Arctic Monkeys have been telling NME all about their new album which should be out at the beginning of next year.
According to the band, most of the songs on the new album have been written and they're about to begin work in the studio in the forthcoming weeks.
While also hinting at another possible tour (though probably a small one) frontman Alex Turner said: "We'll do a few gigs in December, but we're going to start rehearsing on Friday (8th, last week) for the new record and we're going in next month to do some recording.
"[We've got] about 13 or 14 songs, but it's in different states. It might be just an idea, it might be something I've done with someone played on acoustics and some of them we all know it already, all the arrangements and shit like that."
Drummer Matt Helders spoke about the album possibly being released exactly a year after the debut album, admitting: "It will probably be a bit later, but you never know. I think from our point of view we could have it ready for then."
We had a fantastic night and we're really chuffed with winning the award. It was unexpected but it means a lot to us as the competition was from other musicians we really respect. We strongly believe in the ethos of the Nationwide Mercury Prize in that it is about the music and not everything else that goes with it and are therefore really flattered by the decision.
Regarding the £20,000 cheque, we are going to donate it to a worthy charity which we would prefer to keep private. We have discussed it with Andy who played an equal part in the making of the album and he is happy with our choice.
As for the near future, we are really looking forward to taking a break to continue writing our new album.
Arctic Monkeys 'Sky press conference after winning Mercury Award.
The comments on this one should be interesting. Arctic Monkeys (or more so Cookie) get their own back on stupid journalists and stupid journalists' questions.
Arctic Monkeys have been awarded the Nationwide Mercury Prize 2006 for their debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' despite stiff competition from the likes of Thom Yorke, Guillemots, Hot Chip and others.
The three original members were present at the ceremony to pick up the award and the accompanying cheque for twenty thousand pounds. Alex Turner must have seemed most surprised with the win as he quipped: "Somebody call 999, Richard Hawley's been robbed!", referring to the fellow Sheffield musician who was also nominated - and tipped by Alex Turner - for the prize.
Turner added: "Thanks to everyone that's helped us. Normally it (the award) doesn't go to a band that's sold so many records, to put it bluntly, but we're pleased. They're good tunes, that's what we do and there aren't any tricks, people are trying to do too many tricks."
The full nominations for this year were as follows:
Arctic Monkeys - 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - 'Ballad Of The Broken Seas'
Editors - 'The Back Room'
Guillemots - 'Through The Windowpane'
Richard Hawley - 'Coles Corner'
Hot Chip - 'The Warning'
Muse - 'Black Holes & Revelations'
Zoe Rahman - 'Melting Pot'
Lou Rhodes - 'Beloved One'
Scritti Politti - 'White Bread Black Beer'
Sway - 'This Is My Demo'
Thom Yorke - 'The Eraser'
Yes, we haven't updated in nearly 10 days but we're sill here, ready to indulge you with all of the goings-ons from the world of Arctic Monkeys in the past week or so.
As reported the latest single 'Leave Before The Lights Come On' reached number 4 in the UK single charts, sarcastically being labelled the "black sheep of the family" by Alex Turner, as it is the only Arctic Monkeys single not to enter the charts at number 1. The single is now number 8 in its second week in the charts (as of 27 Aug) and hopefully can stay in the top 10 for as long as possible.
So, starting with last Monday. 9pm came on BBC Radio 1 when Steve Lamacq announced details of a secret Arctic Monkeys warm-up gig, preceeding the Carling: Reading and Leeds festivals. This show would be on 24 August at the London Forum supported by great new-wave/rave/indie band Klaxons. Tickets sold out in minutes, despite being exclusive to arcticmonkeys.com mailing list subscribers.
The band were in NME last week, in which they [apparently] revealed why the band split. Of course everyone expected them to let it all out to the NME but they didn't. They said this:
Alex: "We sorta found ourselves in a situations where we wanted to move forward.
"It weren't like us wanting to carry on like this as punishment for him wanting to opt out."
Cookie: "Everyone might say we're wankers and we shit on him, but they don't know. We know, Andy knows and that's all that really matters."
Don't give away too much, boys!
Come Wednesday evening the buzz of the London Forum show was almost gone, unless of course you had tickets. Nevertheless, Arctic Monkeys being Arctic Monkeys didn't bother telling anybody they had something else up their sleeve. All of a sudden, arcticmonkeys.com was gone, replaced with "Arctic Monkeys, Tonight at The Citrus Rooms, Barnsley, Support from Gas Club, Doors 7.30pm". It wa another secret gig. You get the picture, right? Because about 800+ Arctic Monkeys fans who checked the website did. The capacity in this venue is apparently around 500-650 and I've heard reports that a lot of people were turned away from the gig. Of course, there's those lucky bastards who got to go to both the Barnsley and London secret shows, which saw the lads add old fan favourite "Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts' to the setlist. Drummer [Matt] Helders claimed it was "wonderful to play local" at the Barnsley show since the band don't get to do it very often anymore. At the London gig the band were joined on stage for 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco'. "This is our friend Scott" said Alex.
All of this and the festivals hadn't even began.
The band played Reading first and reports suggest it was their biggest ever gig. 'Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts' was kept in the setlist along with the usual, [obviously] including new single 'Leaving Before The Lights Come On' which, as we mentioned earlier, Alex Turner labelled the "black sheep of the family" but insisted that they still "love it all the same" to which the crowd's response was credible.
The band played:
'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
'Still Take You Home'
'You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me'
'Leave Before The Lights Come On'
'Cigarette Smoker Fiona'
'Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But...'
'Dancing Shoes'
'The View From The Afternoon'
'Bigger Boys And Stolen Sweethearts'
'From The Ritz To The Rubble'
'Fake Tales Of San Francisco'
'Mardy Bum'
'When The Sun Goes Down'
'A Certain Romance'
Arctic Monkeys at Leeds festival made the news for one reason really. The band reunited backstage with former bassist and still good friend, Andy Nicholson who watched on as the band played another great show.
It's true that the band have been looking refreshed and happier than they've been in a while in recent performances, a lot of fans have been saying it reminds them of the "good old days" but this isn't to say we don't miss Andy. Good luck again with whatever you choose to do man. According to one great reporter who shall remain nameless the band are apparently changing their tune from "straight" to "prog". We're not even going to comment on that bullshit.
Actually, the "reunion" wasn't the only thing that made the headlines. A certain Mister Jamie Cook was seen kicked out of the VIP area at Leeds after trying to throw his backstage pass over a fence to some friends. Ha!
So... Hope you've all enjoyed reading this unusual blog-style update. We've been really busy analysing the site and big changes are hopefully going to be implemented soon and we'll keep you updated with all the latest news as usual. Keep checking back.