DiMattiaFilms: We Are The Spinto Bruts

On Monday night, I was witness to four hours of the most energetic rock-n-roll ever to hit the small town of Carrboro, North Carolina. The Cat's Cradle was already abuzz with the sounds of The Spinto Band when my friends and I entered the venue. Yeah, we were a little late. Sorry, Spinto Band! But we did show up just in time to hear them piledrive through their debut album, Nice and Nicely Done, including an exceptionally rocking live version of their hit song, "Oh Mandy," whose brilliant Jon Watts-directed video can be viewed here.

Then it was time for Art Brut, the muthafuckin' band I muthafuckin' came to see! They were in fine form, too. Blasting onto the stage with a brief cover of "Back in Black" before jumping right into their ubiquitous hit single, "Formed a Band." It didn't take long for their energy to reach its breaking point, as lead singer Eddie Argos finally gave into crowd demand and jumped into the audience during a particularly ear-bleeding version of "Modern Art." The antics continued as Argos started jumping-rope with the microphone chord, all the while guitarist Jasper Future is shredding away to the tune of "These Animal Menswe@r." Other highlights included the four new songs, my fav being the surprisingly melodic "Nag Nag Nag Nag"; Argos' monologue in the middle of "Emily Kane" (my fav Art Brut song), in which he says "If Jay-Z were here, he would be telling me, 'Eddie, you got 99 problems. Don't make the bitch one of 'em.' And I would say, 'Jay-Z, I don't appreciate your misogynistic attitude towards women'"; and finally, a madcap call-and-response in the middle of their final song, "Good Weekend," that went as follows...

Eddie: Art Brut!
Audience: TOP OF THE POPS!
Eddie: The Spinto Band!
Audience: TOP OF THE POPS!
Eddie: We Are Scientists!
Audience: TOP OF THE POPS!

While I am not well-versed in the catalogue of the night's main course, We Are Scientists, I had heard their latest LP, With Love and Squalor, so I at least knew a couple songs. However, at no point during WAS's hour-long set did I feel left out of the action. The band was so into it and the audience happily followed as WAS pummeled their way through Love and Squalor highlights like "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt," "The Scene is Dead," and "Cash Cow." Their banter was hilarious, too, which is rare for most of the bands I've seen this year (with the exception of the eels' set, but theirs was most-certainly planned out). Stories ranged from why Chris Cain's bass is wireless and lead singer Keith Murray's guitar is not (answer: Keith "didn't qualify" for a wireless), when Keith expected Chris to fall off the stage 'cause he forgot to tie his shoelaces (answer: three-and-a-half minutes), and a shameless plug for their new "What Would We Are Scientists Do?" wristbands (WWWASD?, of course). The absolute highlight of their set, as well as the highlight of the evening, was when they performed the sole cover of the night, a heart-stopping rendition of The Ronettes' "Be My Baby."

Another interesting thing of note was that Art Brut leader Eddie Argos was standing in the audience for the majority of WAS's set, and jumped onto the stage, along with Jasper Future, to join in on "The Great Escape," the last song of the evening. All in all, a kickass night of damn straight indie rock. And in the end, isn't it all that matters?

I had a photograph of Art Brut's setlist, but my cameraphone refuses to let me upload it to my computer. So, here's the lo-fi, text only version: