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[danishphoner]

The Last Shadow Puppets: fulfilling your kinkiest fantasies

Alex Turner and Miles Kane stand on one side of the success of The Last Shadow Puppets, who played Open'er Festival. On the other, you can see multitudes of fans trying to find evidence of the so-called ‘bromance’ of their favourites. And they, as if out of spite, only provoke further fantasies of their admirers. Even during the interview, they talked to me about fulfilling their kinkiest fantasies. See what else I managed to talk to them about!

Written by Katarzyna Gawęska Originally translated by everybodytriesbeinghuman on Tumblr

Translation below

Your duet is comparable to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry’s. Let’s start from compliments – what do you appreciate most in a teamwork?

MK: I think, it won’t be anything new, if I say, it’s thanks to Alex that our every song is so polished – no one else could make them better. Thanks to him, I am trying to push my own boundaries and, to be honest, I wouldn’t be so eager to do that without Alex. I suppose both of us could say that about our teamwork. We just understand in what creative direction each of us is heading towards. It’s difficult to explain, because we don’t need words to describe our thoughts, which melody each one is working on, which song he’s trying to make – cheerful or sad. I don’t know how it works – it’s just that sort of chemistry between us.

How is your work different from the Arctic Monkeys one or from your solo career, Miles?

MK: When I’m working solo, I’m sad, because I turn into a little frightened boy.

AT: When we are working on The Last Shadow Puppets records, we don’t know who's going to sing what. And because of that, we surely have to change our ways of writing, we don’t know everything from the get-go. It’s easier for me to write a song aimed towards myself – I’m writing a certain lyric, melody and I know I am going to sing it, so I’m already aware of my own possibilities. And the way Miles plays the guitar gets me really excited – his music takes me into a whole new world. When it disappears, this excitement is gone. It may sound like working with AM wouldn’t give me any satisfaction – I want to highlight it isn’t like that. With Miles, it’s just… different.

MK: I remember, one time Alex came up to me and said, “I want to see how you spit, while singing >>sick puppy<< in >>Bad Habits<<”. I called him a madman afterwards.

AT: Yeah…

MK: But he was right. No one else would say something like that to me, It was beautiful.

AT: You see, Kasia, I just tell Miles about my fantasies, and he tries to fulfill them, even when they are very kinky, like in that case.

Alex, you just explained, why your fans are suspecting you two of having a romance. You are very close to each other, but an artist needs a little more space and freedom to create, right?

MK: While making this record, we gave each other lots of space. EYCTE is the last song which we wrote. It was created from other unfinished pieces. It was supposed to be thousands of different tunes, but we made it into a one. Before I came into the studio, Alex sent me a demo on which he played the organs and then added different lyrics to it. That’s how it came out, and it’s a great example that Alex had a lot of space. When we played this song, I felt like I’ve never heard it before, which obviously wasn’t true. I was listening to the same thing as before but in a completely different form. And because of that, I started to feel excited again.

“EYCTE” is also your album’s title. Did you give your fans what they were expecting?

AT: Definitely! We hid it behind a red curtain, and underneath is everything they desired.

And what were your expectations for this record?

MK: We tried to bring something fresh into our work. We wanted to make this album different from the previous one. In some way, we got over with it and decided to not force things. It’s just me and Alex, that’s how we are and we don’t wanna change. And I think it turned out very well.

Your album cover turned out very well as well. When people see it, they want to give it a listen.

AT: I think when an artist decides to put something on the album cover or its booklet, they do it in order to show the listeners exactly what they’re gonna get from it. Actually, I don’t really know why I just said that, because it’s pretty obvious. Sorry, I’ll stop binding my time. Let’s say I made six albums, maybe five of them succeeded. The photography on the cover is a dancing Tina Turner. I’ve discovered it a few years ago and immediately thought it would fit perfectly, especially after changing the background to gold. There is a lot of grace in this picture, which is an element in TLSP’s music. It’s a dynamic portrait, which reflects our work brilliantly. As you may have noticed, it’s hard for me to describe some spectrums. Right now, I don’t know how to explain the fact that this cover is an amazing picture. The emotions you start to feel when you see it. Well, you’ve mentioned it by yourself, and I’m very glad you’ve noticed something so wonderful. I can only hope that more people will follow your thinking, and this cover picture will eventually make them listen to it. And yeah, maybe the sounds won’t disappoint them, either.

When I am listening to your tunes, I feel relaxed and calm. Then it hits me and I start wondering how it had come, if the lyrics are so aggressive and sexual. What does going from one extreme to another bring to your work?

