Matt Helders ♥♥
On music: The real hero of Sheffield's best band
It's ordinary-man, matter-of-factness that gives Arctic Monkeys their charm - and we should thank drummer Matt Helders for reminding us of it
Who's that band on the cover of this week's NME, on the roof of a New York building? Slap your mardy bum in surprise - it's Arctic Monkeys, having just mastered their third album in Manhattan's West Village. Look inside the magazine and you see that three members have fashionably unkempt hair, smart jackets and sober shoes. They no longer look like the scruffy teenagers who ignited British indie - four years on, they look like artful twentysomethings who covet grooming products.
Then there's the other one. His hair is still short, probably buzz-cut by a barber back home in High Green. He wears bulky trainers, not Chelsea boots like Alex Turner. But that doesn't mean Matt Helders is unhappy to be in the band - in interviews, he's obviously having the time of his life. But Helders's lack of pizzazz means people often forget about him. It's a shame, given that he's the real hero of Sheffield's best band.
Let the Helders love-in start here. He comes across as the home-loving boy who grounds his group well. Go to Arctic Monkeys' YouTube channel and you'll find the behind-the-scenes videos he puts together. We're shown crap hotel swimming pools, his mum's cushion-covered sofa, and even P Diddy's kitchen, from the daft perspective of a normal Yorkshire lad. It's that ordinary-man matter-of-factness that gives Arctic Monkeys the charm that so many of their competitors lack, and we should thank Helders for reminding us of it.
Then, more importantly, there's his skill as a drummer. Let's give this some context: drumming is a very underrated, and misrepresented art. I blame the people who gave weight to John Lennon's quip that Ringo Starr wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles - they forget Lennon's tendency to tease, as well as the way Starr's behind-the-beat playing made Abbey Road so languid, and how Rain falls much sweeter thanks to his fills. We tend only to notice larger-than-life drummers - Keith Moon, who set off explosives in his drums, or John Bonham, best known for his 30-minute solo in Led Zeppelin's Moby Dick. I'm not arguing with Moon and Bonham's incredible gifts, but isn't there something embarrassingly adolescent in the fact that drummers are only adored if they play onanastically and drink themselves to death?
Helders doesn't play like that at all. He reminds me instead of the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts - whose talents are talked about less than his suits, but whose insistent, unfussy playing sets up the sound of his band. Listen to Under My Thumb from 1966, for example, and hear how Watts's terse beats set up the tensions behind Jagger's cruel lyrics. Then listen to Arctic Monkeys' debut single, I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, and hear how Helders's urgent drum rolls conjure teenage lust. By setting up pulses that are sensitive to the subjects of these songs, neither distracts from the lyrics and sentiments. Instead, they give them lifeblood.
All through Arctic Monkeys' debut, and 2007's Favourite Worst Nightmare, Helders's skill can be heard. He gives Leave Before The Lights Come On's simple sentiments a soft, simple background, and Brianstorm's character assassination an unrelenting charge. His 2008 Late Night Tales DJ compilation also reveals his inquisitive ears - the Italian prog rock of Goblin, the French-Japanese funk of Yamasuki, and a cover of Livin' Joy's rave classic, Dreamer, all point to his passion for rhythm and metre.
So as the release of Arctic Monkeys' third album gets closer, let's raise a drumstick to Helders. Or better: let's start a campaign for the unsung drummers of rock - for the indefatigable, sensitive, ordinary souls who give music its mettle. I've thought of another already - Mike Joyce, a man dismissed by the now mediocre Morrissey, but a player who gave The Queen Is Dead its great rush. Many more sticksmiths will follow in your minds, I'm sure. When they do, take in how their styles get under your skins as well as the ones on their snares, and don't let their beats be beaten.
Matt Helders FTW. ♥♥
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