Arctic Monkeys: The Smiths Were A Key Influence On 'Suck It And See'

Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner has revealed that The Smiths had a large influence on their latest album 'Suck It And See'.

In an interview with BBC 6Music, Turner said he didn't mind if people compared the band's new record to the Manchester legends.

He said: "I love The Smiths. I don't know if I was listening to a great deal of it while I was writing this last record but I don't mind that coming through in our songs at all. The other influence we have from Manchester, I suppose, is John Cooper- Clarke and whilst I think his influence is really prevalent in that first record it also still hangs around in some of the couplets on this new Monkeys album as well."

Alex Turner revealed that he has enjoyed the role of being a frontman more on the band's recent tour: I have started to enjoy that side of things and I've done things on stage recently that I never thought I would have done.

Being up there in the limelight, if you like, is something that didn't come naturally to me at all, like singing, it's something that has built up over time. But now I'm doing stupid crowd participation things like shouting, 'just this side sing'. That was a gag that we used to have in the practice room but I actually went through with it the other night and felt like I had to apologise.

Arctic Monkeys - live photos