AT: Another interesting thing you’ve noticed! It’s incredible that someone gets what’s happening inside my head! I’m telling you how it is. I very often find myself thinking that if the lyric drags on the right and the music on the left, then if we make both of those elements function we’ll create a balance. None of the elements will lean too much on it’s side, because it will be balanced by the opposite. Despite that I won’t generalize and in the “Bad Habits” case it’s the other way around – everything is dragged to the one side. I mean, there are some bows, which create a totally different impression of what our band is like. Not all the time everything has to be black and white – grays in our music are also very welcome. Personally, I’d rather listen for the rest of my life to what you’ve mentioned: meeting extremes in any song. I love that feeling when I turn on a tune and I think I know where how it’s all gonna go, and then the creator shows that he's playing with me and that, in reality, I know nothing. I don’t like predictable tunes.

Talking about lyrics, I couldn’t resist asking. Alex, there are very little lyric-writers better than you. People describe your style as poetic yet simple. Personally, I would agree with that. But how you would describe your writing style?

AT: You ask questions, which require thinking! Maybe… No, that’s not it. Or maybe… That one not as well…

Miles, maybe you’ll try to help him?

MK: For me it’s easy. Alex’s lyrics are like attempts to cross the Nile river on a raft. That’s how surreal they seem to me.

[Laughs] I think that’s the best comparison out there.

AT: [Laughs] Miles has a talent.

MK: No need to thank!

AT: And I still don’t know how to answer it. Miles handled it good, and I think that you [Miles] would describe me better than I could myself.

I’ll let go of descriptions, but I’ll ask you about the general sound of the album. Do you pay lots of attention to the technical side of making music? This album doesn’t seem modern, it’s more like…

AT: Something from the future?

I planned to say, like something from a few decades back, but your different perspective seems very interesting.

AT: [Laughs] We cut a deal then! But it’s a really fascinating situation! We were very excited that for the first record to make everything in an old-fashioned way. This time we weren’t so stubborn about making it so retro-like. We didn’t cut it off completely, but it just wasn’t as important. There are some old-fashion sounds on this record, but if you hear them on the radio, you’ll notice they sound modern. But I get your point! So remember that we still get excited over old amplifiers and such [laugh].

I know that you make new music all the time, so any plans for a new album?

AT: Oh yeah, absolutely! It’s like our… resolution. Resolution to make a new record. Now we are considering various options, we think a lot about the direction we should head to. I am working on a melodic scenario. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We won’t disappear that easily.

[danishphoner]

recalling that one time when i got obsessed with tlsp interviews and might have gathered (almost) all of them for further cataloguing on tumblr but wasn't quite sure if they'd still be somewhat relevant in the present day lmao:

[danishphoner]

Wild Horses | JUICE April 2016

'British wit' has been a much-desired cultural commodity for a long time — Arctic Monkeys' frontman, Alex Turner, and former-Rascals-leader-turned-solo-star Miles Kane, have that in spades. Their charm converged when they revealed themselves to the world as The Last Shadow Puppets in 2008 via their debut full-length, The Age Of Understatement. After a period of dormancy, they're ready to bring the stomp again on their latest, Everything You've Come To Expect. That it's inspired by soul singer Isaac Hayes is only part of the reason to get excited. Here, in an exclusive with us, Turner and Kane furnish details, and yes, British wit.

Written by Indran P Photography by Zackery Michael

Transcript below

Eight years is a long time between albums. Has a lot changed in your lives since your first?

Alex: A lot about our lives stayed the same during that time, but certain things really changed. It's not like there's one theme running through it or that it's about one thing. But what springs to mind when I first think about the record is the recording of it, which was one of the most pleasant experiences l've ever had. We were by the ocean and a lot of friends were there all the time. So as far as the feeling that surrounds it — be it positive or negative — it's certainly the former.

Can we then expect a few love songs from Everything You've Come To Expect?

A: Not exclusively. Though, there are moments in the record that are certainly in the sphere of the love song. But there are some other moments on there that are kind of opposed to that as well. The first time we did a Shadow Puppets record was perhaps the first time we explored the abstract lyrically and thought about words more as just another component, along with the melody and the chords, and how that contributes to the overall feeling rather than always trying to tell a story.

Miles, was there something that happened during the recording process that you remember fondly?

Miles: I was singing “Gangster's Paradise” by Coolio. And then I sang: “As I walk through the chalet of the shadow of death”. And then we put it in the song “Everything You've Come To Expect”. I don't know where we were, but that was spitting something, yeah.

The record also features string arrangements by Owen Pallett. What was it like working with him?

M: He was with us the whole time — recording and writing his string parts. He definitely gets in a zone and then he'd come back and you'd know, if he wasn't happy about it, you could see. He is a true artiste.

