Monkey business as photographer trails band
PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN photographs of Sheffield’s best-known music export will be unveiled at an exhibition in the city later this month.
The rock band Arctic Monkeys, formed 16 years ago by four friends in the High Green suburb, has been documented by the Brooklyn-based photographer Zackery Michael. His work is being displayed to coincide with the band’s forthcoming shows in Sheffield and London.
He was allowed access to the band members as they recorded
their current album, Tranquility
Base Hotel and Casino, which was released in May, setting a chart sales record and becoming their sixth successive Number One.
Mr Michael said: “They are more than the Arctic Monkeys to me – these four gentlemen from Yorkshire are my friends. The images exhibited are a very honest portrayal of that friendship.” Some 25 signed and framed photographs will be auctioned off during the exhibition, at KIAC on Ball Street, with the proceeds going to the Centrepoint charity, which helps homeless young people. It will open on September 17, following a run in London which begins this Sunday. Meanwhile, the album – the band’s sixth studio collection – has been shortlisted for the Hyundai Mercury Prize, which, it was announced yesterday, will be presented by the DJ Annie Mac,
inset, at a ceremony at the Apollo, Hammersmith, on September 20.
The awards show will see performances from other shortlisted artists including Florence + The Machine, Lily Allen, Everything Everything and Jorja Smith.
Also in the running for the prize is Everything Is Recorded, King Krule, Nadine Shah, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Novelist, Sons of Kemet and Wolf Alice.
The shortlist, which aims to celebrate and promote the best UK music and recognise artistic achievement across an eclectic range of contemporary music genres, was chosen by an independent panel of judges.
Arctic Monkeys have won the Mercury Prize once before, in 2007, and were nominated on two other occasions. Their total haul of major awards numbers 38, including seven Brits and an Ivor Novello Award.