EXCLUSIVE: Arctic Monkeys and celebrity girlfriends
PHONE calls have been flying across the airwaves between London and Serbia.
Finally the confirmation comes just a few hours before they step out in front of 60,000 or more in Novi Sad, Serbia's second city.
The interview with Alex Turner and Jamie Cook is on; just don't tell the locals.
There is a veil of secrecy surrounding our meeting with the headliners of Serbia's massive EXIT festival.
Sheffield's famous sons are, it seems, caught in a curious situation. On the one hand they are the main act on the opening night of this huge all-night gathering in an ancient fort on the banks of the mighty River Danube. On the other, they don't apparently have a record deal in this part of former Yugoslavia – the music is distributed among the people via unconventional means - so all press is banned. And that includes MTV.
With yours truly having travelled out not only to hear some of the new songs bound for Humbug, the album they release a week on Monday, but to talk to the band, there is an anxious couple of hours.
Around 10pm Alex, the voice behind a whole new breed of anthems, and Jamie, whose sometimes under-rated guitar playing is integral to the sound of the new record, arrive all smiles.
The final night of a series of festival shows across Europe, Alex, sporting longer hair and a denim jacket, is in buoyant mood. He confirms reports that at some of the gigs the audiences have been shouting for the new songs by title.
It seems the internet that served the band so well in creating a global buzz before they had even inked a deal is still doing the business – the Arctic Monkey business.
Surely it was like putting on a pair of old shoes again? "Maybe, but we were nervous whether they were still gonna fit or not," quips Alex. "But once I tied my laces securely…"
It is three years since we'd last met.
Alex appears calmer, more relaxed, good company to be around and more at ease with his tangible talent.
Gone is the almost bashful lad who struggles to make eye contact.
Instead the quotable observations are accompanied with a smile.
At 23, Alex has the wise head of a seasoned musician who has travelled more of the world than most and tasted success on a level that only a small percentage of bands experience.
Both he and Jamie get restless when the subject of celebrity
girlfriends is mentioned; Jamie has been seeing model Katie Downes while Alex has often featured in the glossies stepping out with Channel 4 presenter Alexa Chung, about whom he apparently wrote album track Fire And The Thud and now shares a flat with in Brooklyn, New York.
While Jamie seems slightly annoyed Alex questions the merit of the word celebrity.
At the end of the day it is subjective anyway - who is more famous, the men from Arctic Monkeys or the ladies they romance? The 60,000 fans baying for their arrival at midnight on the stage at EXIT confirm the answer.
It is the only time we push them on the subject.
"There's an ignorance to it," Alex says of the subject of celebrity culture. "Obviously I grew up with it. It doesn't really come into it (what we do). But certain people do celebrate what should be celebrated."
Jamie instead prefers to tell us what he got up to during time away from the band.
"I went on holiday as I'd not really been on holiday for a few years. I saw my family, normal stuff.
"Then we met up July last year – that was the first time we got back together as a band."
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Humbug - Arctic Monkeys talk about their new album
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Arctic Monkeys struck by lightning
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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