He claims the past two years of success, fame and acclaim have made him for confident and culinary adventurous: “I’ll eat octopus and stuff now.” His favourite worst nightmare is “jumping off a high building. The monocled general is revealed as Matthew Helders – the affable, gag-cracking drummer, called ‘Helders’ by his bandmates. Then, one by one, Arctic Monkeys – for, verily, it is they – scurry upstairs and gorge themselves on a feast of baked bean toasties and Pringles. Then they all cackle, closing in on each other in a huddle over a laptop bearing pictures of themselves a dark, demented coven of Victorian freaks, beasts and weirdos. Over his shoulder peeks a deranged Boer War field nurse, gurning like Florence Nightingale with the face of Benny Hill – the red-cheeked gentleman with the hefty moustache and cigar laughs wild at the sight. The evil circus hypnotist catches the monocled general in his paralysing glare, smoke curling around his blood-red fez.
To celebrate, relive the band’s first NME interview proper from when the band were on the verge of blowing up… This week, Arctic Monkeys release their sixth album ‘ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino‘.