A: He can be very serious at times, but we welcome what he's doing. But Miles is definitely like….

M: I've seen him melt. I made him melt. He's fun, you know.

Besides Owen's input, another interesting change-up in your sound is your newfound appreciation for Isaac Hayes.

M: There probably are lots of different artistes or songs. There was the Isaac Hayes thing; there was a bit of Style Council; there was a bit of Dr. Hook — all those songs that have a certain mood. They may not sound like this record, but there's a certain feeling you get from the tunes. We were definitely very concentrated on the Scott Walker thing on the first one.

As much-scrutinised musicians yourselves, are you ever apprehensive about how you channel an influence?

A: We are still finding new things and getting excited about them. It's not as direct. The reference material on the first Puppets record was really the focus. Whereas that's shifted slightly now. We don't have the innocence we had then, I suppose. And back then, it seemed crazy to us to try and make a record that sounded like Scott Walker, whereas now it's not as mad. But when you talk about some records sometimes, I think you'd have a hard time trying to draw a parallel between this and that. Well, or maybe not.

[danishphoner]

The Last Shadow Puppets: ‘We've become aware of our vocal harmony, it's a magical thing’ | La Vanguardia | June 2016

Eight years after their first album, the British band present their second album at Primavera Sound 2016

The Last Shadow Puppets have visited Barcelona these days to perform at Primavera Sound 2016, in what has become the band's first performance in Spain. Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane presented their recent album ‘Everything You've Come To Expect’, an album whose cover is dedicated to the singer Tina Turner, featuring a photograph taken in 1969 in New York by Jack Robinson.

The new album, recorded in 2015 in a Californian studio, arrives eight years after the release of their first album, ‘The Age Of Understatement’, and with Turner and Kane's desire to work together once again.

To warm up the engines, at the beginning of 2016, The Last Shadow Puppets released their new album's first single, ‘Bad Habits’, a song full of soul music and with traces of retro rock that has preceded the official release of the eleven singles that make up the British band's new album. 'Everything You've Come To Expect' has reached the number one position in the UK and Belgium, and the 83rd position on the American chart Billboard.

Alex Turner and Miles Kane meet us a few hours before their performance at Primavera Sound, in Barcelona.

Written by David Palacios June 4, 2016

Translation below

Is this your first time in Barcelona?

No, we've been here before on vacations. We like the city.

Your latest album, ‘Everything You've Come To Expect’, was released on 1 April and has hit the top of the charts. How do you feel about it?

We're delighted to have had so much success. On the other hand, we're not too used to it, because it's only our second album. We're really enjoying our most recent work, and all the concerts we've played so far have been great.

It's been eight years between your first and second album...

Yes, we both have been working on other projects in the meantime, but a chance to work together again came up. It was too valuable an opportunity to let it pass, and we've always been interested in working together.

And are you pleased with it?

Yes, very much so. We're very happy to share a project together. We've become aware of our vocal harmony, and it's a magical thing when we sing together. It is like we're brothers.

How was the recording of the latest album?

First, we recorded songs like ‘Used To Be My Girl’, ‘Bad Habits’ or ‘Aviation’, which is the first single of our new album, and every time we recorded new singles, we were excited about it.

Has it been a gift to your fans after so many years?

I don't think our album is a gift to them, it would be a bit arrogant if we went to each one of them to thank them. People already saw that, on the first album, there was a connection between the two of us, and they fell in love with our music. We knew that the first album was some kind of appetizer for what was coming next.

How is the promotion of the album going?

We're doing a lot more gigs with this album than we did with the first one. I believe that with the first album, for example, we didn't get to visit Spain. At the moment, we've done two shows in the US, and we're going to play at some festivals as well. We're really looking forward to it.

Your first album was heavily inspired by the music style of the 60s. Is the latest one as well, or has there been an evolution?

The first album consisted of music inspired by the 60s because all the reference materials we listened to had that musical influence. Despite that, eight years later, there are still some influences from those years in our songs.

What adjective best describes The Last Shadow Puppets?

‘Explosive’ (laughs). We're like the rock when it erupts from a volcano.

[danishphoner]

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS | MOJO Magazine | August 2008

Abandoning their day-jobs with Arctic Monkeys and The Rascals, Alex Turner and Miles Kane fled to France to indulge their symphonic pop fantasies. Now, The Last Shadow Puppets want to move to New York and record "like Tony Bennett"...

Words: Tom Doyle Photography: Ross Halfin

Transcript below

IT IS AUGUST 2007 AND DOWN THE worming country lanes of rural Brittany, two boyish figures, stripped to the waist, are cycling with carefree abandon. Alex Turner and Miles Kane, the duo soon to begin trading under the name The Last Shadow Puppets, are at the end of a labour-intensive fortnight at Black Box Studios that has seen them successfully commit to tape the foundations of their debut album, The Age Of The Understatement.

