Arctic Monkey Plays With Puppets, Working on New Album

Just a week after releasing brand new EP, 'My Mistakes Were Made for You,' Britain's the Last Shadow Puppets will play their last shows for some time, beginning Thursday in New York City.

The band, fronted by Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and Miles Kane of Liverpool's the Rascals, have just two dates on their U.S. trek -- NYC's Bowery Ballroom (tonight) and Los Angeles' Mayan Theatre (November 1). They will be playing with 16-piece orchestras at both gigs, something the outfit did during a recent European tour, and it's a thrill still not lost on the gents.

"The thing with this is each stage of it was kind of unexpected," Turner told Spinner earlier this week. "We made [these songs] ... Then it came out and it was like, 'I wonder if we could play it live.' It never occurred to us that we'd do this, but it was good. Touring the strings, logistically it's difficult and but we made it work. It's good to come [to America] and play, even though it's only two shows. Then, like next time, people will maybe know about us a little bit more."

Rumors in the UK press suggested the American dates would be the group's final ones, but according to Turner, that isn't the case.

"What it is, is we're both in other bands as well, and we've kind of got get back to that after this tour," Turner explained. "Next year, we're gonna make records with our bands. We will do another record though with the Last Shadow Puppets. But it won't be for a little while."

Instead, following the L.A. show, Turner will head back to work with the Arctic Monkeys, who earlier this year, spent some time in the desert, working on material with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme trying out the producer reigns.

"We played a show with them in Houston last year and that's like kind of when we first met properly," Turner said of the Arctic's full-fledged introduction to the redheaded rocker. "He liked us and we liked him."

Though it's early days for the Monkeys, Turner said, the band might follow up with record three sometime next year. "I guess we haven't done that much over the last couple weeks because we've been on tour, but we're definitely working," Turner said. "This year, after this tour, that's what I'll be doing."

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