Arctic Monkeys members
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From left to right: Jamie Cook, Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Andy Nicholson.
From left to right: Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Matt Helders, Nick O'Malley.
Arctic Monkeys are an English indie post-punk revival rock band from Sheffield. They are best known for their first two singles, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", both of which went straight to number one in the UK Singles Chart while the band's debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold 360,000 copies in its first week alone, setting the record for the largest first week sales of a debut album in UK history.[1]
Arctic Monkeys formed in 2002, and currently has four members: Alex Turner, lead vocalist and guitarist; James Cook, guitar; drummer and backing vocalist Matt Helders and Nick O'Malley on bass guitar, replacing Andy Nicholson indefinitely.
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[edit] Alex Turner
[edit] Jamie Cook
Jamie "Cookie" Cook (born 1985-07-08[citation needed]) is the band's guitarist and also provides backing vocals. Cook and Turner are neighbours in High Green [2], and like Turner, Cook asked for a musical instrument as a Christmas present in 2001, receiving his first electric guitar [3]. Cook has been the band's most outspoken member, going on record as saying he "fucking hates the [print] news" and defending the band's numerous successive records by saying "I couldn’t see us being like Coldplay, it’d just be fucking boring. You tour your album for three years and play the same fucking gig night after night. It must really be depressing. Some people might enjoy doing that, but we couldn't." [4].
Like most of the band, Cook continues to live in Sheffield with his parents [4], and has been described as "the bullishly confident blue-collar lad [of the group]"[5].
[edit] Nick O'Malley
O'Malley, born 05-07-1985 (Saarbrücken), was drafted in as a temporary replacement for bassist Andy Nicholson when the latter announced he would not make the band's North America tour in May 2006. [6] His first appearance with the band came on 25 May, when the band played a secret gig at the "Old Blue Last" pub in East London [6]. The 120 capacity venue was seen as an opportunity for O'Malley to have a test run before the band's first North American gig in Vancouver on 27 May.
O'Malley broke his hand following some drunken antics with his former Dodgems bandmates only a week after agreeing to fill in for Nicholson - "As we were walking home from the pub, our roadie grabbed him (O'Malley) and pulled him over our neighbour's wall. It's quite high and he landed on his right hand" Dodgems singer Phil Goodwin was quoted as saying on the music website Angry Ape. However, despite being his plectrum-hand he was still able to play the bass and joined the band in the successful tour.
Although O'Malley was only expected to continue until Nicholson has fully recovered, Nicholson's departure from the band saw the announcement that O'Malley will become a full member of the band.
[edit] Matthew Helders
Born 1986-05-07[citation needed] and nicknamed Matt "The Cat", Helders is the band's drummer who also lives in the High Green district [5] and attended Stocksbridge High School alongside Turner and Nicholson [2]. He is the most comprehensive backing vocalist, appearing in the tracks "You Probably Couldn't See For the Lights But You Were Looking Straight at Me" and "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor". He is seen as the band's "quietly amiable diplomat" [5].
Helders has said that he ended up playing drums as "that was the only thing left. When we started the band none of us played anything. We just put it together. They all had guitars and I bought a drum kit after a bit" [3].
However, Helders has stated the influence rap music has had on the band, saying "We were rap fans at school more than now...it still influences us in some ways, like for me, it's the drummin'. The groove element, like foon-keh music" [7]. Helders also explained the band's insistence on using their native Sheffield accent, saying, "when you talk between the songs at a gig and you're speakin' English in our normal accent, it seems a bit strange when you burst into song like you're from California or summat...it looks a bit daft" [7].
On 21 July 2006, Helders made a surprise guest appearance at Sheffield's Leadmill nightclub/music venue when he guest starred on the drums during a Milburn gig, playing the final part of "What You Could Have Won". Helders may also feature in a collaboration with Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding, after Alex Turner said that "their studio time has already been booked" and the result would be "a bit electronic".[8]
It was revealed in the NME that Matt is set to release his own line of clothing sometime in 2007.
[edit] Former members
[edit] Andy Nicholson
An attendee of Stocksbridge High School, Andy was the only member of the original four to not live in the High Green district, residing in nearby Hillsborough [5], and this fact is featured in lyrics to the song "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured" - "I said it's High Green mate – via Hillsborough - please". Nicholson played bass guitar, and was seen as "the band wit, reliably swift with a self-deprecating quip" [5]. Nicholson emphasised that the band are just normal people, saying "We don’t look like superstars...I think people look at us and think, 'They’re just normal people making good music. I’m sure I could do it.' Anyone can do it. We’re living proof of that." [5] Nicholson's style was known to be poppy and original, and was often featured in a song with either no backing or guitar chords in the background. When this wasn't the case, the bass usually followed the lead guitar with slight or no variation.
The band announced in May 2006 that Nicholson would miss the band's forthcoming North America tour as he was suffering from "fatigue following an intensive period of touring", and would be temporarily replaced by Nick O'Malley of The Dodgems while Nicholson recovered [9]. However, on 19 June 2006, the official website of the band announced that he was no longer part of the band. [10]. Now Nicholson has been said not to leave his house, other than doing DJ sets (now performing under the name AndyGun [1])or going to see Milburn and Reverend and The Makers gigs.[citation needed]
[edit] Glyn Jones
An article in Blender Magazine in May 2006 suggested that Alex Turner was not the original vocalist of the band - "When their first vocalist, Glyn Jones, left after a few months, Turner cautiously stepped up to the microphone" [5]. This was soon followed by a more detailed article in UK tabloid The Sun, who reported that in the very early days of the band - before they had played a gig - Glyn Jones, another attendee of Stocksbridge High School, used to be the band's singer. [2] Jones said that he and Turner "were bored [after our GCSE exams] so we started writing a song about a geek in our year...". Glyn says that he was lead singer only because "Alex was really humble and didn’t realise how great his own voice was... he was happy just playing his guitar." However, Glyn says that he "did not have the dedication to take it any further... to me we were just a gang of kids messing around because we were bored."
[edit] References
- ^ "Arctic Monkeys make chart history", BBC News Online, 2006-01-29. Retrieved on June 5, 2006.
- ^ a b c "Arctic donkey", The Sun, Retrieved 9 June 2006.
- ^ a b "Brits go bananas", Hour.ca, 16 March 2006.
- ^ a b "Young Brains", San Diego CityBeat, 31 May 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Lads Are Alright", Blender, May 2006.
- ^ a b "Arctic Monkeys play gig in tiny pub", NME, 2006-05-25. Retrieved on July 10, 2006.
- ^ a b "Bring on the backlash", The Village Voice, 8 June 2006.
- ^ "Arctic Monkeys and Girls Aloud to team-up?", NME, 2007-03-06. Retrieved on March 7, 2007.
- ^ "Arctic Monkeys lose a member", NME, 22 May 2006.
- ^ "Official site of Arctic Monkeys", 19 April 2006.
