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Arctic Monkeys’ Latest Josh Homme Team-Up Was a ‘Family’ Affair

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys have shed a little more light on their upcoming fifth album, AM, announced yesterday and due out September 10 via Domino. For starters, the U.K. band’s singer-guitarist Alex Turner said Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme’s appearance on the album was both casual and potentially unusual. Homme produced half of Arctic Monkeys’ 2009 album Humbug, and Turner lent backing vocals to QOTSA’s recent …Like Clockwork cut “If I Had a Tail.”

“The Josh thing was very much a case of one of us returning a back scratch to the other,” Turner said in an interview last night with BBC Radio 1 ‘s Zane Lowe (via NME). “He came down and sort of got us out of a little rut. It’s just fun, it’s friends, extended family now — [they] came round, had a fun night. His contribution to our record is really exciting, it’s probably my favorite. The 30 seconds that he’s in there is just, I dunno, it’s like something that I’ve never heard before.”

The happiest news for Arctic Monkeys fans, though, might be that Turner confirmed last year’s bruising Record Store Day single “R U Mine?” was the catalyst for AM‘s direction (it’s included on the track list). “The record sort of started with ‘R U Mine?’ really,” Turner said. “[We] discovered something through the recording of that tune that we thought was worth exploring.” He added that latest single “Do I Wanna Know?” “was the first thing we found along that road.” 

Arctic Monkeys 2013 tour dates: 

June 25 – Zagreb, Croatia @ Inmusic Festival
June 28 – Somerset, England @ Glastonbury Festival
July 4 – Gdynia, Poland @ Open’er Festival
July 6 – Moscow, Russia @ Subbotnik Festival
July 10 – Rome, Italy @ Rock In Roma
July 11 – Ferrara, Italy @ Piazza Castello
July 13 – Wiesen, Austria @ Harvest of Art Festival
July 15 – Carcassonne, France @ Festival de la Cite
July 16 – Six Fours, France @ Les Voix Du Gaou
July 18 – Alcantara, Portugal @ Super Bock Super Rock
July 20 – Benicassim, Spain @ Benicassim
July 22 – Vienne, France @ Arenes de Vienne
July 24 – Nyon, Switzerland @ Paleo Festival
August 30 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Zurich Openair
September 1 – Stradbally, Ireland @ Electric Picnic Festival
September 15 – Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
September 18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center for Performing Arts
September 21 – Atlanta, GA @ Music Midtown Festival
September 23 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
September 27 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
September 29-30 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
October 4 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
October 5 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity Theatre
October 7 – Chattanooga, TN @ Track 29
October 8 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
October 9 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City Birmingham
October 11 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival 
October 13 – Mexico City, Mexico @ Corona Capital Festival
November 7 – Paris, France @ Zenith
November 9 – Brussels, Belgium @ The Forest National
November 13 – Milan, Italy @ Mediolanum Forum