It will prove to be a record swimming in baroque pop ambition and melodic drama, inspired by music made 20 vears before either of them were even born. Elated by its realisation, the pair are in heady, celebratory mood as the kilometres pass. Quickly, however, their mutual giddiness begins to give way to shared anxiety. Turner and Kane suddenly have no idea where they are. 

"We freaked out," the former admits, with a disbelieving headshake. "There was nothing there. Just road."

"Then," continues the latter, “we were, like, ohhhhh, don't know where we're going.”

"They disappeared for quite a few hours," recalls producer James Ford, who was waiting back at the barn-housed studio wondering where his young charges had vanished.

"We got back," Kane grins, "and we're like, fucking hell, thank God for that. Felt dead safe."

It was a rare moment of doubt for the pair, who in every other respect appear to be the very model of youthful assurance. It would also happen be the first and last time The Last Shadow Puppets were to find themselves utterly lost.

Eleven months later: Studio A1 at The Premises rehearsal studios, Hackney. Wide-eyed panic has given way to mild creative frustration. It is July 3, 2008 and in preparation for their appearance the next day as mystery guests on Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show on the occasion of her 43rd birthday, The Last Shadow Puppets — in line with the DJ's Live Lounge policy of artists performing unlikely covers — are attempting to remould Barbadian popstrel Rihanna's 2006 hit SOS into something more Puppets-shaped.

As MOJO parks itself on the rehearsal room sofa, Turner and Kane sit side-by-side facing their soundman-turned-kevboardist John Ashton's Vox Continental and Space Echo-enhanced Wurlitzer piano and begin performing the tune as a Be My Baby-styled mid-pacer. Turner is apparently disinclined to gender-flip the lines, "Boy you know you got me feeling open/And boy your love's enough with words unspoken."

The trio strike the last note and silence fills the room. "Bit boring though?" Turner wonders aloud. Kane shrugs. Turner reaches for his acoustic guitar and instantly reconfigures the chords into a galloping rhythm reminiscent of Scott Walker's We Came Through (or, closer to home, The Age Of The Understatement's strident title track). "That's dead Shadow Puppets, that," Kane enthuses. The others fall in behind him, but the attempt falters mid-way and the song falls apart.

"Could we do it half the other way and half like that?" Turner muses. Kane turns to MOJO. "What d'you reckon, mate?" Bit of both sounds good, MOJO offers. They launch into it but can't work through the tempo-bending segue. Turner's mobile rings yet again and, in frustration, he fishes it out of his pocket and hurls it across the room. Tomorrow the pair will revert to their original idea, as supported by a reverby drum machine. Today, however, it is clearly time for a pint.

Settled in a pub around the corner, both sip Becks Vier, their legs constantly fidgeting and fingers drumming along to the jukebox. The now-22-year-old Turner has obviously done a lot of growing up in the year since MOJO last met him, having flown the parental home and in March moved to London. "Down that way," he gestures vaguely in the direction of Bethnal Green. Kane, also 22, still lives at home with his parents in Liverpool.

Together, the pair are almost twin-like in their outlooks and enthusiasms. In interview mode, Turner often still remains slightly elusive and far keener to get on with the business of making music than wasting time analysing it. Kane, meanwhile, burbles along keenly, frequently infecting his partner with the giggles. In these moments, they take on an almost Beatlemania-period Lennon and McCartney dynamic, gasping to finish one another's incredulous observations and comically retold tales that often end submerged in laughter, becoming indecipherable. Both frequently communicate in broken sentences and non sequiturs.

Back in February 2007 when MOJO accompanied Arctic Monkeys on their secret tour of northern England, Kane was a constant presence, performing in support with his female-fronted, '60s-flavoured group Little Flames and often to be found sat at Turner's side in the headliners' dressing room. Having played guitar on 505 from Favourite Worst Nightmare, the smart money might have been on him becoming a permanent addition to Arctic Monkeys. Even then, however, there were other plans afoot.

"Me and my mate Miles have been writing a few tunes," Turner told MOJO then. "Today we were chatting and [both] saying, I've got into having a right good sing in the morning, just getting up and playing guitar dead loud."

Backstage on one date at Middlesbrough Town Hall, it transpires the two were sneaking off to further hone their songs.

"That time when you were with us," Turner nods, “we were upstairs singing in this sort of loft room at the top of that venue. Me and him just playing our tunes before we went on."

