Eddie Argos
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| Eddie Argos | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kevin Macklin |
| Also known as | Eddie Argos |
| Born | 25 October 1979 Portland, Dorset |
| Genres | Post-punk, alternative rock, spoken word |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, musician, artist, writer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Associated acts | Glam Chops, Everybody Was In The French Resistance ... Now, Art Goblins, Art Naif |
Eddie Argos (born Kevin Macklin[1] 25 October 1979) is the lead singer of English rock band Art Brut, born in Weymouth, England. He later moved to Poole, Dorset as a young child, and has subsequently written about the Martin Kemp-Welch School there (now St Aldhelm's Academy), in the song Martin Kemp-Welch Five A Side Football Rules from the album Brilliant! Tragic!. He lives in Berlin.
Argos is infamous for his zany stage show, where he has played the vacuum, skipped with his microphone wire,[2] escaped from a sack, danced with the audience and stopped songs halfway through to tell the audience his thoughts on various topics. Argos is also known for his humorous, frank lyrics which talk mostly about his family, how he has embarrassed himself or his past love interests.
According to an interview with Artrocker magazine and the lyrics of 'I Found This Song In The Road',[3] he usually writes them (often on his phone) whilst going for a long walk and/or drunk.
Eddie sometimes plays the bass guitar in Keith TOTP (And His Minor UK Indie Celebrity Allstar Backing Band).
In March 2010 Argos complained that his Wikipedia entry was full of misinformation regarding his interests.[4]
Argos is also the lead singer of the project Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now!, in which he and multi-instrumentalist Dyan Valdes of The Blood Arm write musical responses to pop songs. Their album "Fixin' the Charts, Volume 1" was recorded in Joshua Tree in summer 2008.
In June 2011, Eddie appeared as guest vocalist on Akira The Don's "Living In The Future" single.[5]
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[edit] Paintings
As well as his musical output, Argos is also an enthusiastic painter. Notably, he painted the front cover of Art Brut's debut single, Formed a Band.[6] According to Argos, the cover represents a fictional demo tape. Argos says, 'Art Bruts first ever recordings, our demos that were intended to be free on our website, became our first single. I've always been proud of the fact the front cover was of a fictional demo tape that I had imagined was in a charity shop in Poole waiting to be picked up by somebody like me'.[7] Argos also painted the cover for the 'Spoiler Alert' E.P, one of his many side projects.[8]
His paintings frequently (though not exclusively) make references to Art Brut songs; he has created images for Art Brut songs 'Clever, Clever Jazz', 'St.Pauli' and 'Formed A Band' for example. On his blog, he has said that he intends to 'paint a picture for every song that I've ever written and will ever write'.[9] These pictures are sold online, through the Eddie Argos blog resource [10] and The Eddie Argos Shop. When touring, Argos frequently creates individual postcard themed paintings, commemorating each show on the tour.[11][12] These paintings are also sold online but can also be purchased at shows.
Argos explained his love of painting to Skyscraper Magazine: "I really enjoy painting. I love painting great big thick black lines of acrylic paint on canvas. I don’t paint very complicated things, just simple images and words really. Nothing ever comes out the way I intend it to, probably because of my Dyspraxia, so I’m always surprised at how they turn out".[13]
[edit] Writing & Comics
Argos writes an occasional column about comic books for http://www.playbackstl.com/ called "Pow! To The People".[14] He has also contributed a cover quote to the collected edition of Jamie McKelvie's 'Phonogram: The Singles Club' graphic novel.[15]
A life long comic book enthusiast,[16] Eddie's passion for comic books has already crossed over into Art Brut's music and art work, with Art Brut vs Satan's "DC Comics & Chocolate Milkshake referencing the legendary publishers of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice League and Green Lantern. The same album also had artwork designed by acclaimed graphic novelist Jeff Lemire. In 2010, Argos unveiled his comic book themed side project named "Spoiler Alert",[17] whose three track EP featured songs inspired by DC Comics characters Batman, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle.[18] Art Brut's 2011 album, Brilliant! Tragic! was created by acclaimed comic book artist Jamie McKelvie.
