Alex Turner Still Wants To Be In Arctic Monkeys

22 May 2018, 11:21 | Updated: 22 May 2018, 11:46

Arctic Monkeys 2018. Picture: Zackerey Michael/Press

The frontman has dismissed the prospect of going it alone in a recent interview.

Alex Turner maintains he won't go solo because he enjoys the "company" of his Arctic Monkeys bandmates.

The frontman has been with the band since they formed in 2002, and whilst it was speculated that their most recent record, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, was originally meant to be Alex's solo material, he's revealed the idea doesn't appeal to him because he needs the "encouragement" of his bandmates.

"I enjoy their company," Turner told The Sunday Times.

The Four Out of Five singer explained: "So, for instance, on this project I was really unsure about what I was doing and lost with it completely. Then, when Jamie [Cook, guitarist] came out to LA to join me and we worked on stuff together, through his encouragement suddenly I felt completely different.

"[Cook] getting excited about it, like the way I remember him getting excited about some idea in his bedroom in his mum's house when we were 16 ... I still get that buzz out of his reaction."

Watch Alex Turner talk about the title of the new album:

Despite their sixth studio album receiving mixed reviews from the fans, Arctic Monkeys smashed Liam Gallagher's record to become the fastest-selling vinyl LP in the last 25 years.

Speaking to Radio X's John Kennedy, the frontman also revealed how his Grandad helped him with the lyrics to album track American Sport.

Listen to the track here:

“I was visiting my granddad, and I’d not yet started writing for this album," revealed Turner.

“We were talking, he and I, and he declared out of nowhere: ‘You know I often think of phrases from time to time that I think you might be able to do something with’.

“I thought, alright, I can take all the help I can get at this point, I’m sort of drawing a blank. What have you got in mind?

“He’s a horse racing fan, and whenever there’s a steward’s inquiry, what you hear back after is: ‘The trainer’s explanation was accepted by the steward’."