Art Brut
(w/ Birdmonster & Porterville)

Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
May 1, 2006

JP, AM, and I arrived somewhere towards the beginning of Porterville's set. They are a three-piece out of Los Angeles who play slapdash '80s music. They got several people bumping along with their dance beats and synth lines, but the whole thing came off as bullshit irony to me. Somewhere between the aviator sunglasses, the headbands, the mullet, and the singer constantly repeating "We're Guns & Roses," I lost interest. That and the Journey/Modest Mouse/Art Brut cover medley.

They were actually all really good musicians, but when you're pulling the mockery strings so hard, what's the point? It's like if they suck, they can simply call it a joke. I felt like their whole schtick was a bit of a copout.
Birdmonster came on second -- yet another quality San Francisco band that I'd never heard of. JP says that they are "putting the Springsteen back in emo." That's a good thing. These four young men get compared to Modest Mouse a lot, but I'm not really hearing it. The lust for a cheap can of beer got the best of me though, and I ended up in the alley for the tail end of their set. They are currently touring in support of their self-released album "No Midnight."

As the sweet, sweet opening chords of AC/DC's "Back in Black" hit the crowd, Eddie Argos strolled out on stage (according to AM, Argos is the name of a store in the U.K. where you have the counter person pick out what you want from a back room. Kind of like a department store set up like a Napa Auto Parts.) He strolled onto the stage and busted out with the message for the night: Form a Band! Form a band. Rock out. Every single one of you should be in a band. Playing music is the best thing ever. (I have to agree.)

We were expecting some great banter from Eddie, and we were not disappointed. He talked about how they've been to San Francisco more times in the past few months than they've been home. He introduced a tune with "This next song was commissioned by AT&T." Before nearly every song, he asked the band "Ready, Art Brut? Feeling confident? Go!" JP commented that he was the team coach. He put up finger quotes in the air when he described what he does as "singing." Before the ED-related song "Rusted Guns of Milan," he said that "one of these people [on stage] is not very good at sex." Argos is one funny, charming motherfucker.

Musically, the band isn't a juggernaut, but that's really not the point. The stand-up drummer, Mikey B, provides the propulsion and their two guitarists provide the noise and the rock, but Argos brings the show.

The highlight of the night was the performance of "Modern Art," my favorite song on the band's debut album. Argos had the whole crowd chanting the song's mantra: "Modern art/Makes me/Want to rock out!" Great stuff.
After taking a 30-second break, Art Brut came back on for their encore -- their two remaining songs from "Bang Bang Rock And Roll." "Emily Kane" is formerly sad song about a girl Argos had a crush on when he was 15. Now, according to Argos, it is a happy song, because the real-life Emily Kane heard the song and, following its instructions, contacted Argos and ended up talking about her two children and her credit card debt. The power of music. "Good Weekend" ended the set and had a sly little breakdown with this vocal chant: "Art Brut top of the pops. Comets on Fire top of the pops. Metallica top of the pops. Art Brut top of the pops. Number one in Disneyland!"

By Nate Daly

http://www.artbrut.org.uk/
http://www.birdmonster.com/
http://www.portervillerocks.com/