EW: How have the Germans been treating you?
Alex Turner: I just got here.
Did a sound check.
Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Its not that bad a day, really.
This will be your first Bonnaroo.
What do you know about Bonnaroo going into it?
Do you have a sense of what its like?
Not a great deal, Ive got to be honest with you.
I know were going to rip it up, thats for sure.
What can you tell me?
Its in Tennessee, right?
It is, and its very remote.
Its properly in the woods.
Are you comfortable with being in nature?
I can be a woodsman if need be.
Im no stranger to that sort of landscape.
What are we talking?
I think its a lot of mighty oak.
I was hoping youd say that.
Ill have all the oak that youve got.
Arctic Monkeys have been playing much bigger places this time around, with a real arena-sized show.
What other great rock shows did you draw inspiration from?
I like it when its pretty dark and smoky, thats important.
Its pretty simple, really.
It bothers me when theres too much going on in terms of lighting and that.
But theres a reason why you want to put production in a big arena or a big outdoor show.
So weve been trying to do a little more of that lately, but hopefully in a tasteful fashion.
I imagine thats a difficult line to walk.
Im really happy with what weve got going on at the moment.
I think were walking that ridge in an orderly way.
We still have a giant fing AM that lights up.
But I think we didnt blow our load when it comes to the light show.
That comes second after the song and the performance.
Its auxiliary to sonics.
Your album from last year,AM, is quite different from where you started.
Do you still feel connected to early stuff like I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor?
I just let it out.
Its a welcome break.
Youve talked about the hip-hop influence on AM.
Do you consider yourself a hip-hop fan?
Have you seen the way girls dance to hip-hop music?
Its pretty exciting, isnt it?
So I wanted a bit of that.
It was always something we talked about and referenced and listened to in our leisure time.
This album, some of that started to come through, but very subtly.
So we built up a lot of the songs not standing looking at each other in the practice room.
It was built up a lot more like building blocks.
They werent all about two way pagers, but they were never far away.
I just wanted it to sound good in the car, you know?
But also, have youseenthe way girls dance to it?
[Laughs]
You have worked with Queens of the Stone Ages Josh Homme quite a bit.
What is the most important thing youve learned from him?
That was way far out from what I thought we were gonna do next.
We did it, but almost with a cocky attitude.
But when we got out there, it blew our minds, really.
It opened up so many possibilities being that far away, both literally and figuratively.
We rushed it out just to kind of move on, but we didnt really move on anywhere.
Whats the most important item on your tour rider?
And we have a record player on there now.
So its a tie between the record player and the tequila.
So do you travel with vinyl?
Thats on the rider as well.
Every day we request a new record.
Whoever is putting the rider together, therell be a record on the rider every day.
Im always looking for something.
Always looking for that feeling again.
So we got turned on to a lot of stuff just through traveling around getting records on our rider.
I got turned on tothis record by Roland F. Howard calledPopcrimes.
He was inthe Birthday Partywith Nick Cave, and its fing excellent.
The lyrics are fantastic.
I was listening to them just yesterday.
