ARAB STRAP
DESPITE THE DESCRIPTION
OF THEM AS ‘ARCH MISERABLISTS’ MOFFAT AND MIDDLETON
ARE ACTUALLY FAR CLOSER TO BEING
IN CURABLE ROMANTICS
going their separate ways. the same reporter. Brian Donaldson. looks back over a decade of magical musical miserablism.
being incurable romantics. .
The myths and controversies surrounding . Arab Strap, particularly in the first half of their lifespan, are wildly entertaining. The fine burghers of Falkirk council took great exception to the band’s lyrical content with its grim imagery and seedy lifestyle choices Which were deemed to reflect poorly on their birthplace. Provost Alex Fowler railed: ‘These people are a disgrace to Falkirk and everything they say about our town is wrong.’ The Daily Record ran with this ‘story’ and for a moment, it seemed the pair would be chased out of their hometown by hordes of vigilantes armed with pitchforks. The hellraiser motif was barely erased by stories of chairs being thrown around at London gigs while Malcolm went out with Lauren Laverne, the pop pixie from Kenickie.
There was a brief inter-indie spat with Belle and Sebastian when they called one album The Boy with the Arab Strap, which alluded to an ex-girlfriend of Aidan. In 1998, Aidan’s then girlfriend was the cover star of Phi/ophobia, painted completely naked. Aidan himself appears on the back, similarly non-attired and sketched. A huge poster of this image welcomes you into the offices of
Chemikal Underground. Perhaps most intriguingly, while they sang approvingly of Kate Moss on their debut album, it was Danish Ubermodel Helena Christensen who took a shine to them, leading to The Face coming up with the notion of bringing them together in a room and taking some photos. Claire Danes was rumoured to be another unlikely devotee.
But now that it’s over, bar the shouting at those final farewell gigs, what is their legacy? Well, they helped spawn Sons and Daughters with half of that band (David Cow and Adele Bethel) being regular Strap contributors and it could be argued that The Streets’ urban hymns of bad trips and worse relationships owe as much to Arab Strap as they do to Dizzee Rascal. While they may never have worried the business end of the singles chart, critical acclaim was never in short supply.
Certainly, they will go down as having some of the most audacious opening lines to albums in living memory. Phi/ophobia starts with: ‘It was the biggest cock you’d ever seen/But you’ve no idea where that cock has been’, while The Last Romance kicks off with ‘Burn these sheets that we’ve
just fucked in/My weekend beacon, I’ve ‘ been sucked in.’ But as harsh (and, dare it be whispered, ‘miserablist’) as some of the sentiments might have been, many will remember the humour and the warmth. For every ‘And the room stinks of poppersz he bog’s full of bile’ there’s an ‘I see cherubs swarm around the bed/And swooping down to kiss your head.’ And each: ‘I said with me around she’d never come to harm/And then she took a fork and stabbed herself in the arm’ can be countered with: ‘Not everything must end, not every romance must descend/Not every lover’s pact decays, not every sad mistake replays.’
Splitting now will allow them to avoid making some sad mistakes. Maybe Aidan and Malcolm always knew this moment would come, with solo projects already having produced quality goods. It leaves many bereft but believing that if the likes of the Pixies and the Pistols can manufacture reunions, maybe some day the Strap will return. It’ll be some party when they do.
Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Fri 1 Dec; ABC, Glasgow, Mon 4 Dec. The Last Romance and Ten Years of Years are out now.
30 Nov—14 Dec 2006 THE LIST 15