Arctic Monkeys Make Pop That Isn't 'Cheap'

Posted on Aug 13th 2009 10:00AM by Mike Ayers
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Fans of the Arctic Monkeys' freewheeling, fast rock 'n' roll that lined their first two albums will notice on the forthcoming 'Humbug' that things have slowed down a bit. "I guess we got back into Jimi Hendrix, and got more into his records than when I had picked the guitar up," Monkeys main man Alex Turner tells Spinner. "Band of Gypsys. That tune 'Spanish Castle Magic.' Cream. Josh [Homme] and those guys turned us on to Roky Erickson and stuff like that, too."

Classic rock nods are surely present during opener 'My Propeller' and 'The Jeweller's Hands,' and at times 'Humbug' sounds like an extension of Turner's side project, the Last Shadow Puppets, an idea that Turner doesn't necessarily dispute in regards to the progression of his vocals. "I think the part that seeped across is, I used a part of my voice on that record that was singing more, more than I have before, like harmonies as well. I think there was a part of my voice that I found."

While those are some pretty standard influences for a guitar-driven rock band, there was one oddball that was a driving factor for the song 'Cornerstone' -- late British singer-songwriter Jake Thackray "The way he pronounced things was hilarious," Turner says. In other words, those that take the Arctic Monkeys seriously might have moments to reconsider. "Sometimes it feels like it's easiest to record something dark, and you can get away with that, rhyming and writing a pop tune," he says of 'Cornerstone.' "But this is still intricate; it's not cheap."

That said, there was one song in particular that they listened to everyday while recording in California. "Ratatat's remix of [Notorious B.I.G.'s] 'Party and Bullshit.' But it was more of an escape."