LSPs: We'll do it again

Last Shadow Puppets first radio interview

23 Apr 2008 - Alex Turner and Miles Kane aka The Last Shadow Puppets have given 6 Music their first radio interview today.

The lads dropped by Steve Lamacq's show this afternoon [Wednesday] for a chat about their debut album The Age of the Understatement which is out this week, and tipped for the number one spot this weekend.

Although the pair told 6 Music they won't be playing live dates until October.

Arctic Monkeys' support

Alex Turner's other day job is as frontman of the Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane belongs to The Rascals, however both say that their bands encouraged them to work together:

"Very understanding aren't they? Both the parties. I think it was always inevitable we were going to do something together, just glad it was an album rather than a stage show or a play..."

It's the first time either songwriter has written with someone else; Alex and Miles say what bonded them first was their sense of homour:

"We'd been mates before we decided to write tunes together..." says Alex, on the subject of who asked who, Alex says: "It started as a joke, both bands would say: 'You two are going to make an album'.

Then we joked about an album, the cream-polar-neck-white-piano-joke, we’ll do an album, but the cover will be like us looking at a manuscript, with a cigarette in an ashtray."

The recording process

They recorded the album with Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford in France, who picked the idyllic spot for the sessions as Miles explains:

"I think he'd been there previously with another band... we thought it would be good to get away and not have distractions of going out or what have you.

Then he came back with this idea and we thought that sounds cool."

"There's nowt else that sounds like it " -   Alex Turner

Alex admits it was like a holiday - but it was still hard work:

"It was very pleasurable. Sunny most days, like a nice little place where it were, but then we did it all apart from the strings in two weeks, so we were going through the nights and stuff, but still very enjoyable. I was sad when it ended!"

Miles went on to say that working with such a small team in France made things really easy, and that they would definitely do it all again:

"Cos there weren't many people invovled we kept the original idea quite pure. It were a good relationship, it would be good to do again as well."

The Scott Walker effect

Alex and Miles have talked about their inspirations for this album, and Scott Walker looms large:

"It was just what like ... we were getting into the Scott Walker thing. That Old Man's Back Again tune and The Plague. And the Jacques Borel album, we got into that and... imagine a band doing that now, young lads, dead dramatic."

The strings were added in post production and both Alex and Miles admit they were slightly nervous:

"Hearing strings afterwards... I think we anticipated that would be quite overwhelming and so that made us more like cautious and we just thought like this is going to end sounding like... any other Robbie Williams tune with too much strings on it... nothing against Robbie Williams!"

A second album?

So would they do it all again? Looks like it's not the last we have seen of The Last Shadow Puppets, as Alex said:

"Definitely I think - that's what the sounds of it, I think you can explore that more, there is nowt else that sound like that really."

Ruth Barnes