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Arctic Monkeys · S2 E7
Andy's Exit
Andy Nicholson departs mid-tour and Nick O'Malley steps into the spotlight
A manager's office in Sheffield, June 2006. Andy Nicholson sits down expecting to rejoin the band he co-founded. Instead, they tell him: "We're gonna keep Nick now."
Arctic Monkeys, Do I Wanna Know?, live. The band's biggest song ever, built on a riff that crawls forward like doubt itself. Years after the lineup change, this is the sound of Arctic Monkeys with Nick O'Malley locked in as the heartbeat of the rhythm section.
Do I Wanna Know?, Arctic Monkeys (2013)
Do I Wanna Know? is the sound of a band that has reinvented itself three times and arrived somewhere none of them expected. The riff is a slow, hypnotic crawl built on Helders' shuffling beat and O'Malley's bass holding the entire thing together. It's the most-viewed Arctic Monkeys video by a mile, over 1.8 billion views. Listen for how O'Malley's bassline does the heavy lifting, proving that the lineup change in 2006 didn't weaken the band. It made them heavier.
Sources
YouTube view count
NME, 'Do I Wanna Know? review'
The Fill-In Who Stayed
In May 2006, Nicholson misses the North American tour. The official line is "fatigue." The real story: he has family issues that need him home, and the band gets Nick O'Malley from Sheffield garage band The Dodgems to fill in. When Nicholson expects to come back, the band has already moved on.
Sources
MOJO, 'I would have died for that band...'
Wikipedia, 'Andy Nicholson'
“I would have died for that band. But, unfortunately, that band wouldn't have died for me. My world came crumbling down right in front of me. I'd gone from having the next year scheduled to not even knowing what I'm doing tomorrow, and my three best friends had done this to me.”
— Andy Nicholson, MOJO (2026)
TAP TO REVEAL: How did Nick O'Malley prepare for his first Arctic Monkeys gig?
Watching from Home
One year later, Arctic Monkeys headline Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage. Turner is 21. The crowd is 100,000 strong. Andy Nicholson is at home in Sheffield. He later told NME: "I'm sat at home in floods of tears watching it thinking, 'That was meant to be me.'"
Sources
Radio X, 'Ex-bassist Andy Nicholson on Glastonbury 2007'
NME, 'soul-destroying departure'
What was Nick O'Malley doing for work when he got the call to join Arctic Monkeys?
Old Yellow Bricks, Arctic Monkeys
From Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007). The first album made with Nick O'Malley. The title references The Wizard of Oz's yellow brick road, and the song is about wanting to escape. In the context of this episode, it cuts both ways: Nicholson forced out, O'Malley running in.
Old Yellow Bricks, Arctic Monkeys (2007)
"She wants to go home, but nobody's home." Turner writes about escape and displacement, about someone running toward something that might not be there when they arrive. With a new bassist recording these songs, every lyric about change hits differently.
After the Exit Speed Round
The lineup has changed, but the hunger hasn't. In fact, it's sharper than ever. Next season: Favourite Worst Nightmare, the album recorded in fury, and the Glastonbury headline slot that proved this band was built to last.
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To be continued
Season 3: Favourite Worst Nightmare
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