The Last Shadow Puppets: primer
Now modeling on the left is one Alex Turner, whom you must know because he's in this tiny band called the Arctic Monkeys. Dunno if you've heard of them, they won a couple of Mercury Prizes and Brit Awards, no big deal yeah?
On the right side you've got not Paul McCartney shipped back from the past as you might have originally thought, but one Miles Kane, most famous for his involvement in a Liverpudlian band The Rascals. Together (aided by one James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco, super producer and drummer extraordinaire, but that's not very much important for our cause) they make an amazing band known under the name of The Last Shadow Puppets.
Shortlisted for 2008's Mercury Prize, their debut album The Age Of The Understatement was far more successful than either of them could have dreamt. It is an example of absolute musical equality and superb lyrical penmanship, likened to that of Scott Walker and David Axelrod (the musician, not the politician, obviously).
This is all fine and dandy, but that's not what we're here for. The second these boys appeared together on the scene, they caught the public (and the fangirl) eye as being painfully homoerotic.
This post is made so I can convince those who aren't in the fandom to join it - and to give those who are already in it a little to drool about. Onward, dear friends, to buggery glory! Behind the LJ-cut.
We all know about Alex's history with the Monkeys, so I won't bore you with that - it's pretty standard, really. Alex Turner and Matt Helders (now drummer to the Arctic Monkeys) went to the same school in Sheffield (here is a picture of them back in the day) and decided to start a band. They learned to play instruments, recorded songs, realased an album or two and phwoar, super stardom. How? Well, because Alex is, essentially, a lyrical genius who just gets better through time. The lad's got a way with words, but not so that you're grossed out from the preteniousness of it all.
Alex and Miles first met years ago (in 2004 if I am not very much mistaken), back when Miles was 18 and innocent and in a tiny band called The Little Flames.
The Little Flames toured with the Monkeys, and that's when Alex and Miles became the best of mates. That is also when Alex wrote the song You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me. In an interview, he said it was about him having a crush on Eva, the female singer of The Little Flames. He said that when he was watching them do a gig she was looking at the crowd and he was convinced she was staring straight at him, but then it could have just been that she didn't see him because of the lights pointing at the stage. I am firmly convinced Alex is a lying bastard and the song is actually about Miles.
After a while, Miles got bored with The Little Flames because they weren't exactly what he was looking for. So him and his two mates Joe Edwards and Greg Mighall decided to call it quits and form their own band, The Rascals.
And all was well. But was it really?
Although Miles liked Greg and Joe enough to be half-naked around them, he still felt something was seriously amiss in his life. During The Little Flames' tour with the Arctic Monkeys, him and Alex connected on every level - they had the same sense of humour, they shared a love for the same music, but they couldn't express it in their respective bands because it was not quite in accordance to the music their bands were making.
They started to play together for fun backstage and write new tracks for a laugh. Miles was invited to play guitar on a track on the Monkeys' second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare. (The track is 505 - see Miles rocking out here). It was soon that they realized that they had a future and they should do something about it. And thus, The Last Shadow Puppets were born. Plans were laid out, and the pair took to recording the album. Where did they record it? Why, so glad you asked.
They went to France with just each other (and James Ford and their sound engineer, but fuck them) for company, into the middle of the French countryside, aka the middle of nowhere. Nature! Sunshine! Buttsex! The album was recorded in just two weeks. Then they came back, and did a whole crapload of interviews about all the gay sex they had. The journalists loved that, because, unlike Alex who is rather reserved and sarky, Miles Kane never shuts up.
You'd think they'd be shy about their homosexuality, but no: they were constantly on about it. In an interview with Q Magazine they talk about going for a semi-naked bike ride in the French countryside, about big gay bands, and about their mums being frighteningly similar:
Q: What was the first song the two of you wrote together that made you think, "This really does work"?
Alex: For me it were when we discovered that our mums have got the same kettle and toaster. Seriously. And they have the same aura. They're very similar women. We're both only children, too.
