Arctic Monkeys

The seed for mega-selling indie giants Arctic Monkeys was planted way back in 2001 in Sheffield, England, when frontman Alex Turner - now dating TV darling and model Alexa Chung – and guitarist, Jamie Cook, got their hands on their first ever guitars.

Recruiting school chums Andy Nicholson on bass and Matt Helders on drums, they formed a band and began writing and rehearsing together. A couple of years later with their chemistry fine-tuned, they began playing live shows and showing the initiative that would go on to make them the first bona fide MySpace sensations, they gave away CD demos of their tunes after the gigs.

These tracks quickly found themselves onto file sharing websites and exposed A-Mos to a much wider audience. When the band discovered MySpace, they got the chance to upload their songs in an official capacity. Before they’d even signed a record deal, let alone released a single, the lads were HUGE.

People couldn’t get enough of their ferociously funky guitar tunes or Alex Turner’s wry and witty, socially conscious lyrics, all sung in his thick northern English

A 2005 EP, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys, was pressed onto vinyl and CD, as well as iTunes, and they began playing small stages at British festivals, drawing large crowds.

The band's first single, 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,' rocketed to Number One in the U.K. in late 2005 and the following January, their first album, ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', became one of the fastest-selling British albums of all time, beating the first Oasis album as the biggest debut in U.K. rock history. While in the States it entered the Billboard Top 100 at a respectable No 24.

Second single, ‘When the Sun Goes Down,’ also went straight to No 1 in England and they followed it up in April 2006 with an EP called 'Who the F*ck Are Arctic Monkeys?'

In the same year original bassist Nicholson left the group, citing exhaustion. A fellow Northerner, Nick O'Malley, filled the gap on the lads’ tour and eventually became a permanent member.

In April 2007, the guys’ second album, ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’, was released, going straight to Number 1 in the U.K. and Number 7 in America.

Most recently Turner formed side project Last Shadow Puppets with his mate Miles Kane from Liverpool band, Rascals. Their album The Age of Understatement hit the UK top spot when it was released in May 2008. Arctic Monkeys are currently working on their third album with a late 2010 date penciled in.

By Sarah-Louise James