Arctic Monkeys

CONTENTS WHO ARE ARCTIC MONKEYS? .................................................................... 3 HISTORY ............................................................................................................ 5 CURRENT MEMBERS ...................................................................................... 9 FORMER MEMBERS ........................................................................................ 19 DISCOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 23 WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT’S WHAT I’M NOT ........ 25 FAVOURITE WORST NIGHTMARE ................................................ 27 HAMBUG ............................................................................................. 29 SUCK IT AND SEE ............................................................................. 31

WHO ARE ARCTIC MONKEYS?

ARCTIC MONKEYS ARE...

AN ENGLISH ROCK BAND, FORMED IN 2002 IN HIGH GREEN, A SUBURB OF SHEFFIELD

THE HISTORY

OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

HISTORY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS The band began rehearsing at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, and played their first gig on 13 June 2003 at The Grapes in Sheffield city-centre. After a few performances in 2003, the band began to record demos at 2fly studios in Sheffield. 17 songs were demoed in all and the collection, now known as Beneath the Boardwalk, was burned on to CDs to give away at gigs, which were promptly file-shared amongst fans. The name Beneath the Boardwalk originated when the first batch of demos were sent around. The first sender, wanting to classify the demos, named them after where he received them, the Boardwalk. Slowly, as more demos were spread, they were all classified under this name. This has led to many people falsely believing that Beneath the Boardwalk was an early album, or that the early demos were all released under this heading. The group did not mind the distribution, saying “we never made those demos to make money or anything. We were giving them away free anyway - that was a better way for people to hear them.”, admitting that they did not even know how to get their songs onto the Internet. When asked about the popularity of the band’s MySpace site in an interview with Prefix Magazine, the band said that they were unaware what it was, and that the site had originally been created by their fans.

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HISTORY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS The band began to grow in popularity across the north of England, receiving attention from BBC Radio and the British tabloid press. A local amateur photographer, Mark Bull, filmed the band’s performances and made the music video “Fake Tales of San Francisco”, releasing it on his website, alongside the contents of Beneath the Boardwalk - a collection of the band’s songs which he named after a local music venue. In May 2005, Arctic Monkeys released their first single, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys on their own ‘Bang Bang’ label, featuring the songs “Fake Tales of San Francisco” and “From the Ritz to the Rubble”. This release was limited to 500 CDs and 1,000 7” records, but was also available to download from the iTunes Music Store. Soon after, the band played at the Carling Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, reserved for less known or unsigned bands. Their appearance was hyped by much of the music press and the band was watched by an unusually large crowd.

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CURRENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

1. ALEX TURNER Birth Name: Born:

Alexander David Turner 6 January 1986

Occupations: Instruments:

High Green, Sheffield, England Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion

Associated Acts:

Arctic Monkeys, The Last Shadow Puppets, Miles Kane, Revered and The Makers, Queens of the Stone Age Domino

Label:

Alexander David Turner is the only child of Penny and David Turner, who taught German and music respectively at Sheffield secondary schools. He was raised in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. He attended Stocksbridge High School in Sheffield (1997–2002) and was later remembered by his English teacher, Steve Baker, as “someone unconventional, a little bit different, with a brightness and a cleverness that would serve him well. He had a very original sense of humour. Alex was never particularly vocal, but you could sense when some pieces of poetry moved him”.

Turner spent most of his teenage years listening to rap artists such as Roots Manuva. His attentions later turned to guitar music following the breakthrough of The Strokes and The Libertines. Turner’s parents bought him his first guitar for Christmas 2001. During university years he worked as a barman at the Sheffield venue, The Boardwalk. Turner has since said that, had Arctic Monkeys not become successful, he would have studied English at Manchester University.

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

2. MATT HELDERS Birth Name: Born:

Mattew Helders 7 May 1986

Occupations:

Musician, DJ

Instruments: Associated Acts:

Drums, vocals, keyboards, turntables Arctic Monkeys, Mongrel, Diddy Dirty-Money, The Bot

Label:

Domino

Helders has said that he ended up playing drums as “that was the only thing left. When we started the band none of us played anything. We just put it together. They all had guitars and I bought a drum kit after a bit.” However, Helders has mentioned the influence rap music has had on the band, saying “We were rap fans at school more than now... it still influences us in some ways; like for me, it’s the drummin’. The groove element, like foon-keh music.” In addition, Helders cites seeing Queens of the Stone Age as the biggest influence on his development as a drummer, saying “the one thing that changed me the most was seeing Queens of the Stone Age live at a festival last year... as soon as they came off I was like - “Fuck, I need to start hitting harder.” Helders also explained the band’s insistence on singing in their native Sheffield accent, saying, “when you talk between the songs at a gig and you’re speakin’ English in our normal accent, it seems a bit strange when you burst into song like you’re from California or something...it looks a bit daft.”

