Art Brut’s Eddie Argos celebrates Bob Dylan’s birthday by covering “She Belongs to Me” with his new group Haus Band

Lis Sinatra

Art Brut's Eddie Argos has announced he's going to “begin his Bryan Ferry period” with a full album of Bob Dylan covers, not to mention “more solo stuff," via a new side project, Haus Band. The first taste of that album is their take on "She Belongs to Me," released to celebrate Bob's 80th birthday which is tomorrow, May 24.

“People seem to be surprised that I love Dylan so much,” says Argos. “I'm not sure why…? He's not just an amazing lyricist, he’s also an hilarious dude. A lo fi punk rock motherfucker that seems to do whatever he pleases, which are all qualities that I look for in new friends. I’m sure there are lots of Bob Dylan covers albums about to come out. We didn't even know it was going to be his 80th birthday when we started, so I hope ours reclaims him a bit from the AOR he sometimes gets mistaken for, and reminds people he's a lot more mischievous than that.”

You can watch the video for "She Belongs to Me" below, and the single's officially out on Bob's birthday via Alcopop / Anomic Records.

As for how Haus Band came to be, Argos didn't look far for bandmates -- they were his downstairs neighbors, Olga Karatzioti-B. and Leonard Kaage. "I heard my neighbours practicing their songs through the floor, and thought to myself ‘they sound like they need a singing partner’," Eddie says. "I'd heard them practicing Pixies the week before so I knew they were awesome dudes. We'd also been looking after each other’s cats.”

Olga says, "Whenever Leo, Eddie and I were having drinks we would talk about the idea of forming a covers house band. It just made so much sense. We all play music, live in the same house, and we were locked in that house because of COVID. Leo is a recording engineer, Eddie paints and writes, I make videos and photos, we didn't need anyone else! Eddie wanted to start with Bob Dylan as he always wanted to do a Bob Dylan covers album. It happened to be his 80th birthday this year so I thought 'OK, whatever’."

Look for the album to be released later this year, along with an Eddie Argos solo album.