Everybody has a place in the world, and hunting for that acquaintance includes searching for that place.
The one that belongs to us and we don’t even need to “exterminate” anyone off of it.
It’s a long way to get there, of course.
Difficult, with many obstacles, basically invisible, such as being challenged either by ourselves or our environment.
But when the faith in ourselves is greater than the obstacles and we have found our destination, nothing can stop us.
Even if that destination is to form a band without having musical knowledge.
“Formed a Band” said Eddie Argos and made Art Brut.
Of course, the process wasn’t simple, as he had to find musicians.
He moved to London and went from party to party to find a musician to create a band with him, as he wanted to do.
At some point, he finds one who in turn proposes his neighbor, who plays bass, Chris Chinchilla.
Together, they roam the streets of London to find a drummer, and they succeed.
When they finally decided to record a demo and after the band was fully staffed they went into the studio.
Their producer, Keith Top of the Pops, as soon as he heard Eddie Argos‘s voice, asked him if his voice was missing and if he wanted a glass of water.
He hadn’t heard it before, so this was the first hearing of Art Brut‘s frontman’s voice.
Having no lyrics and improvising at the time, he thought of replying to Keith’s producer and friend: “This is my singing voice, it’s not irony, it’s not Rock & Roll.“
The song
The song tells of their ambitions as a band. Essentially, as frontman Kevin Macklin tells us, the message of the song is unity.
As a general concept, but more specifically, something that the verse “That makes Israel and Palestine get along” reveals.
In terms of the music, creating the whole band, Eddie improvised the lyrics, as I mentioned earlier.
The single was released in March 2004 via Rough Trade Records.
Earlier, in November 2003, it was released by Angular Records, but in a different performance.
It was later released in a collection of “Art Brut Top of the Pops” and with the designation as “Formed a Band” (Early Keith Top of the Pops Version), that is, in its original form.
The song was also used in the video game “FIFA Street 2” and the “Lewis” and “Inspector Morse” series.
At the same time, it was included in the list of the best punk songs in the “Pitchfork 500“.
They Might Be Giants singer John Flansburgh ranks the song in the top 10 of “countless fanciful lyrical turns“.