It soon became apparent to the two that there was much they shared aside from their knowing humour, Mod-referencing haircuts and passion for 1960s music. Both are only children, and say even their mums are uncannily similar. The pair recall first meeting backstage somewhere when Little Flames opened for Arctic Monkeys on their debut headlining tour in 2005.

"But even on that tour," Turner remembers, "it weren't like we were holding hands or owt."

Kane concurs. "More like holding hands on the next one."

CLEARLY, IN TERMS OF THEIR CREATIVITY AND recorded output, neither Turner nor Kane are willing to let the grass grow under their feet. Both nod at this observation and say nothing. Then Kane turns to Turner. "Remember the phone calls? Went on for ages? I was in Sweden recording [with Little] Flames. I was speaking to him and saying, Oh this is doing my head in. I'd write B-sides, but I just wanted to be doing my own tunes. I'd started to become..." Turner cuts in: "More confident, d'you know what I mean?"

Within weeks of Arctic Monkeys' spring 2007 tour, Kane had formed The Rascals with two other Little Flames escapees, Joe Edwards and Greg Mighall, and almost all of the songs for The Age Of The Understatement had been written. The claustrophobic orch-pop of The Chamber came first, penned while Favourite Worst Nightmare was being mixed at Assault And Battery Studios in London, to be quickly followed by lovelorn vignette Meeting Place and the venomous I Don't Like You Anymore.

"I distinctly remember we were mixing a tune," recalls James Ford, producer of both Favourite Worst Nightmare and The Age Of The Understatement, "and there was one of the [Last Shadow Puppets] songs Al was playing. I was like, That's really good, we should record that. And he was like, 'Oh no, I'm saving that for something else.' Then they pulled me away into a side room and said, 'Listen, what do you reckon to these?' They instantly had a sound, even though they were just acoustic."

In the tradition of Lennon & McCartney, some of The Last Shadow Puppets' songs were written together, knee to knee, while the remainder involved finishing off the other partner's near-complete offering (for the record, the rattling Standing Next To Me is Kane's, while the more reflective Calm Like You and My Mistakes Were Made For You are both Turner's). Both say their writing collaboration was painless.

"That's the good thing with us," Kane states. "You don't feel like…”

"...you've to stand on ceremony," says Turner.

"You'd never be afraid to be like, Oh I don't know about that," Kane adds. "If the other one said it, it would be like... understood."

Ask the pair what The Last Shadow Puppets do that their day bands can't and initially there's silence. "It's just a completely different... process, I suppose," Turner offers, eventually. "So far it's been more traditional in the sense that we wrote the songs, and in the studio it's just two of us really. It would have been much harder if we'd have been trying to put a band together and then go and record it.”

With Turner, had he felt there were things that he couldn't do with Arctic Monkeys and that he had to step outside of the band? "Not primarily," he reasons. "It were just the desire for us two to do something together. I think if you would've tried to prise your ideas from this into your band, it'd have ended up being a diluted thing. Whereas, me, him and James wanted to do a record that it with," reckons Turner. "And also Owen being sort of our age and

sounded like this. It was better that than little bits of it being everywhere else and crow-barring it into your band.”

Arriving in France in August of last year at Black Box Studios (a facility much used by Steve Albini in the past due to his connection with its owner, Big Black/Shellac engineer lain Burgess), and while settling on The Last Shadow Puppets as their chosen moniker – Turner And Kane sounded like a bad cop film, they reasoned – threw themselves into the recording of The Age Of The Understatement.

"We started off," Turner recalls, "and did Standing Next To Me. With that and the harmony on it, we were like, Aw this is great." 

In the splendid isolation of the French countryside, work progressed at an unrelenting pace, broken only by drunken evenings blasting records by such reference touchstones as '60s Bowie, Scott Walker and David Axelrod [see panel] through the studio's skull-rattling monitors.

"It felt like a music appreciation society," notes Ford. "We did notice that a lot of the records that we were enjoying did have really interesting string parts."

Wary of the strings-as-size excursions of Oasis and The Verve in the ‘90s, all three were determined that, having invited Arcade Fire associate Owen Pallett to score for the London Metropolitan Orchestra, the symphonic arrangements of the songs would be decorative and melody-enhancing. "That's a product certainly of that caution we approached it with," reckons Turner. "And also Owen being sort of our age and understanding... not to make it too big, not make it... stupid." 

Back in London in December, recording the string overdubs at Mark Knopfler's British Grove in Chiswick, the pair wrote one extra song for the album, the pounding Separate And Ever Deadly. Today they marvel at the fact that they couldn't find a guitar to use at the Dire Straits leader's studio.

Turner: "It's like a shit-hot studio, loads of plasma tellies, coffee-maker, boss air-conditioning....

Both: (Laughing) "Not one guitar."