In a similar fashion to other members of the band, Helders has remained true to his hometown roots, suggesting that seeing places all over the world makes him more appreciative of Sheffield, which still provides the basis for the band’s lyrics. “And all around you, there’s still plenty of things to write about. Touring lets you see a lot of places that you realise you wouldn’t want to live in...and when you come home, it’s pretty easy to slip into your old ways, to all the places you’ve always gone.” Helders also points out that despite the fame of the band, he can still avoid being mobbed in the street – “If we all go out together at night clubbing, it’s difficult, but alone you don’t get recognised much.”

Although he continued to live at home with his parents during the band’s early career, Helders has followed Cook in moving into his own house, but has nonetheless stayed in the Sheffield area, saying “we still all live in the same place we grew up. It’s probably just how we were brought up. We’re never going to move away to London

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

3. JAMIE COOK Birth Name: Born:

Jamie Cook 8 July 1985

Occupations: Instruments: Associated Acts: Label:

Musician, songwriter Guitar, keyboard, organ Arctic Monkeys Domino

High Green, Sheffield, England

Originally a next door neighbour of fellow band member, Alex Turner, Cook and the other band members picked up their respective instruments and formed a band in 2001. He is the son of an engineer.

He is the most outspoken member, going on record as saying he “fucking hates the [print] news” and defending the band’s numerous successive records by saying, “I couldn’t see us being like Coldplay, it’d just be fucking boring. You tour your album for three years and play the same fucking gig night after night. It must really be depressing. Some people might enjoy doing that, but we couldn’t.”

Despite leaving home, Cook has maintained residence in the Sheffield area along with fellow band member, Helders. He has been described as “the bullishly confident blue-collar lad” of the group.

At the start of the band’s career, Cook would join Matt Helders and Andy Nicholson in backing vocals for songs such as “Fake Tales of San Francisco”, but has gradually shied away from singing duties, leaving them to the other 3 members of the group.

Cook is also considered to be the “indie music fanatic” of the group. Armed with the likes of musical tastes for bands such as The Smiths, The Strokes, Oasis, and Queens of the Stone Age, Cook supposedly turned the band into what it is today.

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

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CURENT MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

4. NICK O’MALLEY Birth Name: Born:

Nicholas O’Malley 5 July 1985 Sheffield, England

Occupations: Instruments:

Musician Bass guitar, backing vocals

Associated Acts: Label:

Arctic Monkeys, The Dodgems Domino

O’Malley was drafted in as a temporary replacement for bassist Andy Nicholson when the latter announced he would not make the band’s North America tour in May 2006. O’Malley says that he learned the whole of the band’s debut album in two days of intensive play where he “pretty much didn’t even leave the house.” His baptism of fire continued as the band were imminently recording their new single, “Leave Before the Lights Come On”, in which he played bass guitar.

His first appearance with the band came on 25 May, when the band played a secret gig at the “Old Blue Last” pub in East London . The 120 capacity venue was seen as an opportunity for O’Malley to have a test run before the band’s first North American gig in Vancouver on 27 May and festival dates in front of fifteen to twenty thousand people.

O’Malley broke his hand following some drunken antics with his former Dodgems bandmates only a week after agreeing to fill in for Nicholson - “As we were walking home from the pub, our roadie (Adam Guest) grabbed him (O’Malley) and pulled him over our neighbour’s wall. It’s quite high and he landed on his right hand” Dodgems singer Phillip Goodwin was quoted as saying on the music website Angry Ape. However, despite being his plectrum-hand he was still able to play the bass and joined the band in the successful tour.

Although O’Malley was only expected to continue until Nicholson has fully recovered, Nicholson’s departure from the band saw the announcement that O’Malley will become a full member of the band

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FORMER MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

FORMER MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

1.GLYN JONES Birth Name: Occupations: Instruments: Associated Acts: Year left:

Glyn Jones Musician, songwriter, designer Vocals, rythm guitar Arctic Monkeys 2002

Glyn met current lead singer Alex, former member Andy and Matt at StocksBridge High School. a school photo shows him with Alex in 2002 later they all became friends with Alex’s neighbouur Jamie cook after playing footbal in the street together. But it wasn’t until the last day of school in May 2003 that Glyn and Alex began to pen lyrics together and the original Arctic Monkeys were formed.

Glyn recalls, ‘‘I remember our last GCSE was science and Alex and i went back to his house. We were bored so we started writing a song about a geek in our year.

Alex had got a guitar for Christmas but we felt a bit stupid playing it so we would write rubbish that didn’t mean anything and just mess about.’’

