Ones to Watch:
Arctic Monkeys
words: Pete Mella
December 2003
S015
As names go it’s by far not the best in the world, but looking past that Arctic Monkeys show real promise. A handy reference point would be Libertines, as they share with those cockney chancers a celebration of the more English side of the garage rock coin, and dress a bit like Dickensian street urchins. They take on the good points of bands like the Who (not the shit bits Noel Gallagher copies), and manage to pay homage to their musical heroes without resorting to pale imitation.
They seem to have what it takes, and are reminiscent of Fights in the sense they fit the current musical climate so well you feel they should be thrown bodily in the direction of the national press rather than playing the local pub circuit. They’ve not been going long, and it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here.
