Art Brut with We Are Scientists and the Spinto Band
Oct. 11 at the Granada
LAWRENCE -- He can't sing. Can't play a musical instrument. And with his floppy hair and rumpled shirt and tie that gets sweat-soaked and untucked by the second song, he looks a bit like the motley black sheep cousin you don't want showing up at Thanksgiving dinner.
Eddie Argos should be the epitome of the anti-rock star. But he might just be the most dynamic and charismatic front man in rock music today. On Oct. 11, he took the stage at the Granada with his British punk quintet Art Brut and showed a small-but-enthusiastic crowd of about 200 why.
Argos is a true believer. He grew up in London listening to the radio hits show "Top of the Pops" and dreamed of someday landing a song on that show. He didn't quite make that _ it's no longer on the air _ but the show pops up often during an Art Brut set.
Argos believes that being in a band and making music is an important endeavor that can change the world. When he walks _ make that lumbers _ out on stage, he performs as if his life depended on that credo.
That became apparent early, during the band's first two songs. As the rest of the band _ guitarists Jasper Future and Ian Catskilkin, bassist Freddy Feedback and dummer Mikey B _ doodled through a few riffs of AC/DC's "Back in Black" as an intro, Argos and Co. then introduced themselves with "Formed A Band," the leadoff song from their debut CD, "Bang Bang Rock & Roll."
Look at us! We formed a band! Argos shouted (as he does most of his lyrics).
He paused near the end of "Bad Weekend" to encourage every soul in his audience to leave at the end of the evening and go form a band. "If you don't, I'll beat your heads in," he said, then chuckled. "Not really, but I'll be extremely disappointed."
Most of the one-hour set came from "Bang Bang Rock & Roll," including crowd-pleasers like "Emily Kane," an ode to a former girlfriend; "Rusted Guns of Milan," a song about bad sex; and "Modern Art," in which Argos jumped up and down and ran through the audience screaming, "Modern art makes me want to rock out!"
Art Brut also sprinkled in a few new songs planned for an upcoming album. "Nag Nag Nag Nag" was especially catchy.
They ended their set with their hit, -- No. 1 in every country that didn't have "Top of the Pops," Argos said _ "Good Weekend." That song included a few bars of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" mixed in and ended, appropriately, with Argos leading the crowd in the repeated refrain: "Art Brut , Top of the Pops." Why Not?
Art Brut actually opened on this night for We Are Scientists, a California trio who concluded the night with a powerful set of songs, most coming off their most recent release, With Love and Squalor.
Bob Luder, The Kansas City Star
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