Eddie Argos on Art Brut’s return to rock'n'roll

"We were going for a Motown vibe!"

Eddie Argos, keeper of the Art Brut flame, is getting excited as he describes the poppy post-punk sound of his band’s first album in seven years. Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! is the sound of a band returning to what they do best and feeling no shame. Electric guitars form a twin attack on a bed of throbbing bass and bouncing drums, as the frontman bellows out those brilliant observations he’s become beloved for (sample: 'It’s not a game over / I got an extra life / I was born again / In a pure white light'). "It's sort of the record I was trying to make after the first album," Argos reveals. "We didn't quite succeed on It’s a Bit Complicated, but I’m more confident now and know what I want."

You can tell. Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! is the revitalised sound of a rock‘n’roll band reinvigorated and ready to play. Sure, the distinctive aural assault that turned heads from Camden to Cologne back in 2005 is present and correct, but Art Brut version 2.0 sounds like a juggernaut that will take some stopping. "I’m really proud of this record," Argos says. "It's poppy punk and that’s what I set out to do."

It’s more than that, though. First shot across the bow, Hospital! sounds like a Stranglers-esque saunter through three chords upon first listen, but go again and all is revealed: Eddie Argos nearly died before the making of the new album. "I moved to Berlin and then I nearly died with peritonitis. I was in hospital for a bit," he reveals in his trademark matter-of-fact style. "I also had a son and a relationship that broke up."

These are the massive life events, the things that happen to everyone, that inform the tale being told on Art Brut’s fifth studio album and what makes it a compelling listen. From watching hipsters eat falafel on the vital VU-stroll of Good Morning Berlin, to the harmony-drenched rock of Schwarzfahrer, and on to the, well, Art Brut of the title track. Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! is what can only be described in a cliché: a return to form.

"I think it's fun to be in Art Brut, so why would I stop?" asks Argos. It’s a good question, but one that the answer to was almost taken out of his own hands recently. "It wasn’t fun being ill, I almost died, but coming out the other side has made this record different."

Recording with folk hero Jim Moray made a difference too, as the producer has found a way to let Art Brut rock without losing their pop chops. "Jim’s a friend and it was great to work with him," says Argos. "He was a hands-on producer and always had the songs’ best interests at heart… I think we’ve made some of our best music with Jim." You can hear Moray’s contribution in the attention to detail paid to the Mick Ronson-like electric arpeggios and glistening acoustic guitars of Veronica Falls as well as on the short, sharp and clipped shocks of the angular Awkward Breakfast.

Image: Perdro Hernandez

It’s not just the music that Art Brut fans will flock to with Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!, however, the frontman’s startling sprechgesang is back and still taking on all comers. "I don't want to be the band that writes the sort of songs like, 'I don't like touring, touring is really boring,'" Argos says about the observational art rock and X-ray style of his wry lyrical couplets. "I think speaking is a more honest way of getting what I want across. And, anyway, I can't sing."

Yeah, like Lou Reed or Shaun Ryder can’t sing. Lyrics such as 'He’s gonna join the straight edge scene' (Hospital!), 'I’m not bitter and I don’t want her back / There’ll be no Rumours or Blood On the Tracks' (the brilliant album opener, Hooray) and 'A record collection split in two and you took all the band songs away with you' (the biting Britpop broadside of I Hope You’re Very Happy Together) are revealed best in the simple spit and polish of Argos' extended vowels and usually captured in "one or two takes". The singer’s delivery reveals something else, too, and that is that Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! is no break-up album. These songs are lived-in and have come out the other side.

"Yeah, my relationship broke up – but I also wrote a comic, a memoir, a musical and had a one man show since the last album came out." It’s true that Argos has, as he says, "lived a life," before returning with Art Brut and that also involved the putting together of a new band to help bring his vivid tales to life. Founding members Argos, Ian Catskilkin and Freddy Feedback are all present and correct, but the band that will tour the new record in early 2019 will also consist of Graham Coxon alumni Toby Macfarlaine and The Wedding Present drummer, Charlie Layton.

"Toby and Charlie both rock the fuck out, which is what I like," says Argos of the indie royalty now driving his band. "I've known Charlie forever and we’ve always wanted to be in a group together since we were kids. Toby plays bass for Graham Coxon, but he's in the band because he’s an amazing guitar player... and when I looked at his Twitter feed he had posted A Day in the Life of Vivian Stanshall, from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and that was perfect for us. It was like, 'he’s in.'"

Art Brut’s return comes at a time when the sort of obsessional, observational rock'n'roll they make has never been more out of fashion. Then again, it’s always been more about talking about the passion with Argos' rockers. "I always thought being in a band would fix everything in my life," he says. "It's quite addictive, really… I can't imagine ever leaving Art Brut."

That’s what it boils down to with Eddie Argos: he’s in love with music. A sound. A song. Two guitars, bass and drums. He might have fallen in love with simple chords, but the stories he sets to them are anything but simple: they’re the stuff of life. "We’re not ironic or anything," he says. "There’s real heart in what we do and we’re a fun band when we play live. Maybe that’s why we can’t stop?"

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Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! is released on 23 Nov via Alcopop! Records
Art Brut play Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, 20 Feb 2019; Stereo, Glasgow, 21 Feb 2019