Matt Helders on Arctic Monkeys’ new album: “It’s never gonna be like ‘R U Mine?’ and all that stuff again”

nme.com:

Matt Helders has spoken about Arctic Monkeys’ upcoming new album, saying that musically it “picks up where ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ left off”.The Sheffield four-piece have yet to officially announce the follow-up to their May 2018 album, but new music from the band is expected to arrive this year given that the Monkeys are heading out on tour in August.AM drummer Helders has now given fans an indication about what to expect from their next record.

Speaking to Mike Dolbear for this year’s DrumathonLIVE 2022, Helders said that the Monkeys’ next album will be in a similar vein to 2018’s ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’.“It kinda like picks up where the other one [‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’] left off musically,” Helders said (you can watch his interview in the below post at the 45-minute mark).A post shared by Mikedolbear.com (@mikedolbearcom)“I mean, it’s never gonna be like [2012 ‘AM’ single] ‘R U Mine?’ and all that stuff again, you know, the heavy riffs and stuff.“But there are riffs in there and [it’s] a bit more up-tempo, even though it’s not loud,” he added. “It’s hard to explain!”After it emerged in August 2021 that the band had been recording new music in Suffolk, Helders told BBC Radio 5 Live in November that Arctic Monkeys “always do try and do something a bit different” with each release.Asked if the new album was “ready to go”, Helders replied: “Yeah, pretty much, yeah.

It was a bit disjointed how we had to do it, and there are bits to finish off, but yeah, it’s all in the works.” Arctic Monkeys will headline Reading & Leeds in August – their only two UK live appearances scheduled for 2022 so far – while their tour will also visit Europe, North America, South America and Australia..