FULL INTERVIEW
Alex Turner was interviewed by L'EQUIPE, the biggest French sports daily, and indeed, there is nothing about music.
Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, one of the headliner at this year's Rock en Seine festival (August 25-30), talks about his unique connection to sport, shaped by a passion for Sheffield Wednesday and its former striker, Chris Waddle.
They are the last representatives of a glorious tradition. Like the Rolling Stones, the Who or The Cure before them, the Arctic Monkeys perpetuate the legend of an English guitar rock, incisive and creative, whose echo is worldwide. This band from Sheffield enabled Rock en Seine to sell all the tickets on sale for the day of 25 August, almost on its own name. That evening, Arctic Monkeys will set the Grand Scène of the Saint-Cloud park festival alight, thanks in particular to its leader, Alex Turner, with his enchanting voice and haunting charisma. In mid-June, this elegant 36-year-old crooner agreed to do a photo shoot at the Émile-Anthoine stadium, near the Eiffel Tower, and to answer our questions for forty minutes in a room at the Molitor Hotel, in the 16th arrondissement. On this occasion, Turner, cheerful and affable, spoke of the importance he attaches to sport in his life and work.
Now that you live in London after six years in Los Angeles, and spend part of the year on tour, what place does Sheffield, your home town, hold in your life?
It's like a distant memory, but at the same time it's in my heart. And when I'm not thinking about it, I come across it (he reveals a tattoo on his left arm depicting a Yorkshire rose and the words "Sheffield"). It's funny, when I got that tattoo I just wanted to emulate a friend who had just got a tattoo of sunflowers. I didn't think, "This will be a good way to remind me of where I'm from." But in reality, that's exactly what happens.
Growing up in Sheffield, do you feel compelled to support Wednesday or United, the city's main clubs, and listen to local musicians like Pulp, The Human League or Joe Cocker?
For football, yes, you have to make a choice between the two clubs. As far as music is concerned, I wouldn't be so sure because as a kid I didn't listen to The Human League or Joe Cocker. But the latter was still present in my life because one of our neighbours had known him at British Gas, where Cocker had worked before breaking into music. He used to tell us about him...
Like Manchester, do the people of Sheffield take pride in the famous footballers and artists who come from their city?
Yes, for example, people know that Sheffield is home to the oldest surviving football club in the world (Sheffield FC, founded in 1857, now playing in the Seventh Division). But let's say that this pride is perhaps more discreetly displayed than in the other city you mentioned. (He laughs.)
How important was sport in your youth?
I did a bit of BMX to be like Matthew (Helders, his childhood friend and drummer for the Arctic Monkeys). But he was a real champion at it, while I kept falling over. Then, from the age of 14, I became obsessed with basketball. I played intensively for two years until one day, with my school team, we lost a game 82 to 10! I can still remember the score and the feeling of being beaten for a whole game. I suddenly realised that I would never play in the NBA... It came much earlier. I wasn't given a choice, it was my family's club... In fact, the first time I went to Hillsborough (the stadium where Wednesday's games are played), it was with my father and my aunt, after visiting my grandmother. I was seven years old and it was a big event in the family, everyone was telling me, "This is the big day!"
What memories do you have of that experience?
First of all, I was very impressed by the panoramic view of the interior of Hillsborough when I reached the stands. It was a real visual shock, which I sometimes think about now when I see the inside of a stadium where we go to play concerts for the first time.
And the match itself?
We beat Liverpool 3-1 (on 4 December 1993). I remember Wednesday's last goal, scored by Mark Bright. Bruce Grobbelaar (Liverpool's goalkeeper) had come out the wrong way and Bright had calmly scored into the empty net, it was that kind of action where you know it's going to be a goal long before the ball crosses the line. From the stands, it was thrilling. I also remember the noise of the crowd, which scared me a bit. I remember the noise of the crowd, which scared me a bit, especially because a Liverpool fan, who was not far from us in the North Stand, was heckled.
Do you still follow Wednesday's results today?
Of course I'm watching. And if I'm not, Jamie (Cook, the Arctic Monkeys' guitarist), who is the most football-minded of us all, keeps me informed. I saw that they just missed out on promotion last season (the club, which is in the Third Division, failed to make the semi-finals of the promotion play-offs). I hope they go up next year.
