(Gibson) Arctic Monkeys are set to release their third album, Suck It and See, next month. According to drummer Matt Helders, the album marks a bit of a departure from 2009's Humbug. Helders told The Fly, "Some of the tunes on it are a bit more melodic than Humbug was. It's probably a bit more mellow on the whole."Helder continued, "There are bits in there that are heavy and bits that are fast, but in general a lot of the tunes are based on, I suppose, a more traditional way of writing songs. Starting off with chords and lyrics and melody and putting it all together, whereas before we wrote songs differently. This time, when [frontman] Alex [Turner] was writing songs on his own, he tried a different approach, too."
Recording at Sound City studios in Los Angeles, the Sheffield, England natives were reunited with old friend and Monkeys fan (and Queens of the Stone Age frontman) Josh Homme. "This time we weren't that far from where he lives," Helders recalled. "So the first day, he just came to say 'hello' and to see how we all were, because we hadn't seen him for a bit. Then he came back to have a listen to some stuff, and then it was like, 'Do you want to sing a backing vocal on this song?' 'Yeah, why not.' It was all recreational, mostly." more on this story
