Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
I made up for missing Art Brut’s show at Johnny Brenda’s back in June by seeing them this time and I’m glad I did because they were fabulous. I hadn’t seen them in over three and a half years and though their setlist hasn’t changed much (they still played tons of songs from their first album, Bang Bang Rock and Roll), they’ve grown a lot tighter as a band, playing the songs considerably faster than on record. As always, though, and as good as the songs are, at times they merely seem like a vehicle for singer EDDIE ARGOS to rant and rave about whatever’s on his mind during the breakdowns. Thus, song lengths are stretched, but it’s all in good fun as we get to hear stories about Eddie’s visit to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (appropriately enough, this was said during the song “Modern Art”). The new songs that they played from their most recent album, Art Brut vs. Satan, were fun, too, but again the set was dominated by their oldies. It’s also notable that Argos repeatedly called out openers THE SPINTO BAND and SURFER BLOOD. Clearly, he’s a fan and that’s always great to see.
And speaking of The Spinto Band, they seem like really nice people, but other than their amazing “Oh Mandy”, they don’t have any other memorable songs and tend to grate on me. Sorry.
Surfer Blood, on the other hand, were a complete revelation. Sounding like the stepchildren of THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN if they’d been locked in a room and forced to listen to a bunch of LINK WRAY and VENTURES records for hours, their too short set really impressed me. As it turns out, BILL PEARIS had recommended that I check them out back in August when they played the Mill Creek Tavern, but I ended up missing that show and now I’m kicking myself. I can’t wait to see them again and hopefully next time we’ll get to hear more than five songs or so!