Kane: "We were like, Have you got a guitar? We're just trying to mess around with this new tune. And it was like, 'What? No. But we've got Sky TV in every room.' So we rented a guitar for a day."

Mixed as quickly as it was recorded, thematically The Age Of The Understatement seemed to be stalked by some kind of femme fatale figure: "subtle in her method of seduction" in the title track, while in Only The Truth, both warn "don't give her an eye or she'll sniper your mind". Elsewhere, in the atmospheric My Mistakes Were Made For You, she has morphed into a Peaches Geldof-fashioned scenester dizzy with fame: "She was bitten on her birthday and now/A face in the crowd she's not." Both Turner and Kane say the female presence haunting the album only really became apparent after the record was done. James Ford, however, noticed the theme developing during the sessions. "That's a lot of what they talk about," the producer explains. "There was always crazy phone calls from girls and weird things going on. So I think it just related to what was in their heads."

TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE PREMISES REHEARSAL: THE MOJO Honours List in London EC1. Having warily negotiated the red carpet at similar gong ceremonies in the past with Arctic Monkeys, Turner – now a far more commanding figure than even 15 months before – poses cockily and jokily for the cameras with his arm around Kane's waist. He accepts the Breakthrough Act award, saying, "Thanks, it means a lot to us whippersnappers."

In the backstage photo room, they goon around, fondling the Gandalf-like grey beard of their award presenter Seasick Steve who – at odds with his techno-naïf, blues bum image – informs them he had earlier been watching their videos on YouTube.

"That tune Standing Next To Me, boys," he grins. "Real good. Real good."

Today back in the Hackney pub, the pair begin to jabber animatedly with their memories of the evening's shenanigans.

"I got Weller in a headlock," Kane recalls, cackling. "Lemmy as well we had a chat to. He was, like, shaking."

"We said 'All right' to Nick Cave," Turner continues, "but I've never been so reluctant to interrupt someone. He was telling someone a story and his hands were waving and his rings seemed like to form this barrier so I daren't go,

'Scuse me."

Both dissolve when recalling their encounter with Jimmy Page. All three, having failed to grab the attention of Duffy, apparently descended into mucky speak.

Kane: "[Page] went, 'Aw, she wasn't having it, was she?'"

Turner: "And we were like, Oh you were a bit of a shagger, were you, Jimmy? And he were like, 'Yeah…’ Still at it now, sort of thing."

Their laughter fades and Turner appears to grow ruminative. "We certainly felt like the kids that night, didn't we?" he says to his partner.

Both are plainly enjoying their mate-as-prop camaraderie that allows them to play child-like among the wider musical fraternity from the relative safety of their friendship.

At Glastonbury this year, The Last Shadow Puppets turned in a surprise semi-acoustic set on The Park Stage, supplemented by Jack White on their rendition of Billy Fury's Wondrous Place. The fact that the filmed evidence shows him fluffing his solo becomes understandable when the details of how Turner and Kane harangued him into his appearance are remembered today.

Kane: "To be fair to him, he'd just come offstage with The Raconteurs. Me and him, cheeky bastards, ran back and we were like, Oh Jack, d'you want to come play the solo on this tune?' And he was like, 'Nah, man, I'll pass. Thanks anyway.' But we went on at him until he said yeah."

Turner: "We were like, (mischievously) Sit down for a minute."

Kane: "It was only about half an hour before we went on. We ran and got the iPod and it was like (breathlessly), Jack, learn that. He's like, 'What the fuck?' Us two are... (panting)."

Turner: "Then you couldn't hear what the fuck were going on on-stage."

Kane: "He couldn't hear the organ [to know] when to come in. It's not his fault. It wasn't, like, ridiculous. It was a buzz, you know what I mean?"

SUCH MANNER OF BROTHERLY japery, not to mention The Last Shadow Puppets' creative and commercial success (The Age Of The Understatement debuted at Number 1 in the UK chart) begs the question: has their partnership in any way threatened their day bands, personally or professionally?

Turner is typically circumspect regarding Arctic Monkeys. "They're just dead into it, he says. "They were some of the first people that heard it, d'you know what I mean? Probably everyone wanted a bit of a rest this year anyway.” Kane meanwhile admits that this supposed side-project has unarguably overshadowed The Rascals. "Well, it is bigger than my band," he states. "It is tough and probably people do compare. But [The] Rascals is my fucked-up, dark thing and it'll grow."

The Rascals plan to diversify by working with Elbow's Guy Garvey in the near future. Meanwhile, by the time you read this, Arctic Monkeys will be deep into the recording of their third, currently more psych-rock-sounding album, with eight songs, including those debuted on their winter 2007 tour (the garagey Put Me In A Terror Pocket being a stand-out) recorded in January, and sessions recommencing in July. "There's one called Pretty Visitors that's quite full-on," Turner reveals. "The drumming on it's amazing."

