Arab Strap (band)

Arab Strap
Origin	Falkirk, Scotland
Genres	Slowcore, indie rock, alternative rock
Years active	1995–2006; 2011, 2016-present
Labels	Chemikal Underground
Associated acts	Mogwai L. Pierre Malcolm Middleton
Website	http://arabstrap.scot
Members	Aidan Moffat Malcolm Middleton

Arab Strap are a Scottish indie rock band whose core members are Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, and split in 2006. As indicated by the title of Belle & Sebastian's third record, The Boy with the Arab Strap, and by Aidan Moffat's involvement in the two Reindeer Section albums, they were a central part of Glasgow's influential late 1990s music scene.

Vocalist Aidan Moffat and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Middleton grew up in Falkirk, and bonded over their mutual love for Drag City recording artists such as Smog and Will Oldham (who at the time recorded under the name Palace Brothers). They began collaborating in 1995, and their debut album, The Week Never Starts Round Here, was released the following year. At this point Gary Miller and David Gow joined the band and became the rhythm section, creating a more dynamic live experience when the band started touring.

Over the course of their ten-year existence, Arab Strap worked with a numerous musicians, including Jenny Reeve and Stacey Sievewright, as well as Adele Bethel, who went on to form Sons and Daughters. Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian featured on the album Philophobia, but the Belle & Sebastian album/song "The Boy with the Arab Strap" would later create something of a feud between the two singers.

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