Miles: His mum bought me this bottle of red wine [produces from bag said wine, an Australian red called Rascals Prayer]. She's just dead funny and kind. When you've been brought up the same way by similar mums I guess it helps the chemistry.
I bet it does, Kane. I bet it does.
They apparently like to talk about their mums a lot - there's an interview with them in the Guardian (and part two) about them talking about their mums having the same kitchen table, but also there's this:
If you address a question directly to Alex he clams up. If you ignore him then, bit by bit, he comes back because Alex clearly thinks Miles is amazing. He stares at him when he talks and will shake with laughter with very little provocation from his more garrulous pal.
They met by accident and are by now "total best mates". Whatever else you say about them, their friendship right nwo is wonderfully unspoilt by failure or resentment, boredom or bad relationships or whatever else sours creative partnerships and - despite being old enough to know better - meeting them is a little like what I imagine talking to Lennon and McCartney must have been like in 1963 had Paul McCartney lost the power of speech and John Lennon been left half mad through being up all night hammering the Aftershock Evil Traffic Lights.
I believe this might be the right time to mention that Miles Kane worships the ground John Lennon walked on. He constantly raves and rants about the man, about how awesome he was, about how his songs were 'boss' (a word he rather often uses) and how in love with The Beatles he is. He's quite the fanboy, Miles Kane. (Miles' favourite album is Lennon's Imagine. Alex's favourite album is The Beatles' Rubber Soul.) The Rascals covered John's song Instant Karma quite well, you'll find. But the most exciting thing Miles ~lets slip in the Guardian interview is without fault this:
"He turned up one day in red jeans," grins Miles. "That surprised me. I like it when he wears red jeans. When they're tight."
My brain just exploded all over the wall when I read that. Of course, Alex and Miles are notorious for ripping the piss out of reporters constantly, so this might have simply been a naughty fib, but I refuse to believe that.
Next, Alex and Miles were on the cover of the NME.
In the interview (which had a lovely and completely homoerotic spread and a lot of homoerotic subtext), they mostly talked about recording their album in France. The NME being the NME, it only endorsed the sizzling homoeroticism. Have some of the gems:
In a world where music-making frequently seems to resemble just another career choice, theirs is an old-fashioned affection, one based on humour, shared tastes and the fact they can both knock out dozens of tunes in the time it takes most bands to take a toilet break. Watching them finish each other's sentences, agonize over their answers to questions of how well they know each other and embrace when it's time to leave... well, you'd need a heart made of Hoosiers CDs not to find it incredibly sickly sweet. [...]
The album had a vision, you see, and that vision meant the cover would feature them both wearing white polo-neck sweaters while a lit cigarette burned away on a nearby piano. [...] (Alex actually bought Miles a cream polo neck for Christmas, although the shot in question has since been relegated to the centrefold).
The shot in question:
But the interview goes on, brace for epic:
It all happened pretty quickly, written during weekend breaks in Liverpool and Sheffield, one of them bashing out chords on an acoustic guitar, the other pacing the room with a pad, scribbling down chord patterns, lyrics, even just solitary words that fascinated them. [...]
Alex: "A lot of the lyrics chanelled into this idea of a character almost, this dominant, friendless female that you're pursuing."
Miles: "But it wasn't deliberate, we didn't plan it to be about that. But the fact that they fitted together was an early sign it was going to work."
NME suggests that maybe these constant themes of desire were unconscious metaphors, about their own relationship, perhaps...
"What, you mean about this?" says Alex, placing his hand tenderly on top of Miles'. "Well..."
There's a long pause. They both look at each other. Then an explosion of laughter.
Miles: "Come on, mate! I don't know if it's that deep! Ha ha!"
You've obviously got quite an, erm...
Alex: "Quite a what?!"
Well quite a... cute relationship...
Miles: "Quite cute! Quite cute and camp, you mean? Ha! Yeah, I suppose it is, bloody hell! But we were in the middle of nowhere, making music while this fella would buy food every morning and cook for you in the night."
