“Basically you get room for three attempts on a tape reel and then you have to pick the best one. It really [forces] you to make decisions, because you can record over it, but then you have to pick which one you’ll lose.” Matt Helders has grown a lot more philosophical since the last I talked to him, five years and four albums ago. The drumming, singing powerhouse behind Arctic Monkeys is no longer out to be the loudest, fastest man in the room. Instead, he and his band decided it was high time they made “a grower, or whatever that means,” and the result, Suck It And See, is perhaps the best indication of how the band have matured under a harsh industry spotlight; well-crafted, multi-layered and effortlessly unravelling, “just like a good film.”
Suck It And See’s most discernible singles don’t sound like singles at all, and certainly the swaggering cut “Brick By Brick”, on which Helders sings lead for the first time, favour riffs and repetition over quick changes and lyrical wisecracks. “I think this time we were trying to write poppier songs and maybe do it in a darker way,” Matt explains in his endearing Sheffield brogue, “Not like on Humbug – but we kind of noticed different ways of doing heavy tunes without necessarily making it as loud or as fast as possible. You can almost get a bit of weight behind the rhythm of it, like Black Sabbath or something.” Those references aren’t for nothing – many of the stronger suits on the album, such as opener “She’s Thunderstorms” and the bass-driven “Reckless Serenade”, have a decidedly late ‘60s rock feel to them – and that’s just the way Helders like it. “We tried to make it detailed and think of it as an actual vinyl record – you know, two halves, Side A, Side B – hoping that people will listen to it in that way, and obviously knowing very few of them do,” he laughs.
Despite coming to prominence in the age of the quick musical fix, Arctic Monkeys are now seemingly more interested in making music with more of a lifespan. Many of the hooks on the album really only sit well the third time around, the lyrics aren’t as snappy and the sound is warmer, fuller almost, from Jamie Cook’s guitars right down to the kick of Helders’ bass drum. Much of that is down to producer James Ford, (of Simian Mobile Disco fame) with whom the band are now incredibly close, and who Matt cites as a longstanding positive influence: “He’s got great taste and can play a ton of instruments really well,” he says. “It’s just really a very comfortable environment. He can do all the boring bits. Like when we’re tracking guitar parts he can sit down at the drums and I can relax for a bit.”
Everything Arctic Monkeys have ever done has led up to this point: signing with Domino when there were many lucrative deals on the table, because founder Laurence Bell “…obviously thought, ‘Good music, good songs,’ not just, ‘Will it be a big seller?’ or whatever.”; instating James Ford, who had been involved with the group before they’d even cut their first record, “…when we were too fast and tried to rush it a bit” to the role of solo producer; and taking a year off from playing live – their longest period ever – to write songs the old-fashioned way, in a cold London rehearsal room. “We had them to the point where we could play them all the way through without changing things, and that meant when we came to the studio we could just worry about the sound of it and getting a good performance,” says Helders. Most importantly, though, it has led to them eschewing the easy route of replicating the same sound four times over by writing an album that demands a more long-term investment, like in the good old days before Matt was even born.
This is what Arctic Monkeys have always dreamed of being: solid, hard-working songwriters. It’s why, for instance, frontman Alex Turner rarely strays near that upper register that used to define the band’s sound anymore, settling for consistency over histrionics. And it’s the reason you won’t hear a lot of Helders running his way around the toms like a kid who forgot his Ritalin anymore. “For me, it’s always been about playing tastefully for the song,” he says. ”I think it’s a fine line for a drummer between just being there to keep time or going off. In a way it’s probably harder, though, to stick to a beat without wanting to show off or go a bit mad.” Sticking to the groove has also turned out to be a technical godsend for Helders, who admits that whipping out complex, syncopated fills and singing backing vocals at the same time, something he is renowned for, actually isn’t all that easy. “I was quite eager to do it, actually,” he says of his star turn on “Brick By Brick”, “and doing it in the studio and knowing I could play it live was obviously quite reassuring as well. There have been points where we’ve written stuff and then backing it up on stage was really hard… ‘View From the Afternoon’ sort of stuff. It’s alright for co-ordination but I’m just a bit out of breath by the end of it.”
Suck It And See is all about recapturing proper breathing space for Arctic Monkeys. It’s an indulgence in sound, recorded at the legendary Sound City Studios in L.A where Nirvana cut Nevermind (“It’s touted as the best drum room in the world,” Helders says proudly”), and, more crucially, a studied exercise in combining musical elements that had previously been taken for granted as falling into place. “Before [on their debut] we’d have a few ideas that we’d put together; a riff, a drumbeat,” Matt says, “and we sort of mish-mashed it all together into making a tune. But we sat down and listened to other amazing songwriters and thought, ‘These songs are good for a reason.’ So that’s why we’re happier with a more traditional or ‘classic’ approach.”
It may be a long way from betting that you look good on the dancefloor, but Arctic Monkeys are finally starting to feel comfortable in their own skin. “The songs from this record, a lot of them seem like they have bits from every record in them,” says Helders, “That’s all we wanted, really.”
By Jonno Seidler
Suck It And See is out now through Domino Records.
