Like Clockwork , which is set for a June release date, will also feature Dave Grohl, Sir Elton John, Trent Reznor, Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters. Previous Queens Of The Stone Age collaborators Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri will also appear on the album as does James Lavelle, better known as the man behind UNKLE.
Josh Homme of QOTSA has previously collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys. He produced most of their third album, Humbug and did backing vocals on “All My Own Stunts” from their fourth album, Suck It and See.
1. He moved to Los Angeles because…
“It’s built on rock’n’roll so the best studios and equipment are here. Well, that and the fact that the sun always shines and you can ride your motorcycle in December.”
2. He is baffled by his fanbase…
“It’s always the maddest people that come up to me. The other day an old bloke in the queue for the coffee shop said, “I just flew in from Indiana the other day. Are you from the Arctic Monkeys? We love your music, great to see you.” It blows my mind what the Arctic Monkeys’ demographic is – it’s a mystery.”
3. He likes playing to tough crowds…
“When we first arrived in America we’d play a small venue in Florida and some hick would be shouting, ‘Come on, man! What is this?’ But I love those sorts of shows where you have to try and convince people. You have to become ten times more animated and really rattle everyone’s cage.”
4.The story behind his Death Ramps ring…
“We used to ride our BMXs on these little hills in the woods where we grew up in Sheffield. As six-year-olds they looked like death ramps to us – I always thought that’d be a cool name for a band. When we started using guest singers like Richard Hawley and Miles Kane on the B-side of our seven-inches we called ourselves the Death Ramps and my mate Reino Lehtonen-Riley, who owns The Great Frog, knocked up some rings. We’ve all got one.”
5. Why he’s had enough of David Bowie’s Time…
“I’ve been trying to fix a humming in my home stereo – it’s in the right speaker. David Bowie’s album Aladdin Sane has been sitting on the turntable so I’ve been playing Time – the first song on the second side – whenever I’ve tried to solve the problem. I must have heard that song thousands of times this week… I’ll never be able to listen to it again.”
The Arctic Monkeys drummer has confirmed that they will release their fifth studio album by the end of the year. Matt Helders said the Monkeys are “definitely happy” with the songs they have written already.
“Hopefully we’ll get it out this year – that’s the plan.”
Arctic Monkeys 2013 Tour Dates:
05/24 – George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
05/25 – Missoula, MT @ Wilma Theatre
05/26 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
05/28 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
05/29 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
05/31 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
06/13-15 – Hultsfred, SE @ Hultsfred Festival
06/14-16 – Aarhus, DK @ NorthSide Festival
06/21 – Tilburg, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
06/22-24 – Scheeßel, DE @ Hurricane Festival
06/22-24 – Neuhausen ob Eck, DE @ Southside Festival
07/04 – Gdynia, PL @ Open’er Festival
07/10 – Rome, IT @ Rock in Roma
07/11 – Ferrara, IT @ Piazza Castello
07/15 – Carcassonne, FR @ Festival de la Cite
07/18 – Meco, PT @ Super Bock Super Rock
07/19-21 – Benicàssim, ES @ Benicàssim Festival
07/22 – Vienne, FR @ Arenes de Vienne
Steve Jones, who appeared in the beginning of the Monkeys’ video for “R U Mine” has told Digital Spy that he hopes to work with the band in the future.
“I think they’re really good, and I think Alex Turner’s a very, very talented kid…I’d like to do be a bit of guitar with them guys. I’ll play on anyone’s record, to be honest with you. Me and Alex, we text each other quite a lot. He’s a good kid.”
About the video, Jones said:
“You need tough skin if you wanna read the comments on YouTube. I actually looked on their video – I was watching it and reading some of the comments . They’re like ‘Who’s that fat bastard at the beginning?’. None of them have any idea who I am. They think I’m some fat f**king idiot talking in a microphone.”
“I remember when I first started writing songs and writing lyrics, I really wanted to be able to write an ‘I Am The Walrus’-type song. And I found it very difficult. You listen to that and it sounds like it’s all nonsense, but it’s really difficult to write that sort of thing and make it compelling. Lennon definitely had a knack for that…
‘Come Together’, which we just played at the Olympics – I found that song difficult to get anywhere near. I’ve heard that song a thousand times before, but there’s not one word in that song that logically leads into the next one. It’s all a jumble, but it’s not just that, if you know what I mean. It paints you a picture and puts you in this place. He’s got a way of leading you somewhere with these unusual words that don’t make sense, but also make perfect fucking sense…
But there’s also this other type of song he does really well, where the writer is almost singing right into the listener’s ear, and you know exactly where it’s going, but you want to go anyway. I’m attracted to that angry Lennon, although it’s another thing I haven’t figured out how to do yet! He definitely deserves all the praise and accolades that he receives.”
According to Alex Turner, the new Arctic Monkeys album will be heavier: “I think we’re going to go the direction of those heavier tunes. We did ‘R U Mine?’, and I think that’s where it’s going to be at for us for the next record.”
Alex also commented on how the band thinks the best songs on “‘Suck It And See” were the heavier ones: “We feel the strength of the last record is ‘Don’t Sit Down…’, the other songs like that – ‘Brick By Brick’ – the other side of it is fine, but I don’t know how much more of that we can do.”
Arctic Monkeys News 