Anthony J Brown provided lyrics for Lord Of The Lost's Blood & Glitter

When Eurovision comes to Liverpool next week, British comedian Anthony J Brown will be rooting for the Germans – and that’s because he helped write their entry.

The Sheffield-based stand-up – a BBC New Comedy runner-up more than 20 years ago – has been writing for Hamburg rock band Lord Of The Lost since 2015.

And in March the band and their track Blood & Glitter, with its English lyrics co-written by Brown, were selected to represent Germany at Eurovision thanks to a strong public vote.

The track has been described as a mix between rock, metal, glam, wave and pop and features the chorus ‘Blood and glitter, sweet and bitter / We’re so happy we could die / Blood and glitter, saint and sinner / We do fall before we rise.’

Brown, who also runs a number of stand-up gigs in Yorkshire, says his comedy background helps him as a lyricist.

He told Chortle: ‘My stand-up principally consists of succinct, stand-alone gags and for me, creating lyrics is a very similar discipline. There’s no standing room for the extraneous, everything has to be distilled down to its essence for maximum potency.

‘And when appropriate for the song, Chris Harms – their lead singer, chief songwriter and all-round figurehead – has a penchant for darkly comedic verse, which is inevitably very much up my strasse. If it makes him laugh, I know that we are on to a winner.’

Harms founded Lord Of The Lost in 2007, initially releasing songs on MySpace. They supported Iron Maiden on their tours of Europe this year and last while their latest album, also called Blood & Glitter, was released in December. It topped the German charts – becoming their fourth release to make the top 10.

Anthony J Brown with Lord Of The Lost

Brown said: ‘The band have a jaw-droppingly dedicated fanbase, which I’ve witnessed myself a dozen or so times at shows of theirs, from Budapest to Wolverhampton.

‘In a beautifully bizarre turn of events, there are currently ten people who bestride this earth with words I have written tattooed on themselves. Which is an honour I could never have anticipated. Conversely I’m fairly sure that nobody has any jokes of mine etched on their flesh. Despite a lot of them being concise enough to minimise the amount of pain.’

Brown is also in a Sheffield based acoustic group called Hungarian Lantern and  spoken word-electro duo called Dreadpan. whose next single will be entitled Some Births Aren’t Worth The Bother.

He got into the German music scene via a musician friend called Robert Klausch, who asked him to write for Berlin groups, The Whispering Sea and Scream Silence.

‘Scream Silence’s album Heartburnt reached No 1 on the German alternative charts in 2015, which would have been enough of a quirky little triumph to have never penned another couplet again,’ Brown said. But then he was introduced to Harms and they hit it off.

‘We discovered we had very compatible sensibilities,’ the comedian said. ‘Plus he’s a wonderfully witty fellow.’

He has now collaborated on more than 60 Lord Of The Lost songs, plus more than 100 tracks for other artists, saying: ‘I primarily write lyrics, but have also composed both music and texts for some acts.'

As for Germany’s chances in Liverpool, Brown is remaining circumspect – which may be wise as bookmakers Paddy Power currently have them at 150-1 wild outsiders to lift the Eurovision trophy.

‘This is the first time Germany has chosen a "heavy" song so it will be intriguing to see how it is received,’ Brown said. ‘They are a visceral live spectacle, the visual and aural equivalent of a Bunsen burner shoved up the trouser leg, so I eagerly await the sensation of being in the auditorium when they perform. I’ll be horripilation incarnate. 

‘Ultimately it’s a massive accolade to be involved and anything that manifests beyond that privilege on the scoreboard is a ruddy bonus.’

Here's the track:

Published: 4 May 2023