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Arctic Monkeys · S1 E3
Beneath the Boardwalk
The legendary bootleg demo CD that fans burned, copied, and passed hand to hand
A concrete shack on John Street, Sheffield, autumn 2003. A teenager starts singing into a microphone and the producer stops the tape: "You're singing like an American. Are you meaning to?"
Arctic Monkeys, Fake Tales of San Francisco (2006). One of the earliest demo tracks, a sharp takedown of scenester posers who pretend to be cooler than they are. The video was shot by Mark Bull, the same Sheffield photographer who would name the entire demo collection.
Fake Tales of San Francisco, Arctic Monkeys (2006)
Fake Tales of San Francisco is Turner at his most cutting: two minutes of pure contempt for anyone who fakes their way into a music scene. The lyrics mock a band who "act like they've got nowt to say" and a girl who claims she was in a band in a city she's never visited. It was one of the very first tracks recorded at 2fly Studios. Listen for how Cook's jagged guitar riff mirrors Turner's sneering delivery, both of them twisting and jabbing at the same target.
Sources
2fly Studios session logs
Sound on Sound, Classic Tracks: Arctic Monkeys
The Concrete Shack
2fly Studios is a one-man operation run by Alan Smyth out of a small concrete building in Stag Works, Sheffield. Turner gets the introduction through his side gig as rhythm guitarist in Jon McClure's funk band Judan Suki, who are already recording there. He pulls Smyth aside after a session and asks if he'll come see his other band play the Boardwalk. Smyth goes, and what he sees is, in his words, "shambolic but fantastic to watch."
Sources
2fly Studios history, 2flystudios.com
Counterfeit Magazine, Alan Smyth interview
“You're singing like an American. Are you meaning to?”
— Alan Smyth to Alex Turner at their first recording session, 2fly Studios (2003)
2fly Studios, Stag Works, Sheffield
The tiny studio where 18 demo tracks were recorded in just five and a half days across five sessions. Alan Smyth's concrete shack is where Turner lost his American accent and found his Sheffield voice.
Give It Away
The band burns the demos onto CDs and hands them out for free at gigs. There aren't many copies, so fans start ripping the tracks onto their computers and sharing them with friends. The files spread to fan websites, message boards, and peer-to-peer networks. Nobody in the band has any idea how far the music is travelling.
Sources
DRUM! Magazine, Matt Helders interview
Wikipedia, 'Beneath the Boardwalk'
TAP TO REVEAL: Who actually named "Beneath the Boardwalk"?
How much total studio time did Arctic Monkeys use to record all 18 Beneath the Boardwalk demos?
Dancing Shoes, Arctic Monkeys
From Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006). One of the 18 Beneath the Boardwalk demo tracks, later re-recorded for the debut album. This is the sound of those demos: two minutes of breathless energy about a Sheffield night out where nobody wants to stop moving. Many fans still prefer the rougher demo version.
Dancing Shoes, Arctic Monkeys (2006)
Turner packs an entire night into two minutes: the dancefloor, the sweat, the moment when you realise you should have left an hour ago but your feet won't stop. This is one of the songs that sounded better as a rough demo, and everyone knew it.
Demo Tape Speed Round
The demos are spreading faster than anyone can track, and a MySpace page the band never created has thousands of followers. Next: how the internet turned four Sheffield teenagers into the most wanted unsigned band in Britain.
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