But when he left the band in 2002 because he ‘‘did not have the dedication to take it any further... to me we were just a gang of kids messing around because we were bored.’’ But Alex could see something, Glyn said as he remember Alex saying, ‘‘Imagine if we had a band called the Arctic Monkeys and people came to see us play,’’ but Glyn Jones honestly didn’t think it would go anywhere. Glyn Jones is now a marketing and design assistant in Sheffield

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FORMER MEMBERS OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

2. ANDY NICHOLSON

Birth Name: Occupations: Instruments: Associated Acts: Year left:

Andy Nicholson Musician, DJ Bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, drums Arctic Monkeys, Reverend and The Makers, Mongrel 2006

An attendee of Stocksbridge High School, Andy was the only member of the original four to not live in the High Green district, residing in nearby Hillsborough, and this fact is featured in lyrics to the song “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured” – “I said it’s High Green mate – via Hillsborough – please”. Nicholson played bass guitar, and was seen as “the band wit, reliably swift with a self-deprecating quip”.

Nicholson emphasised that the band are just normal people, saying “We don’t look like superstars...I think people look at us and think, ‘They’re just normal people making good music. I’m sure I could do it.’ Anyone can do it. We’re living proof of that.” Nicholson’s style was known to be poppy and original, and was often featured in a song with either no backing or guitar chords in the background. When this wasn’t the case, the bass usually followed the lead guitar with slight or no variation.

The band announced in May 2006 that Nicholson would miss the band’s forthcoming North America tour as he was suffering from “fatigue following an intensive period of touring”, and would be temporarily replaced by Nick O’Malley of The Dodgems while Nicholson recovered. However, on 20 June 2006, it was announced that he was no longer part of the band, with Alex Turner later stating “we sorta found ourselves in a situation where we wanted to move forward”. Now Nicholson has been making a name for himself in Sheffield as a DJ, performing at Reverend Soundsystem (now performing under the name AndyGun) and remixed a Reverend and The Makers song “You Get So Alone Sometimes it Just Makes Sense”.

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

1. WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT’S WHAT IM NOT 2. FAVOURITE WORST NIGHTMARE 3. HUMBUG 4. SUCK IT AND SEE

DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

1.WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT’S WHAT I’M NOT (2006)

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

Musically, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not features indie rock, garage rock revival, post-punk revival, punk rock, alternative rock, and post-Britpop. The common thematic content of the album has led to it being considered by some a concept album concerning “the lives of young Northern England clubbers”. All tracks record first-person narratives of observations made within this context. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”, “Still Take You Home”, “You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me” and “Dancing Shoes” all examine human behaviour in nightclubs. Frontman Alex Turner describes “Dancing Shoes” as being about “people always looking to pull when they go out however much they mask it.”

Other songs examine other aspects of nightlife; “From the Ritz to the Rubble” is an account of nightclub bouncers, “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured” tells the typical experiences and troubles of getting a taxicab after a night out, and “When the Sun Goes Down” was inspired by prostitutes in the locality of their practice room in the Neepsend district of Sheffield. Other songs are themed on romantic relationships, such as “Mardy Bum”, or youth subcultures, such as “Fake Tales of San Francisco” and “A Certain Romance”. In NME’s list of the top 100 tracks of the decade, “A Certain Romance” was described as “a strangely even-handed song which starts out scorning local townies then appears to absolve them at the end of the song.”

The album’s title was taken from a line from the novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning written by Alan Sillitoe. The name was chosen after Turner recognised similarities between the two works and the appropriateness of the title. He said that “it’s good because the book is called Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and that’s kind of what the album is, so there’s a link there. And also, there’s a lot of people saying a lot of things about us and you don’t have control over it.” He also said that “songs including ‘The View from the Afternoon’, ‘Dancing Shoes’, ‘Still Take You Home’ and ‘From the Ritz to the Rubble’ all cover that bit of the weekend and feature the same character.”

The album’s cover is a black-and-white photograph of Chris McClure, a close friend of the band who is the lead singer for The Violet May and the brother of Reverend and The Makers lead singer Jon McClure, which was taken in the early hours of the morning at the Korova bar in Liverpool. The band had given him, his cousin, and his best friend £70 to spend on a night out. The image caused some controversy when Laurence Gruer of NHS Scotland criticised the cover for “reinforcing the idea that smoking is okay”. The band’s product manager denied the accusation, and in fact suggested the opposite: “You can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good.” Billboard advertisements for the album used a similar image to the cover picture, but without the cigarette.

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

The album’s title came from the lyrics to the song “D is for Dangerous”, the third song featured on the album. The band said they also considered naming the album Lesbian Wednesdays, Gordon Brown, or Gary Barlow. In an interview with NME, Nick O’Malley announced several songs including “D is for Dangerous” and “Balaclava”. The tracks “The Bakery” and “Plastic Tramp” also mentioned in the NME interview did not make it onto the album, but were later released as B-sides on the “Fluorescent Adolescent” single. The track “Leave Before the Lights Come On” was also rumoured for inclusion, but did not make the final cut.