In 2018, during a concert in Newcastle, you sang two songs in praise of Chris Waddle during the performance of the song 'Mardy Bum'. Was this a way of celebrating his time at Wenesday?
Yes, and in fact he was playing in that famous 1993 victory over Liverpool. When I was a kid, I had a shirt with his number on it. I loved the ease with which he made differences with the ball. Even today, when I'm feeling a bit sad, I sometimes watch videos of his best moves to cheer me up... And then he was in the audience and came to see us in the dressing room. Facing him, I was as if petrified as I listened to him telling stories of his time at Wednesday. I didn't know what to say to him...
This love that you and the other members of the Arctic Monkeys share for Wednesday is not reflected in your music. The only reference we've found is to match footage that appears in the first version of the video for 'Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair' ...
Yes, maybe it's because of the reserve of the Sheffield people I mentioned before, which differentiates us from the city you mentioned and a band from there (he makes an amused reference here to Manchester and Oasis, whose members have often dramatised their attachment to Manchester City). For example, I wouldn't imagine myself playing a gig wearing a Wednesday shirt, that would be artificial.
Also, your lyrics rarely refer to sport.
Yes, because you need references that speak to everyone. But I've ventured into it sometimes, like in the track One for the Road (in 2013), where I sing, "From the bottom of your heart, the relegation zone." (He says it in French.) I think the sports metaphor works well here, but it's not easy to find.
Manchester United fans claim that when you perform the 2013 song 'No. 1 Party Anthem' live, you replace the word 'antenna' with 'Cantona' as you sing, "Leather jacket, collar popped like antenna."
I've been talking to a Frenchman about football for twenty minutes now and I was just surprised that Cantona hadn't been mentioned yet! (He laughs.) I've heard about this rumour. And, to be honest, I would have loved to have had this idea and to have mentioned Cantona in a title, but I didn't. It just goes to show that I still have some way to go! Anyway, I wouldn't risk singing Cantona's name during a concert because I'd pronounce it in English, it wouldn't sound like the word "antenna" at all and I'd be afraid it would derail the whole song.
Another of your songs deals with sports in a cryptic way: 'American Sports' (2018).
Now I have to remember the lyrics to this song (we show him the text on our phone and he reads a passage aloud). "The trainer's explanation was accepted by the steward! (This is a phrase my grandfather came up with, referring to his passion for horse riding. He once wrote it down on a piece of paper and told me it sounded good and that I should use it. I should have credited my grandfather on American Sports! But now that I think about it, the starting point for the song was the observation that there is something spectacular, even explosive, about the way Americans stage professional sports.
In this title, it seems that sport is presented as the opium of the people. Do you think that too much importance is given to sports news?
I think there is no good answer to this question. Personally, I would find it hard to subscribe to this theory because I spend more and more time watching sport on television, whether it's tennis, F1, football... For example, I loved Real Madrid's exploits in the Champions League last season, it was exciting to follow. And at the beginning of June, I was walking around London saying to myself: "I can't wait for the football World Cup, I miss it..."
Do you have a problem with the World Cup in Qatar taking place at the end of the year?
No, it's just that we're so used to June and July being taken up by the competition every four years that it creates a lack of activity... In any case, I don't agree with those who say that sport puts people to sleep. When I watch a competition on TV, I feel involved, I live the thing to the full. On the contrary, when I watch series like those on Netflix, I tend to lose my concentration.
How are you doing in sport today?
I run a bit and sometimes I do muay-thai (Thai boxing) training. I discovered this discipline about 12 years ago, when I was in a nightclub in New York. I was talking to a security guard from the north of England and he encouraged me to train with him. I really enjoy it, it's good for your body and your head, during the sessions you don't think about anything else. But I have to be honest, I will never have the level to fight one day in a cage like a UFC fighter... In short, I didn't excel in any of the sports I did.
So you'll never be like Mick Jagger, who is 79 years old and has been doing gymnastics every day for years to stay as fit as possible...
No, I'll never be Mick Jagger. But we're working on it anyway (he smiles).
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Alex Turner was interviewed by L'EQUIPE, the biggest French sports daily, and indeed, there is nothing about music.
