Eddie Argos (born Kevin Macklin 25 October 1979) is the lead singer of English rock band Art Brut, and writer of comics.

Personal life

Born in Weymouth, England, Argos later moved to

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

as a young child, and has subsequently written about the 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!''.

Music

Argos is the lead singer of the rock band Art Brut, and sometimes plays the bass guitar in

Keith TOTP Keith Top of the Pops & His Minor UK Indie Celebrity All-Star Backing Band is a London-based indie rock band led by singer-songwriter Keith Top of the Pops (born Keith Mahony). The band was formed at an Art Brut gig in New York City in 2006, aft ...

. 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. In 2018 Argos collaborated with Berlin-based band Gurr on

Christmas song Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject m ...

s for a "Christmas Business" EP. In 2012, Argos wrote an article for DIY magazine as to why he should be the UK's 2013 entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2021, Argos announced a side project called Haus Band. Their first single, a cover of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's " She Belongs to Me" was released to celebrate Dylan's birthday.

Paintings

As well as his musical output, Argos is also an enthusiastic painter. 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".

Writing and comics

Argos writes an occasional column about comic books for PLAYBACK:stl called "Pow! To The People". He has also contributed a cover quote to the collected edition of Jamie McKelvie's ' Phonogram: The Singles Club' graphic novel. A lifelong comic book enthusiast,name="musicblog.merseyblogs.co.uk"/ 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 DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

Chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civil ...

Milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, fruit syrup, or whole fruit into a thick, sweet, cold mix ...

" referencing the legendary publishers of

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book '' Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939 ...

, Superman,

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being ...

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

and

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness ...

. The same album also had artwork designed by acclaimed graphic novelist

Jeff Lemire Jeff Lemire (; born March 21, 1976) is a Canadian comic book writer, artist, and television producer. He is the author of critically acclaimed titles including the '' Essex County Trilogy'', '' Sweet Tooth'', and ''The Nobody''. His written work i ...

. In 2010, Argos unveiled his comic book themed side project named "Spoiler Alert", whose three track EP featured songs inspired by DC Comics characters

Booster Gold Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the character first appeared in '' Booster Gold'' #1 (February 1986) and has been a member of the Justice League ...

and

Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes who appear in a number of American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939. The most recent of the companies to own rights to Blue Beetle is DC Comics, which bought the ...

. 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 Beano may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Beano, another name for the American version of Bingo, a game of chance * Beano, a character on the American television sitcom ''Out of This World'' * ''The Beano'', a British children's comic featuri ...

, 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 Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

, it blew my tiny 6-year-old mind. I loved

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

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

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". Argos has also gone on record stating "Batman is the greatest fictional character of all time. No argument". 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 Bryan Lee O'Malley (born February 21, 1979) is a Canadian cartoonist, best known for the ''Scott Pilgrim'' series. He also performs as a musician under the alias Kupek. Career Bryan Lee O'Malley attended St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary Sc ...

, Hope Larson, Jamie McKelvie, Jeffrey Brown, Jeffrey Lewis, Let's Be Friends Again, Marc Ellerby, Mikey Georgeson, 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. Argos released a book of his lyrics for Art Brut in 2013; and in 2014 a book, ''Formed A Band'' of memoirs of his time in Art Brut and his earlier bands the Art Goblins. 2015 saw the release of Argos's first full-length comic, '' Double D'', drawn by

Steven Horry Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to deat ...

and published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-o ...

Bands

* Art Brut *

The Art Goblins The Art Goblins are an English alternative rock band featuring Art Brut members Eddie Argos and Jasper "Jeff" Future. History The band was originally formed in Bournemouth in the 1990s by Argos when at sixth form college; after the initia ...

* The Black Arts *Deathfox *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! *The Donalds (all-male tribute act to the Donnas)

Discography

Art Brut

*''

Bang Bang Rock & Roll ''Bang Bang Rock & Roll'' is the debut studio album by British rock band Art Brut. It was re-released in 2006 with bonus CD. Reception ''Bang Bang Rock & Roll'' was released to highly positive reviews from music critics; on the review aggregat ...

'' (2005) *'' It's A Bit Complicated'' (2007) *'' Art Brut vs. Satan'' (2009) *'' Brilliant! Tragic!'' (2011) *''

Art Brut Top of the Pops ''Art Brut Top of the Pops'' is a compilation album by the band Art Brut. As well as a 'best of' set, the two-disc collection includes two new songs, "Arizona Bay" and "We Make Pop Music", as well as B-sides, cover versions, demos and live mater ...

'' (2013) *'' Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock out!'' (2018)

Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now!

*''Fixin' The Charts, Vol. 1'' (2010)

Spoiler Alert

*''Spoiler Alert E.P.'' (2010) (digital release only)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Argos, Eddie English rock singers 1979 births Living people People from Weymouth, Dorset 21st-century English singers