Watch Matt Helders break down the drumming to Arctic Monkeys’ ‘R U Mine?’

Matt Helders has broken down the drum section to the Arctic Monkey’s hit ‘R U Mine?’. Check it out below.
The musician shed light on the drum part of the classic ‘AM’ song in a new appearance on Drumeo – an outlet dedicated to the instrument. During his time on the platform, Helders took part in a series that sees an artist break down the structure and nuances of some of their most famous tracks.
For his appearance, Helders looked back at the writing and recording of Arctic Monkey’s iconic 2013 album ‘AM’, and broke down his sections in the hit single ‘R U Mine?’ piece by piece.
“Making the record was a different process for us because a lot of the time, when we’d make records before, we’d spend a lot of time writing and rehearsing, then we’d go to the studio and press record and get it down,” he shared at the beginning of the video.
“This time, we spent a lot more time in a studio writing. It was one of the records where if we didn’t have a deadline or something to do next, we’d probably still be in there now because it was fun to make. We were trying out our different influences,” he added. “‘R U Mine?’ actually came before we recorded ‘AM’. We’d recorded that back in our hometown of Sheffield, so it kind of informed what the rest of the record sounded like.”
After splitting the song up into sections and talking us through the techniques and patterns he uses in each, Helders played the song. He also recalled how playing it live led to a new “tradition” being born at the band’s shows, where they replay one section after the song is finished.
“We’d put it at the end of the set, where you pretend you’re finished, then come back on again,” he shared. “We always ended the whole show with ‘R U Mine?’ [and there was one time where] where Alex [Turner, singer] ended it, and then he re-sang the ‘Silver lining’ part where there’s a gap, so it was just vocals.”
“We’d already got up and started to walk off, then he went back to the front and started singing the thing that signals that we’re going to come back in,” he added. “We were looking at each other like ‘Is he doing this as a little thing, or does he expect us to do the outdo again?’.
“Now we know, depending on everyone’s mood, if he’s going to do it or not. Doing it for the first time was the really organic version where it felt like it was a good show and the energy was good.”
Check out the full video above.
Arctic Monkeys shared their last album, ‘The Car’, at the end of 2022 and was given a glowing five-star review by NME, which described it as “a swashbuckling, strings-fuelled epic”. It also saw the Sheffield band lock in an epic headline slot at Glastonbury 2023 and head out on a huge world tour – which they ended by bringing out James Ford and Miles Kane as special guests.
Since then, Matt Helders has hinted that he will be turning his sights to a solo project. This comes as he has been dropping brief clips of himself in the studio, working on some ambient, electronic material.
Few details have been shared about the release, and rumours of a solo album have been around since 2018, when he said in an interview that he was underway with work for a new LP and determined to make “a lot” of material to justify a full album.
As for Alex Turner, the frontman recently made a surprise appearance at the Music Week Awards in London, helping honour Arctic Monkeys’ manager Ian McAndrew.
The post Watch Matt Helders break down the drumming to Arctic Monkeys’ ‘R U Mine?’ appeared first on NME.
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