Alex Turner’s interview for La Repubblica - May 6th, 2018
I translated the whole thing myself, so please ask me before you repost it anywhere! thanks.
LOS ANGELES - He’s wearing a shirt with a huge collar going above his coat, his eyes are wide open. Alex turner is 32 years old but says he’s 70: “That’s how old Kubrick was when he died, although people say about me that I’m the proof rock n’ roll will never die”, he says sitting at a table at Minibar Hollywood, a 60′s style cocktail lounge full off red armchairs, crystal glasses and wooden windows covered in silver leaf. Turner doesn’t have a good relationship with the press and with social media “and perhaps with human beings in general, seen as my Hollywood is limited to one room”, he says. “It’s just me and the music. Always has been.”
Things change, though. According to a survey by Radio X, 9 songs out of the 100 best english songs ever are Arctic Monkeys songs; they’ve won 7 brit awards and Noel Gallagher is a big supporter or theirs: “Arctic Monkeys’ success reminds me of Oasis” Gallagher said. “These kids are very much like us. They’re one of a kind. I love the fact that they don’t wear button-ups, ties and suits”. More than four years after the release of AM (more than five million copies sold) and after breaking all records with Arctic Monkeys’ debut album, Turner - singer, guitarist and half of the Last Shadow Puppets - sat at a Steinway&Sons and wrote Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Arctic Monkeys’ sixth album. Their three italian dates are all sold out. “I was born and raised in Sheffield, England. This record is filled with America”, he tells us. In the UK (and not just there) Alex is the last, young icon of the rock industry, “I feel more like a noir film director… I imagine the Hollywood hills being a small bedroom, where there’s me on the piano, a mexican beer in one hand and half a pack of cigarettes on the table”.
Have you set the guitar aside?
I never took piano lessons, if I’d pressed the keys the best I could do was a jazz improvisation. I used to try and imitate my father, who’s an incredible pianist and sax player. Until a friend of mine gave me a Steinway Vertegrand as a gift for my 30th birthday. It suddenly became the centre of this record and I almost thought this was going to be a guitar-less and Arctic Monkeys-less work.
When people tell me “Oh you live in Hollywood…”, I reply: “Hollywood? Do you mean my bedroom?” I’ve got a bed, a guitar, a piano and a poster of “Roma” by italian director Federico Fellini. Sometimes I think that’s all I need to make music, along with my old analog Tascam 8-track tape recorder. Other than that, I don’t really know America very well and no “on the road” kind of trip could beat the one I went on with my grandmother as a kid.
The opening line to this record is “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes”
I actually wanted to be like Mina [Italian melodic pop singer from the 60′s and 70′s]
(He stands up and starts singing) “Un bacio è troppo poco per sapere se ti amo. Un bacio è troppo poco per capire veramente se mi piaci, se mi piaci” What a voice. And such beautiful eyes. Mina! A friend of mine introduced me to “Una casa in cima al mondo” on a 7 inch vinyl record, “L’Eclisse” by Antonioni, i caroselli and Adriano Celentano. I know his nickname was “The Molleggiato” (the bouncy guy), they say his insipirations were Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis. His song “Il tuo bacio è come un rock” is a masterpiece.
Someone wrote about you: “Turner has a very clear idea of what his style is”.
I went through garage punk, chip-shop rock n roll, hip-hop, 90′s R&B… My mentor was Josh Homme from Queens of the stone age. My inspirations are The Smiths, The Carpenters, Nina Simone, Sege Gainsbourg. I am the product of many different cultures. I am also the guy you’ll find holding a microphone at a karaoke with Lana Del Rey singing Tiny Dancer by Elton John.
Have you ever looked yourself up on YouTube?
I’m not even on Facebook. To tell you the truth, my main instinct is to smash my cellphone. Maybe I’ll go back to a home phone, to a payphone, or I’ll be like the paranoid Gene Hackman in The Conversation, using phone booths, triple lock, telephone tapping tape and wearing a plastic overcoat when walking in a crowded place. My studio is full of cables and tapes. It’s Watergate material.
Did you design the album cover for “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”?
Yes, it looks a lot like one of those lobby scale models, like the labyrinth from Shining. I love LA’s architecture, from Richard Neutra to Paul R. Williams. And you should visit Columbus, Indiana, it has the most beautiful churches. For the album cover I drew insipiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’m obsessed with the idea that the moon landing of the Apollo 11 was all a big hoax and Kubrick filmed and directed it in a studio. Every morning, when I wake up, I feel like I see a monolith in front of my bed.
In the song “Golden Trunks” you compare the President to an 80′s wrestler.
Our president is in love with the sound of his own voice and his own “songs”. I never thought I’d end up talking about politics in a tune off of our next album and yet Trump is a part of all our lives, he’s underwater, he’s even in my bedroom along with the Fellini and Toby Dammit posters. He won, he definitely won. But sooner or later America will move on from this. As Mina sings, “L’importante è finire” (”The important thing is ending it”).
The original article: http://www.arcticmonkeysitalia.com/arctic-monkeys-su-repubblica-alex-turner-avrei-voluto-essere-come-mina/
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