- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Arctic Monkeys take to the stage as Web hype swirls
- Date: 9th February 2006
- Summary: LEEDS, YORKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 1, 2006) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHNNY BRADSHAW (Domino Records) SAYING: "They make no bones that they have an all encompassing approach to their fans, there is no segregation there, you fashion kids can be into it. He writes in his lyrics that there should be no separatism in that music and I think what has been coming
- Embargoed: 24th February 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA2YLBNIA3H2MYO5YX7DCV15K5
- Story Text: They hold the British record for fastest-selling debut album, have been labelled the next Oasis and are hailed as the first superstars of the iPod age.
Yet the real proving ground for the Arctic Monkeys, the young quartet who have made it big through the "viral marketing" of their music over the Internet, is the stage.
Judging by the reaction at the start of their sell-out tour, the rockers who sing about the seedy side of life are living up to the hype.
"I think it's fantastic," said Nick Hodgson, drummer for indie band the Kaiser Chiefs, who watched the Monkeys perform in the northern English city of Leeds late on Wednesday (February 1).
"They are brilliant. There's no denying it," he told Reuters.
Four hundred die-hard fans who crammed into the small, dingy university campus bar agreed, singing along as 19-year-old frontman Alex Turner belted out: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down", both No. 1 singles in Britain.
Plastic cups full of beer flew across the audience and crowd surfing was encouraged during a 45-minute set filled with tracks from the album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," which sold a staggering 360,000 copies in its first week.
The combination of cheeky lyrics about prostitution, drunkenness and run-ins with the police, all delivered with a distinctive Sheffield twang, and the role Web-savvy fans played in promoting the band, sets the Arctic Monkeys apart.
"I think the buzz about them is great, it is good to see a band achieving what it is achieving without having to go through the usual routes, good for as lot of other bands I guess who want to get started and do things a bit differently," said Alex, a Arctic Monkeys fan prior to the start of the gig.
The publicity-shy Monkeys became famous almost by accident.
The four musicians, aged 19 and 20, handed out free CDs of their music at early gigs in 2004, which were in turn downloaded on to the Internet by fans and sent across the cybersphere.
They were as surprised as anyone when, at concerts at that time, crowds began singing back the words as they performed.
Their success suggests that the Internet is changing not only the way the world listens to music, via iPods and other download devices, but also the way bands break into the mainstream and market themselves.
"I think the Arctic Monkeys tap into a quintessential Englishness in punk rock or in rock music. I think what is special about it is that it happens only once every ten years. It happened with the Pistols, it happened with the Clash, the Smiths it happened with Oasis, Oasis is probably the last time it happened, and it seems that they are the only band of the last few years that is encapsulating this thing that the British public are really taking this band to their hearts," said Johnny Bradshaw, of Domino Records which signed the Arctic Monkeys.
But the band and label play down the role of technology in the Arctic Monkeys' meteoric rise, and focus instead on the music and the support shown by their fans.
"They make no bones that they have an all encompassing approach to their fans, there is no segregation there, you fashion kids can be into it. He writes in his lyrics that there should be no separatism in that music and I think what has been coming across in the media in the last few weeks is the fact that British public are realising that they are four humble honest lads who are really into making music and are not really interesting in the fuss and the hype that goes along with that. I think that honesty and that truth that the band portray and try get across in their music what is really striking a cord, it seems to be the magic," Bradshaw told Reuters at the Leeds gig.
The question now is where the Arctic Monkeys go next.
Having conquered Britain with lightning speed they will seek to win fans abroad, although the Kaiser Chiefs' Hodgson believes they, like others, may struggle to crack the key U.S. market.
They may also try to play to bigger audiences of several thousand people rather than the smaller, intimate venues they clearly enjoy.
"I'm sure the next time we come back we'll have a stadium or something and play for three hours and have special guests," Turner joked with fans during the performance.
There are even a few dissenting voices, who complain that the hype surrounding the band, which has shunned the media spotlight and declined to be interviewed on Wednesday, is not justified by the music.
"They're not as good as the Libertines," said Rubin Saxon, 21, referring to the disbanded British punk act. "He (Turner) looked like he was bored, that he'd seen it all before." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None