When you're a 20-year-old rock star whose album just became England's fastest-selling debut ever, the last thing you want to hear is that you seem well-adjusted.
"I feel like I should just flip out and do something crazy," Alex Turner, the scrappy-voiced Arctic Monkeys frontman, said by phone before a gig in Norwich, England. "It's boring when people tell me I'm really well grounded. I feel a little bit sensible — I don't want to be that." But chatting with Turner, you get the sense that he is, well, grounded.
Nonetheless, Turner and his mates Jamie Cook (guitar), Andy Nicholson (bass) and Matt Helders (drums) seem to have a handle on their newfound fame, and they aren't letting it get to them. At least so far.
"Hopefully the tabloid thing has peaked," Turner said from his hometown of Sheffield. "It doesn't seem to be as big (to us) as what people might think it is. Maybe we are immune to all of it because of everything that's happened. Maybe in 10 years we'll realize what it is."
"It" is that their album, What People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold 360,000 copies in Britain its first week out. "It" is also their collection of hooky songs with searing guitars and snarky lyrics, like their infectious first single, I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor. And "it" is that, amazingly, not one of the Arctic Monkeys had played an instrument before three years ago.
About a year after learning to play, Turner brought in songs he'd written. In 2004, they hit the road, passing out free CDs of their music. Word spread, especially over iTunes and other Internet sites, and that's when the madness started.
Will the hype carry over to America? And will U.S. listeners connect with the band's Sheffield-centric lyrics?
"I like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, but I have no idea what it's like in Compton or Long Beach," Turner said. "You don't always have to be in the situation that you listen to in the song to like it or appreciate it."
While more than 550,000 copies have sold to date in England, only 100,000 units have shipped to U.S. retailers, according to Kris Gillespie, label director for Domino Recording Co.'s U.S. division.
"It'll never be the same as it is here," Turner said. "It can never be the same, but we can have a good crack at it."
The band is ready to kick off its U.S. and Canadian gigs in a couple of weeks.
"We're getting a lot of (new) music together. It's all about our adventures at the moment," Turner said.
"We don't see Sheffield much anymore — it's a closed book. We're moving on and thinking about different things." •
Source : rctimes.com
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