Monkeys get more 'bottle'

Alex Turner comes to term with being a songwriter

21 August 2009 - With a Mercury Prize nominated side-project under his belt and two year's since Arctic Monkeys' last album frontman Alex Turner seems more comfortable than ever as a musician.

"Perhaps I've come to terms with the idea of writing, or being a 'songwriter'," he admitted to Steve Lamacq on 6 Music.

"It's a term that used to send a shivers down my spine. It just felt a bit like I should have a cut away acoustic guitar or something."

There's one weekend left until the release of Arctic Monkeys' anticipated third album Humbug on Monday 24 August, a record which Turner claims contains more "personal elements".

"Perhaps because it's written with more of a veil over it, that allows you to put in more emotion," he explained. "I didn't want invent a load of characters this time and I maybe just got a bit more bottle to write a love song."

'Wonky order'

Humbug was produced by Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme in Joshua Tree and LA, as well as Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford in Brooklyn.

They likened working with the rock titan in California to a block of chocolate, that has melted in the sun, been refrigerated and reset in a "bit of a wonky order".

Turner agreed that the experience has made them more confident.

"It's like when someone's big brother comes on a bike ride with you and you go down that death ramp that you wouldn't normally do," he laughed.

Arctic Monkeys have been praised for their lyrics since their rise to fame in 2006 with their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Turner revealed he took more time over them this time round.

"I wasn't afraid to sit down and spend a bit of time on lyrics which is something perhaps in the past that, even though I did work at things, I liked to put a ceiling on it, as if some magic was going to disappear if you spent too long at something," he explained.

Where next?

The last track on the album, The Jeweller's Hands, took about four days to record, in one of their early sessions, and prompted Turner to adopt different composing methods.

"It's the first time I've written something at a piano which leads you down a whole different network of conclusions," he said.

Drummer Matt Helders branded that song the most "far out point" on the record.

The pair agreed with Lamacq that the song mirrors the conclusion of their previous record, 505, which left people wondering where the band would go next.

"People have said that. They've said: 'I don't know where it's nodding but I like the way its nose looks," was Helders' reply.

The band are gearing up to headline Reading and Leeds festivals next weekend.

Listen to the whole interview with Lamacq from 5pm on Friday 21 August on the BBC iPlayer for the next 7 days.

Georgie Rogers