am....;)
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