EMI’s on anything but terra firma these days and as we’ve seen this past year, and now you can add Art Brut to the list of rock stars going public with their tales of label incompetence. The label has Art Brut on its back after releasing a new single for “Pump Up The Volume” without telling the band (or Christian Slater). Instead of keg standing in protest, Eddie Argos posted a complaint at Brut’s site:

Attention, the Internet!! It seems Art Brut have accidentally released a single. Yes, the rumours are true. But how could this happen, you may ask? Why were we not informed? Why was it not available in my local record shack, thrust pride of place along side the latest View recording? Well, my friends, pick up any thread of incompetence and it will usually lead you to a record company. That’s right, it seems EMI have decided to release Pump Up the Volume without informing either the band or myself, making any kind of wide scale promotion rather difficult. Adding to this curious new marketing stratagem of discouraging sales, EMI have chosen to make the song available via download only. So no luck in the record shacks either.

Hope they realize they’re in a phone commercial. Keep your bands informed, music biz! Speaking of audio/visual material, there’s a video for the tune. As Argos notes:

However, there is a video! Again, curious, as it is accompanied by what could quite possibly be the opposite of marketing but nevertheless it is available for your viewing pleasure. Recorded live for Australian television, no less.

Check the clip below. It includes more dazed girls than the Gene Simmons sex tape.

Wow, bassist Freddy Feedback gets very little face time. Maybe EMI forgot to tell them she’s in the band, too.