![ill always love these boys
gq:
The Survivors: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys
GQ’s Sean Fennessey interviewed the youngest artist in our big November 2011 music portfolio—the lyrically gifted frontman of England’s Arctic Monkeys. The full conversation is here. Below, a small sample. We’re nearing the end of our exclusive online Q+As… Tomorrow: TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.
GQ: Does it feel good to be out of the hype cycle of your first two albums? Alex Turner: Eh, I guess it has to, really. It’s not like any of us are pining for those days. That was fun and it was great, that we got to make a record [Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not] that connected with a lot of people in the way that it did. And while I think you go through a phase naturally of feeling embarrassed about [that kind of attention], I’m coming around to being proud of that first record and how people connected to it like they did. But I’m really happy with where we are now, with this last record. You can’t spend your time looking back.
GQ: Is there some advice you wish you could have given yourself when you first started? Alex Turner: Any advice I would’ve given to my 19-year-old self I wouldn’t have listened to anyway. [laughs]
GQ: Who are your survivors, or the people you emulated as a kid? Alex Turner: The Smiths was a big one for me. Hatful of Hollow and The Smiths were lent to me, and they made me want to create music that might make another person feel like they made me feel—to have an effect on someone. The person I used to pretend to be when I was playing my Stratocaster was probably Hendrix, who I guess you can’t really call a survivor. Well, in a way, I suppose—his music survives.](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lupoc0e55Y1qe6vsbo1_400.jpg)
ill always love these boys
gq:
The Survivors: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys
GQ’s Sean Fennessey interviewed the youngest artist in our big November 2011 music portfolio—the lyrically gifted frontman of England’s Arctic Monkeys. The full conversation is here. Below, a small sample. We’re nearing the end of our exclusive online Q+As… Tomorrow: TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.
GQ: Does it feel good to be out of the hype cycle of your first two albums? Alex Turner: Eh, I guess it has to, really. It’s not like any of us are pining for those days. That was fun and it was great, that we got to make a record [Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not] that connected with a lot of people in the way that it did. And while I think you go through a phase naturally of feeling embarrassed about [that kind of attention], I’m coming around to being proud of that first record and how people connected to it like they did. But I’m really happy with where we are now, with this last record. You can’t spend your time looking back.
GQ: Is there some advice you wish you could have given yourself when you first started? Alex Turner: Any advice I would’ve given to my 19-year-old self I wouldn’t have listened to anyway. [laughs]
GQ: Who are your survivors, or the people you emulated as a kid? Alex Turner: The Smiths was a big one for me. Hatful of Hollow and The Smiths were lent to me, and they made me want to create music that might make another person feel like they made me feel—to have an effect on someone. The person I used to pretend to be when I was playing my Stratocaster was probably Hendrix, who I guess you can’t really call a survivor. Well, in a way, I suppose—his music survives.