Half of the album’s songs were debuted at concerts before the release of the album. The album was recorded quickly as the band wanted to start touring and play the songs.

The album’s cover art features a black-and-white photograph of a house in the Garston district of Liverpool, with colourful cartoonish images visible through its windows. This marks the second consecutive time the band used a photograph taken in Liverpool as an album cover, following their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not The music on Favourite Worst Nightmare has been characterised as post-punk revival, indie rock, and garage rock, and post-Britpop. In comparison to the band’s debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, the album has been described as “very, very fast and very, very loud”, being seen as “more ambitious, heavier...and with a fiercely bright production”. Reflecting the band’s travels around the world more than local stories of the first record, FWN is a “faster, meaner” album. The album arguably has influences from The Smiths – “twanging, quasi-ambient backdrops...and Turner’s voice [...] crooning like Morrissey or Richard Hawley.” Matt Helders said “James was DJing loads in the evening so we’d go out and [...] have a dance.” As a result, the drum rhythms of Helders and bassist Nick O’Malley have drawn comparisons to the Eighties funk band ESG. The band’s love of classic films also influenced their new style. For example, the organ at the beginning of the album’s final track, “505” is replicating Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (where Angel Eyes enters before the final standoff)..

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

2. FAVOURITE WORST NIGHTMARE (2007)

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

3. HUMBUG (2009)

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

The band started writing songs for the album towards the end of summer 2008, with lead singer Alex Turner suggesting that the inspiration for the first few guitar riffs came while the band were attending the Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Tracks were written through the end of 2008, with recording taking place around the band’s touring schedule towards late 2008 and early 2009. Alex Turner wrote all the album. Co-produced by Josh Homme, the album was wholly recorded in the United States. Homme-produced tracks recorded in Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert alongside New York City recordings produced – as per the second album – by James Ford, who also produced the album The Age of the Understatement by Turner’s side-project The Last Shadow Puppets.

While recording the album, the band incorporated a wide variety of instruments that they had not used previously. Baritone and slide guitars can be heard throughout the album, as well as new guitar effects. The guitar playing on the album has a desert/surf tone. The presence of a variety of keyboards on almost every track was something new for the band, with lead singer Alex Turner recording all of them himself with the exception of the album’s singles, which were handled by session and touring keyboardist John Ashton. The presence of new percussion instruments was also evident, as the band used xylophones, glockenspiels and shakers. While being interviewed for the BBC’s The Culture Show, Turner and Matt Helders cited Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jake Thackray, John Cale, Nick Cave, Roky Erickson and the Beatles as influences on the recording of the album.

The album’s tone is more relaxed than the band’s “aggressive” previous records. Robin Murray of Clash notes that a “spooky carnivalesque atmosphere permeates the album; there’s the recurring waltzer organ, the circus-like marching drums, and of course the bellowing ringmaster, luring us all into the dark and devilish delights of what’s in store. Homme has been credited by writers for introducing the album’s darker sound. Murray further notes Turner’s voice as transitioning from “breakneck reality bites” into a dark, deep and hushed singing voice. According to Mike Driver in his BBC Music review, “Humbug embraces the true nature of album-craft by sequencing ten tracks in such a way that coherence and consistency bind constituent pieces into a single, enjoyably sombre whole.”[14] Driver also notes that “Kitchen-sink

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

Arctic Monkeys wrote the album throughout 2010, with frontman Alex Turner writing the majority of the songs in New York, telling Metro magazine: “I wrote a lot of the new album while I was living in New York and I found myself using more English colloquialisms than ever.” Recording took place at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, California with producer James Ford over five weeks in January–February 2011. Turner has commented that rather than going into the studio with only rough sketches of songs, and making heavy use of overdubbing, the band focused much of their time rehearsing written songs together, coming up with new ideas in the process. Turner stated that the band recorded most of the album live in the studio, “So that meant we could really concentrate on beefing up the guitar sounds.”

Suck It and See represents a departure for the band after the darker sound of their previous album Humbug (2009). Speaking to NME shortly before the album’s release, drummer Matt Helders promised to deliver a more “instant”, “poppy”, and “vintage” sound in comparison to Humbug. Featuring a wide variety of styles, commentators have characterised the music as guitar pop, indie rock, indie pop, and psychedelic pop. Consequence of Sound further noted the presence of surf rock and the band’s “own interpretation” of glam rock. Q magazine calls the album “the sound of a band drawing back the curtains and letting the sunshine in”.

The track “Piledriver Waltz” was first released on Turner’s debut EP, Submarine, where it was credited to Turner as a solo artist, featuring Ford on drums. The version included on Suck It and See is a re-recording with the whole band involved.

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DISCOGRAPHY OF ARCTIC MONKEYS

4. SUCK IT AND SEE (2011)

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