Matt Helders explains his approach to photography and shooting Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders has spoken about shooting the cover artwork for the band’s latest album, and his approach to photography on the whole.
In a recent interview with The New Yorker, Helders recalled that he captured the image featured on the front of ‘The Car’ with a long lens from the window of his former apartment in Los Angeles.
“This was in 2019, before we’d started any music for the album,” the musician said. “Alex [Turner] was, like, ‘Oh, wow’. He thought it told a story and that he might write something about it.”
The photograph in question features a lone white vintage car on the top floor of a multi-storey car park.
Helders also talked about being inspired by Terry O’Neill, the British photographer whose pictures capture subjects candidly or in unconventional settings. O’Neill, as TNY notes, also assisted in the birth of rock photography in the early ’60s.
The drummer told the outlet that he prefers domestic scenes over the iconic style of photographers like O’Neill.
Discussing his own photos of Arctic Monkeys, Helders explained: “It’s not clear they’re a band. They’re not doing anything that’s rock, but you can tell there’s something about them.”
Helders, who documents AM’s tour life on his Instagram page, added: “I try to make the mundane interesting.”
The sticksman uses a Leica M11 digital camera and also shoots in 35mm on a Leica Minilux, Leica M6 and Leica M4, per some of his recent posts.
The latest photo on his account is of Turner’s recognisable side profile in silhouette on a grey backdrop behind a sofa and a cardboard box.
“I have a folder on my phone called ‘The Backs’,” Helders explained. “If I’m walking around the street and someone looks interesting from the back, that’s fine with me. I don’t need to ask them to turn around.”
Speaking to NME upon ‘The Car’ being crowned our album of the year last December, Helders said: “It’s amazing to see this billboard [for the record] at the end of my street and think, ‘Wow, that’s a photo I took’.
“It wasn’t something I shot for that album cover necessarily as [the photo] came first before the music, and then went on to inspire some of the lyrics. Alex was really drawn to that image for some reason, so it only made sense that it became the cover for ‘The Car’.”
He continued: “It’s been really exciting, and it all still feels a bit surreal; like, I’ve got that picture up in my house, so it’s become something that I see every day.”
Back in 2016, NME collated 11 of Helders’ best shots up until that point including images of Josh Homme, Iggy Pop and Miles Kane.
Arctic Monkeys recently wrapped up the North American leg of their 2023 world tour, and are due to play two shows in Mexico City this week (October 6, 7).
Next weekend, they’ll begin a four-date arena stint in Ireland to bring their current era to a close.
In other news, last month saw Arctic Monkeys give ‘The Car’ song ‘Hello You’ its live debut during a gig in Vancouver.
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Tom Skinner
NME