Live outings for The Last Shadow Puppets have up until now been relatively rare, though in October the extended troupe (featuring James Ford on drums and Stephen Fretwell on bass) head out for a European jaunt including nine British dates with the LMO. Schemes for a second LSP record are already being plotted, with the pair keen to relocate to New York to write and record an album, possibly live with an orchestra in the old school tradition. "Like Tony Bennett or something," Kane muses.

Recently Paul Weller voiced the opinion that Turner had done the right thing in making three albums in three years: staying productive, learning his craft rather than getting mired in the machinations of the music industry and the treadmill of promotion as many other young artists seem to have.

"Mm, I dunno," Turner half-mumbles. "There's no point in thinking, I've gotta do a record every year. There were definitely an urgency with Arctic Monkeys' second record. It's probably easier now because you're maybe more relaxed. It's just growing up a bit, I suppose. But there's no need to rush things."

He turns to Kane. "I suppose the common ground with us was short attention spans. You get bored. It's 'cos we're still quite young."

The sound of Dusty Springfield singing Little By Little suddenly floats through the air from the jukebox speakers and The Last Shadow Puppets are back drumming and fidgeting to the accompanying rhythm, both temporarily entranced.

"You don't feel like your feet are planted," Turner decides, returning to us finally. "You want to keep wriggling around."

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Puppet Theatre

The melodrama that influences Messers Turner and Kane

David Axelrod

Turner: "We got an anthology just before we went to France. John (Ashton, keyboard-player) had played me that Electric Prunes album – Mass in F Minor and Holy Are You [from 1968's Release Of An Oath]. We played The Fly like a hundred times while we were there Kane: "We got into it loads when we were in France, It was just like, Oh this is amazing." Turner: "It make you feel like... I dunno, it's cinematic, isn't it? Which is where that aspect came from with our thing."

Scott Walker

Kane: "I suppose the gallop [beat] came from that. We got that Boy Child comp." Turner: The Plague is great. We had that Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel album." Kane: "Especially about a year and a half ago l used to listen to him every day. Andy Bell from Oasis said we should cover We Came Through." Turner: "Did he? Well you can't do Jackie. Divine Comedy."

David Bowie

Turner: "That one tune [In The Heat Of The Morning, covered by LSP on the B-side of The Age Of The Understatement 45] really stands out. It's the one we'd both heard. It was on my mum's [copy of] Bowie At The Beeb. And some things seem right to cover." Kane: "We're into Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane." Turner: "I'm probably more into it than I was. I'd only really heard Ziggy Stardust. I'd just not really touched on it before. But once you get into it, the lyrics just..." Both: "Blow your head."

Richard Hawley

Kane: "I'm well into his guitar sound. I love The Ocean." Turner: "Born Under A Bad Sign and You Don't Miss Your Water. They're probably my favourite tunes. And then that one Bang To Rights off that [eponymous] mini-album. What's that one on Late Night Final that's just all Leslie? (Sings as Kane fiddles with iPod)." Both: "Precious Sight."

Lennon & McCartney

Kane: "We love that side [of what we do] the best." Turner: "We like No Reply at the moment. And I'll Follow The Sun." Kane: "Good harmony on that, them two. We'd like to do a tune a bit like that. Have you heard [Help! outtake] That Means A Lot? McCartney sings it. It's on the Anthology [2] CD. It's like Spector, dead reverby. It's their one tune in that style, pure Ronettes." Turner: "I've never heard of it."

Mojo Magazine interview from 2008.

Enjoy! Bits of particular note to me:

- Alex is the one who’s not keen to change the gender of the lyrics in their cover of Rhiana’s SOS

- Alex’s drama queen temper tantrum throwing his phone 💅🏻

- Talk of holding hands 🩷

- Sneaking off in Middlesbrough

- they both wanted to relocate to New York to do a second album (but we now know only Alex got to go and live there 😭)

- Separate and Ever Deadly was the last song written for TAOTU (making those lyrics rather more pointed)

[danishphoner]

Alex Turner talks ditching the 'naiveté' of the previous Last Shadow Puppets album

Alex Turner has made a name for himself in recent years as the slick frontman of British alt-rockers Arctic Monkeys. Though he looks the part when he strides in to meet with EW — perfectly coiffed hair, a bright turquoise suit, and a pristine white linen shirt unbuttoned to the chest — Turner isn’t promoting new music from his most popular project.

Instead, he’s joined by Miles Kane, the former frontman of the Rascals, who created the Last Shadow Puppets with Turner back in 2007, well before the Arctic Monkeys were rocking stadiums and Olympic stages. Kane and Turner have reconvened the group — which also includes super producer James Ford (Florence + the Machine, Haim) and string mastermind Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire, Beirut) — for the follow-up to 2008’s The Age of Understatement.

Where Understatement was a syrupy homage to the likes of Scott Walker, Kane and Turner introduce a more worldly sensibility on Everything You’ve Come to Expect, which includes raucous jams (“Bad Habits”), sly Brit-pop (“Dracula Teeth”), and serene ballads (the title track). Turner attributes the shift on the new album, which dropped earlier this month, to newfound maturity: “That naiveté we shared has long since gone the way of old flesh.”

Kane and Turner sat down with EW to discuss why they chose to resurrect the Last Shadow Puppets, recording at Rick Rubin’s studio, and whether they’ll release a third album.

Written by Eric Renner Brown Photography by Zackery Michael

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The Last Shadow Puppets haven’t released a record for nearly a decade. Why now? How’d you get the band back together? ALEX TURNER: In the last eight years, Miles and I have seen each other a lot, James and I have seen each other, those two probably bumped into each other now and again, but the three of us being together was quite rare. We talked occasionally, like, “Maybe we’ll do another [record]” but it started to seem like it wasn’t going to happen. Then there was this one night and we were all back in Miles’s flat. Some other people got talking about it and we were like, “Oh f–k, yeah, we could give it another roll of the dice.” We woke up the next day and were like “Oh god, we’re going to have to follow this through now.”

And so then, was it just immediately writing and recording demos? AT: Me and Miles had already been writing a little bit for what was possibly going to be next. We always thought “Aviation,” which ended up being the first track on the album, had the properties of a Shadow Puppets song, if there is such a thing. Then it became, “Alright, but it’s not enough to stay there. We’ve gotta try and explore other things.” I guess that’s what the next ten songs do. [Laughs]

Are there themes on the album that you’re exploring? Or did you guys just want to play together again? AT: The lyrical side of things was not discussed that much. But the musical side of it was like, yeah, we should definitely explore.

How did working with James Ford contribute to that? AT: Having him agree to do it again was integral. The moment you start discussing the reference material for too long, it becomes stifling to the creative process. One thing that working with [Ford] allows you is you don’t get stuck in that. He says, “OK, we’re going to push you in this direction as far as we can” but [knows] when to stop. That’s what you want.

What did Owen Pallett bring to the table? AT: Last time, we brought [Pallett] in after we [finished recording]. We met up with him once in a hotel room in Manchester — just the fact that we had anything [from him] on [the album] was blowing our minds. When we recorded that, it blossomed into something that we could never envisage before. This time we thought, “Let’s get Owen to do the strings again, but this time let’s get him to come down to the studio. If he’s there, we’ll be able to communicate better.” There was a piano in the other room and he’d kind of — MILES KANE: Whisk in. AT: Yeah, float in and out and then have an idea and shoot off there. Every time we’d be in the control room and the song would end you’d just hear [Pallett] shredding the grand [piano]. It was wicked.

How do you guys plan to take these songs on the road? AT: Last time, we had the orchestra every time. It’s difficult to do that and it’s f–king really expensive. And some rooms you play in, you stick an orchestra in there and it’s not even built for it. This time we’ll have a smaller [group] and adapt the arrangements accordingly. I won’t be doing that, but…

How have you guys changed since the last album? MK: My singing has changed — [becoming] not afraid to sing stuff, which is something Alex would help. Before doing this record, [I’d be] singing in a certain style thinking “Oh, it sounds too weak” or “It sounds too thin.” That door opened up for me [on this record]. AT: This, in the first place, was a chance to try something else. The first Shadow Puppets record was the first time that either of us had tried to really sing like that. The fact that we didn’t quite make the mark is almost one of the things that’s good about it. This time we’re more equipped to sing like that.

I saw that you guys recorded at Rick Rubin’s studio. Did he stop by to provide his wisdom from the couch? AT: He didn’t, no. There’s a machine in the control room where you can bring him up like a hologram, if you’re really stuck. But we resisted turning that knob. It would’ve been embarrassing for James, more than anything else.

It would hurt his cred. AT: How’s he going to take that?

You’ve said this is like the second in a trilogy of Last Shadow Puppets records: How do you see it fitting in with the context of your last one? Do you think you’ll do another? AT: That’s the dream: We’ve got this third one and we’ll tie up all the loose ends. This one, maybe there’s a few loose ends left and next time, sonically, we need resolution. And, you know, so does the world. [Laughs] Some Shadow Puppets resolution.