Before lurching into his shambolic ode to sunny weather and Hennessy sipping with Morrissey, Art Brut's Eddie Argos admitted he'd never actually been to L.A. New Jersey was loving him at the moment and the adulation had him reconsidering his move West. Yes, New Jersey was tempting: "Perhaps I'll meet the Boss, get a new pair of socks," Argos quipped.

Sadly, I don't think Eddie and his Art Brut squad will change the words of "Moving to L.A." anytime soon. Stepping outside of Maxwell's after this exceedingly entertaining show, I was greeted by a blustery, perfectly English evening of gloomy rain. But for an hour, Art Brut, ah gloriously disjointed Art Brut, provided enough sun and fun to make me forget the dreary weather.

Wednesday at Maxwell's marked Art Brut's U.S. live debut. I'm not sure what stateside audiences will think of Eddie Argos and Art Brut's decidedly British patois and lack of commercial compromise. Art Brut's sloppy, funny punk rock has not been designed for the two-headed indie rock advertising beast. "Formed a Band" will not serenade Seth Cohen or Toyota. Argos, a cross between Tony Clifton and Matt Dillon (and I mean that as a compliment), is not photogenic like Alex Kapranos or Kele Okereke. Like Andy Kaufman as Clifton, he's a brutally witty comedian in the disguise of a pudgy lounge singer. In this case, a (slightly) pudgy lounge-punk singer. All of this means I will not be surprised if Art Brut achieve no more than a cult following in the colonies.

But the cult, U.S. chapter, is on. Taking the stage around 11:30 PM last night, Art Brut launched into a note-perfect cover of AC/DC's "Back in Black", which quickly devolved into a fiery "Formed a Band". Between songs, Argos engaged the crowd with his comical banter, taking swipes at Pete Doherty and of course Bloc Party. Each song was introduced with a story and preceded by Argos saying: "OK Art Brut, let's play Emily Kane" or "Art Brut, let's do Good Weekend." It was odd, but rather charming, like Art Brut was the Super Friends with Eddie as their brave leader. "Ok Super Friends, let's get back to the invisible jet" or something like that.

If you're wondering what to expect tonight at Mercury Lounge, Friday at Northsix, and/or Saturday at Tribeca Grand, plan on hearing most of Bang, Bang Rock and Roll (they skipped "Fight" and "Stand Down"), plus a couple new tracks. To prepare you even further for the shows, here is a video clip of "Modern Art" (MPG) I filmed with my digital camera. Warning, the quality is rather poor and it's 20mb, but otherwise a nice souvenir from a memorable night.



More photos are available on Flickr