Drinks With: Arctic Monkeys

Skip Matheny— currently a songwriter in the band Roman Candle and former bartender in a retirement community — caught up with Alex Turner and Matt Helders of the Arctic Monkeys before their show in Chicago, Illinois, last fall.

Did you write these songs for the newer record after you had moved to Brooklyn?

AT: No. But I have written a lot since I’ve moved there.

A lot of writers have a newly infused life behind their writing once they leave their home country… it’s like they can write with an almost clearer eye about anything. Robert Frost, for example … his writing really took shape when he moved his family to the U.K. Have you experienced anything like that?

AT: Yeah. I think moving there seems to have given me like a kick up the arse or something. I mean I’ll sit there quite often, more frequently than I used to, and write. I feel like there is a lot more room here or something. But actually the songs on this record all came before [I moved]. But the next record probably will all be these songs I suppose.

Did either of you, have sometime when you were a kid when you heard a song and thought, “This thing or idea of a pop song, I get that. I might try to do that one day?”

AT: Well, I remember I must have been like twelve years old or something, and hearing “I Am the Walrus” and thinking, “Well, this is just like nonsense. I could write something like this, surely.” And sort of attempting to write in that style and really struggling with it. I distinctly remember getting aggravated because it’s like, “Well, he’s singing about custard and a cob sitting on a cornflake and why can’t I think of that?”[Laughs] And I still can’t do that exactly.

It reminds me of when I saw a Jackson Pollock painting as a kid and I thought, “Oh man, this guy has fooled everybody. This is some really easy stuff.” And then you get a little older and realize that there is something else going on there.

AT: Exactly. And there are other things: I remember being on car journeys with my parents and, I feel like that situation is the first time that I would hear music, as a kid. I suppose my Dad was talking to me about Beach Boys tunes and the harmony aspect of [their songs] as well. They evoke feeling from you—almost involuntarily—and the idea of that is something that’s stayed with me, because before the lyrics or anything in those songs, the chords and the vocal harmonies sort of get you. I remember being stirred even at a young age. It’s almost like you can’t help it.

Poet Laureate Gives Arctic Monkeys the Thumbs Up

Alex Turner, someone high up likes you. The UK's Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has come out as a fan of Sheffield's finest, Arctic Monkeys, as she prepared to host a charity event to raise money for earthquake relief in Haiti.

During the speech, she likened the frontman's lyrics to those of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.

"Leonard Cohen's songs are poems, I saw him twice when he was touring here last year, Bob Dylan writes poems and the Arctic Monkeys write poems," she told the press agency the Press Association. "They (the Arctic Monkeys) are great lyric writers."

Duffy is hosting Poetry Live for Haiti, an event which will feature well-known poets including Andrew Motion, Roger McGough, John Agard, Dannie Abse, Gillian Clarke and Christopher Reid. Reid recently won the 2009 Costa Book of the Year.

Arctic Monkeys donated the white electric guitar Fender Stratocaster played by frontman Alex Turner in the band's first video for an to an online auction run by Oxfam and Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis to raise money for relief in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean state. Some 150,000 people are feared to have been killed by this month's quake.

Arctic Monkeys also favoured the Oxfam charity as the only store to stock the vinyl release of the first single, 'Crying Lightning,' from third album 'Humbug' released last year.

Arctic Monkeys – Joining The Dots (RTP Session)

I have been slacking on getting my posts out lately, so don’t hate me that I am a little bit late on this one. I have been sitting on it for a while, and decided that enough was enough. Time to get it out! I have not been going too Arctic Monkey crazy with you either, because they have been doing their thing on tour. Aside from their announcement of My Propeller as the third single off of Humbug, they have been pretty quiet. Well actually, they recently played a huge gig in Valencia for MTV. I have the audio on my desktop, but have not gotten around to it yet! If you want it, you know how to ask!

In the meantime, I realized I never got around to sharing the newer, better quality, acoustic take of “Joining The Dots” that the Monkeys did earlier this month. This wonderful live acoustic take of “Joining The Dots” needs to be heard. It is stunning. The only version I shared with you previously was the so-so sound quality one from that youtube video from the RXP NYC Session. This new performance was for the Portuguese radio station RTP. Alex’s vocals are flawless as usual, and he puts his all into this excellent take of the soon to be fan favorite b-side. The man cannot write a bad song. He won’t allow it!

Check it out: