Matt Helders – esteemed two-time Glastonbury headlining drummer of the Arctic Monkeys – enraptured AM fans last night after confirming the Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino follow up album is under way. Announcing via Instagram Live, the 34-year-old Sheffielder confirmed the band are “in the early stages of trying to write a new record”, but admitted “several obstacles” were slowing the process down.
“Being separated by the sea is one of them,” Helders explained. “We’re all eager to do it – we would have been doing it by now in a normal time. There’s definitely a desire from our end to do a new record, as soon as we can.” The drummer refers to the travel restrictions imposed due to the ongoing coronavirus, with the band split between Europe and Los Angeles.
Following the release of their live album ‘Live at the Royal Albert Hall’ late last year, the Monkeys’ manager Ian McAndrew told Music Week that the band were busy working on music for the follow-up to Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, claiming the group had been “beavering away” since last year. “There were recording plans in the summertime that got canned as a result of the travel restrictions,” McAndrew added.
Helders, who resides in L.A., went on to claim he is “always tinkering on machines and synths” in his home. “I’ve got drums here,” he said, adding that he is “always trying to improve on and study certain things.”
Helders made a rare public appearance earlier this week when he appeared on the ‘It’s Managed’ podcast, hosted by comedian Shapel Lacey. He recounted stories of touring, broken bones and how old VHS tapes of Oasis had instilled an attraction to live performance. “The Oasis thing, watching that always gave me this feeling like ‘imagine what that would be like live?’ But it was more the local level that inspired it really,” he said. Going on to elucidate the topic of his singing accent during the early days, Helders explained how the band’s decision to remain in their thick Yorkshire accent was born out of ease over any particular artistic direction.
“It always felt quite natural for us to do that. We weren’t trained singers or anything, it’s not like we knew how to sing. I suppose back then we had the opportunity to rhyme certain words that you couldn’t rhyme in an American accent, or any accent different from England.
“I’m speaking for the singer now, but when you start singing a bit instead of shouting or ranting, it does naturally become a bit more neutral. It can sound a bit gimmicky to really try and push your own accent, but for us that was just the natural thing to do.”