"I can remember the first comic I ever read" Argos said, "it was the Beano, the day I had my tonsils out. I was given it as a treat as I couldn't eat anything. It might have been the only time I've turned down Ice Cream, it blew my tiny 6 year old mind. I loved comic books growing up but always had a fear they might be something I would have to give up as an adult. Then one day somebody, I still don't know who, put some Batman comics through our letter box. These blew my tiny 11 year old mind. They were pretty full on, nothing at all like the Adam West goofing around show I had seen Saturday morning television. In these stories people were being murdered, they were political, and morally ambiguous. If my mum had known how different they were from the Saturday morning kids show she would have taken them off of me. I loved them though and realised then that they were something that would stay with me into adult life and have spent all my money on comics ever since".[19] Argos has also gone on record stating "Batman is the greatest fictional character of all time. No argument".[20]
To accompany the album Brilliant! Tragic!, Art Brut commissioned a comic book to be released simultaneously. The Brilliant! Tragic! comic book features artwork by a range of artists, including Akira The Don, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Hope Larson, Jamie McKelvie, Jeffrey Brown, Jeffrey Lewis, Let's Be Friends Again, Marc Ellerby, Mr Solo, Sian Superman and Patrick McQuade. Eddie Argos was "over the moon and incredibly flattered that these artists took time out to work" on the comic.[21]
[edit] Bands
- Art Brut
- The Art Goblins
- The Black Arts
- The English Travelling Wilburys
- Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now!
- Art Naif
- Future and the Boy
- Glam Chops (formerly known as Paranoid Dog Bark)
- Spoiler Alert!
[edit] Discography
[edit] Art Brut
- Bang Bang Rock & Roll (2005)
- It's A Bit Complicated (2007)
- Art Brut vs Satan (2009)
- Brilliant! Tragic! (2011)
[edit] Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now!
- Fixin' The Charts, Vol. 1 (2010)
[edit] Spoiler Alert
- Spoiler Alert E.P. (2010) (digital release only)
[edit] References
- ^ "Gospel Singing". Eddie Argos on Blogger. http://the-eddie-argos-resource.blogspot.com/2009/03/gospel-singing.html. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
- ^ "Eddie Argos Jump Ropes". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dGLd1TbCW4. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
- ^ "Lyrics". Songmeanings.co.uk. http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858636544. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
- ^ http://twitter.com/EddieArgos/status/10078784841
- ^ http://www.akirathedon.com/?p=23770
- ^ http://fuck-rock-lets-art.blogspot.com/2008/10/formed-band.html
- ^ http://fuck-rock-lets-art.blogspot.com/2008/10/formed-band.html
- ^ http://the-eddie-argos-resource.blogspot.com/p/eddie-argos-shop.html
- ^ http://fuck-rock-lets-art.blogspot.com/2008/10/formed-band.html
- ^ http://the-eddie-argos-resource.blogspot.com/2008/03/paintings-for-sale.html
- ^ http://the-eddie-argos-resource.blogspot.com/2011/05/european-shows-postcards.html
- ^ http://the-eddie-argos-resource.blogspot.com/2011/05/great-escape-brighton.html
- ^ http://www.skyscrapermagazine.com/columns/favorite-things-art-brut
- ^ Kevin Macklin. "Pow! to the People". http://www.playbackstl.com/features/10336-pow-to-the-people-021411--digital-downloads.
- ^ http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/04/jamie-mckelvie-art-brut-album-cover-kieron-gillen/
- ^ name="musicblog.merseyblogs.co.uk"/
- ^ "Spoiler Alert!". http://the-eddie-argos-resource.blogspot.com/2010/08/spoiler-alert.html. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
- ^ "Art Brut release comic as companion to new album Brilliant Tragic". http://corporaterecords.co.uk/artists/Spoiler+Alert!. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ name="musicblog.merseyblogs.co.uk"/
- ^ http://www.skyscrapermagazine.com/columns/favorite-things-art-brut
- ^ name="Brilliant! Tragic! The Comic Book"
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