Alex: "We all met there for two weeks and then went our separate ways. I remember being quite sad..."
Miles: "... and emotional when we left. We got back to London, stayed for one night, and the next morning there was, like, a tear in our eyes when we were leaving..."
It sounds like the final scene in 'Withnail & I'.
Another explosion of laughter: "He said that in an interview yesterday!" roars Miles, pointing at Alex.
IT PRACTICALLY WRITES ITSELF. Also, Alex talks about the Monkeys' reaction to his new-found homoerotic love: "I thought it were going to be like them finding a tape where you'd had an affair," he grins. "Like your bird had found an affair tape and was watching you having sex with another bird... but it weren't like... an affair tape... erm, not that I've ever made an affair tape."
YEAH RIGHT, TURNER. We all know what you did with that Super 8 camera in France. Another amazing part of the interview is the previously mentioned how well they know each other thing. At the last question, their worst habit, dancing naked in each other's rooms is mentioned. I'll let you figure that one out yourself.
There's a whole bunch of other interviews like that out there, but they mostly focus on the same things so I won't bother mentioning them now. There is another that stands out, though: on Jo Whiley's birthday, the lads were her surprise present on Radio 1, where they played Standing Next To Me and a cover of Rihanna's SOS. (Is it a coincidence that the lyrics go Boy, I'm felling you, you got me open / I don't know what to do, it's true / I'm going crazy over you?) Jokes were cracked and anecdotes retold, an incredibly funny version of That's Not My Name by the Ting Tings was sung (They call me Miles! They call me Turner! They call me Monkey! They call me Kane! That's not my name, that's not my name!) but also there was this:
Jo: You two are getting on quite alright, then. Are you loving what you're doing at the moment?
Alex: Oh yeah, we're having a ball, Jo.
Miles: If only you could see what was going on now, Jo.
Jo: Is there a lot of stroking going on?
Alex: More than that.
Miles: Get off! Ah, get off me knee!
Jo: Knee, was that?
Miles: Yeah, he's just... he's working his way up.
Jo: I'm ready for you now.
Miles: I bet you are.
Here is a video of them wishing Jo a happy birthday. Alex is ... 'completely plastered' is the term I'm looking for I think, and there is practically no space between them.
Since they're such a popular and handsome band, of course a lot of pictures were taken. Like this beautiful specimen:
Many photographers encountered the same problem, though - rather than looking at the camera, the lads always seemed to be looking at each other.
This also happened during their live performances: not only did they whisper in each other's ears in between, but also during songs. In another interview for the NME, when asked what it was they were telling each other, Alex only said they were "dark, twisted and very private things", while Miles went on to explain: "You'd think we were freaks if you knew some of the things we talk about onstage. We talk about weird things that don't really make sense to anyone else."
The inability to keep their eyes off each other extends further, though. In most of the interviews posted on YouTube, Miles keeps looking either at Alex's eyes or at his lips, and, as mentioned before, they have absolutely no regard for personal space whatsoever.
Their mates seem to notice this as well - in this interview, Miles talks about how happy him and Alex are about their Mercury Prize nomination, but Joe cuts into him and says "You're gonna anounce your engagement", following it with an "OH!" as if to say, oops, shouldn't have let that slip. Thank you, Joe Edwards, for bringing the lulz.
In this interview, on the red carpet at the Mercurys, they're asked some silly questions and the interview is being a general prat, but! there is, always, a lack of space between them, which the interviewer comments on with: "You look like you're about to snog each other." After some initial stammering, Alex replies with a "It's rare that we don't look like that."
Further lack of personal space:
I don't know what's up with the pointing and frankly, I couldn't care less. MILES' NOSE IS ALMOST TOUCHING ALEX'S FACE, WHAT THE FUCK.
This was during their acceptance speech for winning the Mojo award for Best Breakthrough Act - the most amazing moment (at 01:20, oh and at 01:34 again) is when they look at each other and there's a pause and the tension is so obvious you can practically see the sparks and you think oh fuck they are going to snog right there on the stage... but then nothing happens. Baw. (More Mojo footage can be found here - Alex and Miles are on at 0:35 and you can hear Miles' adorable laugh.)
Since we're on the subject of video interviews, this one with John Norris is particularly cool (because in between saying actual truth, they wind him up quite a bit), especially part two in which Alex, again, seems to have drunk a bit more than he should have. There is a delightful moment (somewhere around 00:37 I think) when Alex leans into Miles:
and later (at 02:53) takes off his own jacket with some difficulty, only to have Miles ruffle his hair affectionately. Aw. Aw. Awww.
Tiny little interviews with the lads are also here, done by Uncensored Interview. They're absolutely adorable - Miles talks about how he'd like to be able to freeze time, Alex lifts some weights and they keep finishing each other's sentences. The most adorable one is Could You Say That Again Please?, in which Alex flails his feet and plays with Miles' foot, and Miles grabs his head, cradling him to his chest. Like this:
They talk about wanting to do another album, or maybe a TV series. I don't know about you, but I personally would love to see them in a TV series of their own.
In their latest interview, the one in one of the recent NMEs, it sounds like it's going to be a longer hiatus for the lads: Alex needs to go back to the Monkeys to work on the third album, and Miles back to The Rascals for some touring and maybe thinking about that second album.
The NME, once again, goes apeshit over their love for each other:
Interviewing the pair in Manchester the next day, we can't help but feel like a bit of an outsider. It's well-known that they have a penchant for finishing each other's sentences, but it goes deeper than that. In many respects, they could be brothers: they share the same tall, wiry frames, take the piss out of each other lovingly and frequently.
Yeah, except you got it wrong in two respects, NME: one, they're not brothers, they're bumming. And two, they're not tall, they're bloody tiny. Seriously, Alex Tuner is one of the tinier boys I've seen.
However, the NME wins in one respect - for seeing the homoeroticism and for giving it the appreciation and praise it deserves, thus:
THE PETE'N'CARL AWARD FOR 'GET A ROOM' HOMOEROTICISM
Winner: The Last Shadow Puppets
Wearing matching outfits, gazing into each other's eyes, talking about their 'instant connection'... Alex and Miles' claims that they wrote the Shadow Puppets' album about 'a girl' weren't fooling anyone. Quite simply Alex and Miles are hopelessly, madly, enviably in love with each other. Please lads, just be true to yourselves, embrace your feelings, and have a massive snog - we can't bear the sexual tension.
Thank you, NME.
And to conclude the FUCKING LONGEST LJ POST I HAVE EVER WRITTEN, have two videos.
The first one is something called 4play: The Last Shadow Puppets Documentary - with an interesting name, it is also an interesting video to behold. Features Alex and Miles talking about the album, about each other, about Owen Pallet (who orchestrated their album) and about the gay time they spent in France. Also, a whole lot of Super 8 shots of them being gay with each other. Some of them have been wonderfully gif'd for your viewing pleasure:
Click to view
The second one is a fan-made video trying to do very much the same thing I am trying to achieve with this post: that is, to convince you that Alex and Miles are utterly, irreversably in love with each other.
Oh wow, okay, and we're DONE. I can't believe it, we're actually done. Hope you liked this! And I hope it's convinced you enough to sit down and write me some FIC!
The Shockwaves NME Awards were held in February 2009 - The Last Shadow Puppets won Best Video. Here is their acceptance speech - it features a lot of hugging and disregard for personal space. The sound quality is not that good, but it's the best I could find.
Here is a backstage interview with the lads - you can clearly see they're more than a bit drunk. There is a lot of laughing and slurring and at one point even singing the beginning of Standing Next To Me. Adorable much?
Red carpet pics:
Want more pictures of the lads?
Check out this extremely unofficial Photobucket, featuring some of the best live shots, promo shots, candids and red carpet pictures! Enjoy. AND WRITE FIC! :D