THE BIG ISSUE EXCLUSIVE: ARCTIC MONKEYS BEHIND THE SCENES
Arctic Monkeys Behind The Scenes
A slow-burning psychedelic sci-fi chanson masterpiece inspired by Serge Gainsbourg, The Beach Boys, 1970′s movie soundtracks and outer space, Arctic Monkeys’ Mercury Prize-nominated sixth album Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino is one of the finest albums of 2018, and the Sheffield band’s boldest and most ambitious artistic statement to date.
As they embark on the UK leg of their world tour, the came to The Big Issue to offer an exclusive, never-before-seen set of behind the scenes photographs taken by their friend Zackery Michael - on the road, during video shoots and in-and-around the studio in France where the record came together. The Big Issue is the only place you can see these images, although more visual content from these sessions will feature in exhibitions staged in Sheffield and London to coincide with the tour, including a version of the sculpture from the album’s cover, conceived and created by front man Alex Turner.
Turner spoke to us to share some funny and revealing stories and insights, providing a candid and personal sub rosa glimpse of one of Britain’s most important bands during the latest exhilarating phase of their career.
“We’re always happy to work with The Big Issue” says Turner.
Thanks Alex, the feeling’s mutual.
On Photographer Zackery Michael: “Zachery took a lot of photographs of us over the last six years or so. He’s a friend I made when I was living in New York and he lived in the same neighbourhood. At a certain point we ended up in the same city. We were on a video shoot for The Hellcat Spangles Shalalala from Suck It And See, and Zack had just got into town so he joined us and started taking pictures. We’ve spent a lot of time with him on tour ever since and he’s someone that everyone feels really comfortable with. I suppose that’s why he gets the photographs he gets. He’s more behind the scenes than we let a lot of people”
“They are enormous trousers. A friend gave me those, they were too small for him. He’s taller. They’re miles too big for me. I suppose there’s a bit more room in the trousers for this record, shall we say. that there was in the last one. Is that the quintessential Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino trouser? No, it’s more of a good studio trouser. Very comfortable.”
On Arctic Monkey’ instant classic BBC session at Maida Vale Studios, London, June 2018: “There’s Jamie and Matthew with a drumstick in his mouth, as though it were a rose. I have to say, for that Maida Vale session, I have to give credit to the BBC for letting us do it how we wanted to do it. They really were supportive of that idea. Obviously the video we did for Dancefloor was a sort of version of that attempt at something in the spirit of The Old Grey Whistle Test. Around the time when we did the Four out OF Five video, we’d rented these old cameras and these old monitors and we were messing around with pointing the film cameras at the monitor and creating these kind of loops. I think that was we where that started. I think with Maida Vale you don’t need to do a lot in there, it’s just the room looks cool anyway, there’s a feel to it. All that Whistle Test was was a band set up and they play. You still watch it now and it works. So we went in there with that sort of attitude. And of course we had Ben, he directed the BBC thing with some of their people. He deserves more credit than I do.
“It’s rare to get asked for an autograph these days I suppose, it’s all selfies. It’s like using the old cameras for our videos - I insist upon it. I don’t, I’m just pulling your leg. But I’ve had a lot of practice with my autograph over the years, it’s absolutely formidable now.”
On Touring Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino: “I suppose it’s always with some uncertainty that you release something new, and this was no different. There was a greater sense of uncertainty for a number of reasons, but that seems quite a long time ago now. We’ve got Tom and Tyler playing with us now as well, and that creates a bit more scope and versatility with the show. I’m really happy with the band now and how it’s sounding. It feels like there’s something that’s there this time that wasn’t there before”
“That’s in Reno, Nevada, when we were doing the Tranquility Base video. It’s actually a part that you don’t see that much in the video because unfortunately, the camera got jammed and so all the footage from that set-up came back unusable. Which is a great shame because it was one of the largest, strangest rooms I’ve ever been in. I think there was something inherently Kubrick about it from that carpet. There’s a touch of The Shining, I think. It’s like a wonky Shining. I guess it was a conference room. It seemed like that carpet on the walls and the carper on the floor were having a disagreement. Carpets on walls having disagreements with carpets on floors - I think that might be the mantra of the interior design department in the Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino.”
On posing for photographs [and referencing Abbey Road-esk Beatles]: “I suppose when you’re looking at, when it comes to photographing four blokes together, I can’t think of that many scenarios that aren’t bands that you can draw reference from. I mean, there area couple of things that we’ve referenced before - like groups of scientists and things like that. But invariably things like iconic shots of the The Beatles kind of rear their head. I suppose you just try not to be the guys leaning over the edge all the time”
On La Frette Studios, La Frette-sur-Seine: “La Frette is where we recorded a lot of the album, and certainly brought it home and brought it all together. I’d never been there before, but it’s somewhere we’ve wanted to go in the past and nearly did for the last Last Shadow Puppets album. I think it was something as our producer James had come out to LA at the start of making this album, and so it was sort of our turn to come over to him. This was somewhere we’d been wanting to go for a bit - Laurence from Domino had recommended it. There’s this band I really like called Timber Timbre who had just been there, and the guy from the band had written something about the studio which I remember reading, and he had very complimentary things to say. We decided to give it a go and we weren’t disappointed - it’s a fantastic studio, it’s got a great feel and the people that were taking care of us there were really wonderful. I miss it to be honest.”
“We didn’t get into Paris at all during that trip, most of our time was spent in that little village. It’s a long time since we’ve done that on a record, lived in the place where we’ve recorded and been together every night. It was a fantastic experience.”
“I’ve enjoyed talking to you about these things.The only thing I prefer to having my picture taken is to have to dissect it afterwords. I’m only kidding, I’ve not felt remotely uncomfortable.”
On creating the sculpture for the cover of Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino: “I’ve never made anything like that before. It got a bit groovy back there for a minute. This is the first time that I’ve ever owned a craft knife. No cereal boxes were harmed. I don’t eat that much cereal actually, any more. Certainly not the type of quantities that it would have required to get through this process. There was a couple of art shops that I became familiar with. I went through a lot of blades. One thing that I can say is that I’ve learnt my way around the craft knife aisle.”
