Indie Chillin’
Arctic Monkeys Are Word of Mouth Worthy

By Dominick Scala

So if you somehow managed to survive this frigid winter down here in sunny South Beach, and the influx of DJ’s, musicians, artists, and party favors for the impending Winter Music Conference hasn’t driven you to complete escapism, I do see a show in our future worth the aggravation of sticking around town for some April fools.

Arctic Monkeys are an indie rock band who formed in Sheffield, England, in 2002 after meeting at Stocksbridge High School. The band consists of Alex Turner (vocals, guitar), Jamie “Cookie” Cook (guitar), Nick O’Malley (bass) and Matt Helders (drums, vocals). Founding bassist Andy Nicholson left in 2006.

The buzz for the band began swirling back in late 2004 when the Monkey’s demo CDs made their way to fans via the internet and spread like a plague through chat rooms and message boards. People became obsessed about the songs, sold-out gigs filled with stage-diving madmen, and hardcore fans pressed up against venue windows, just hoping to catch a glimpse. It was a genuine phenomenon — dare I say Beatle-esque?

Riding their underground momentum gave them the arena to create music with no regard for the opinions of record labels, or anyone else for that matter. Their cynicism for the music industry shines through acts such as refusing record company execs guest list passes to shows which only ended up helping sell out more shows across the UK and Ireland. Eventually, they signed to Domino in June 2005. The band said they were attracted to the “DIY ethic” of Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the label from his flat and only signed bands that he liked personally.

The band’s debut album, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not,” holds the record for the largest first week sales of a debut album in the UK (in it’s first week, it sold more than the rest of the Top 20 albums combined). The album sold more than 360,000 copies in its first week.

The Arctic Monkeys are a gritty and stylistic indie rock outfit. Layers of rhythms and seemingly stacked drums all circle razor sharp wit, irony and attitude.

The band’s second album, “Favourite Worst Nightmare,” was released in April 2007, and their third album (co-produced by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age), “Humbug” was released in August of 2009. Both records were well-received by critics, and The Record Review blog noted that with “Humbug,” the Arctic Monkeys proved themselves to be a “band that surpasses most of its colleagues in terms of songwriting and performance ability.”

The saturation of electronic music over the next week alone should be reason enough to seek out some rock ’n’ roll retribution!

These Arctic brits will kick out the jams at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 1 at The Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., in Miami Beach. Tickets are $23 and available at livenation.com or by calling 305-673-7300.

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