Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford on 'AM': 'All bets are off'

August 1, 2013 16:46

The band wanted to "push things on and do something different" on this album, he says

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Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford has said that "all bets were off" when the band recorded their latest album 'AM'.

Ford, who is also one half of Simian Mobile Disco, has recorded all of the band's material since 2006, as well as The Last Shadow Puppets' album and Alex Turner's soundtrack to the film Submarine. He co-produced the band's fifth studio album at LA's Sage & Sound Studios with Ross Orton and it will be released on September 9.

Speaking about the making of 'AM' to NME, Ford revealed: "On the last record we tried to do a 'band in a room' type thing, with barely any computers used. It was very much to tape. But this one was a case of 'all bets are off'. The band wanted to push things on and do something different. So to move it on and make it sound different we were very open to using bits of keyboards or drum machines, or whatever worked for the song really."

When asked if he had a brief for this album, Ford replied: "There was no brief other than to make an interesting album. Obviously I'd seen the songs as they were demos, and I think that around the time of 'R U Mine?' they struck upon this riffy, slow and heavy thing. But then with this slightly strange hip-hop, slightly R&B sense to some of the melodies and structures. There was a bit of that in there. Really, they just wanted to push it on and do something different, and keep moving forward. My job is to really to try and help bring their ideas out and distil and crystallise what they want it to be, and help them achieve that. There's a Sabbath-y thing in there too, but obviously it's all filtered through Alex's songwriting and the band's playing."

To read the full interview with James Ford, click here.

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Arctic Monkeys Tickets

Date/Time	Venue	Town/City	Seetickets	Viagogo
Oct 22, 2013	Newcastle Metro Radio Arena	Newcastle
Oct 22, 2013	Metro Radio Arena	Newcastle	Tickets not currently available.
Oct 23, 2013	Manchester Arena	Manchester
Oct 25, 2013	Earl's Court	London
Oct 26, 2013	Earl's Court	London
Oct 28, 2013	Liverpool Echo Arena	Liverpool
Oct 28, 2013	Echo Arena	Liverpool	Tickets not currently available.
Oct 29, 2013	Motorpoint Arena Cardiff	Cardiff
Oct 31, 2013	Lg Arena, The Nec	Birmingham
Oct 31, 2013	Lg Arena	Birmingham	Tickets not currently available.
Nov 01, 2013	The Hydro	Glasgow
Nov 01, 2013	Hydro	Glasgow	Tickets not currently available.
Nov 02, 2013	Motorpoint Arena	Sheffield
Nov 02, 2013	Motorpoint Arena Sheffield	Sheffield	Tickets not currently available.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nmecom/rss/newsxml/~3/qTKAgK-BdO0/story01.htm

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