Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner has spoken about the rap and hip-hop influence on the band’s new album ‘AM’.
The band’s fifth studio album will be released on September 9 and features the singles ‘R U Mine?’ and ‘Do I Wanna Know?’. Guests on the album include Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and former member of The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones.
Speaking in an exclusive interview in this week’s NME, which is on newsstands tomorrow (August 1) or available digitally, Turner, when asked to describe what the new album sounds like, replied: “It sounds like a Dr Dre beat, but we’ve given it an Ike Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster.”
When asked how the band have managed to fuse hip-hop and rock successfully, Turner said his vision for the new album was to make it “sound less like four lads playing in a room this time”. He added: “Essentially, that’s what it is, but if you can find a way to manipulate the instruments or the sounds to the point where it sounds a bit like a hip-hop beat that’d be boss in your car, then I think there’s something quite cool about that.”
Later this year, Arctic Monkeys will play nine dates on the tour including a homecoming gig at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena. Starting in Newcastle at the Metro Radio Arena on October 22, the tour will then visit Manchester, London, Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham and Glasgow before ending with the Sheffield gig on November 2. The Strypes will support on all dates.
Arctic Monkeys will play:
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (October 22)
Manchester Arena (23)
London Earls Court (25, 26)
Liverpool Echo Arena (28)
Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (29)
Birmingham LG Arena (31)
Glasgow Hydro Arena (November 1)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (2)
Check out the pictures of Arctic Monkeys headlining Glastonbury 2013
To check the availability of Arctic Monkeys tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0844 858 6765.
