Frank Black & Art Brut

Frank Black, "Headache" (4AD, 1994)

Produced by Frank Black over twelve days last December, Art Brut's new album Art Brut vs. Satan (Cooking Vinyl) will be released April 20th. The band plays NYC's Mercury Lounge June 1st-3rd.

"I love the first Frank Black And The Catholics album" explains Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos. "He did that in one day. It made me think-that's how I want records to be made. So we came to the conclusion, let's ask Frank Black to produce it, and do it like that"

To the band's surprise, Black -a fervent fan- said yes. Accordingly, the band found themselves packing their bags and heading for Wavelength Studios in Oregon last December.

Eddie: "The studio Frank uses is in Salem. It's in the middle of nowhere. We were staying by the motorway, and he'd pick us up in his car every day. We'd do eight hour days then back to the hotel. We did the whole thing in twelve days. It was very simple."

With the band set up in one big room, their amps in the kitchen and Eddie singing his vocals in a cupboard ("It was ok, I had drinks in there") they set about exorcising the demons of the previous two years. "I had an album's worth of songs written, but once we got there we wrote four or five new ones. It all just flooded out." [Art Brut]