Monkey Business

Alex Turner, frontman for British foursome Arctic Monkeys, is a scrawny nineteen-year-old with spotty skin who mumbles like the shyest kid in your freshman dorm. He's also England's fastest-rising rock star. Arctic Monkeys' first single, the rambunctious guitar blast "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," debuted at Number One there in October, thanks to a fan base that grew around free MP3s of the band's demos.

"One minute we were at college and stuff," says Turner, who still lives in his parents' house in a suburb of Sheffield, England. "And the next minute all this happens." Even though their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, won't be released in the States until February 21st, Arctic Monkeys sold out a U.S. tour last fall; at the New York opener, Turner begged overexcited hipsters to stop snapping pictures for their blogs.

The band has since won praise from the likes of Mick Jagger and the Strokes. But three years ago, Arctic Monkeys were just another group of teenage friends messing around in a garage with instruments they couldn't play. "We just wanted to be a band -- playing anything was quite an achievement," says nineteen-year-old drummer Matt Helders. After months of thrashing through Vines and White Stripes covers, Turner began bringing in his own songs. The breakthrough was "Fake Tales of San Francisco," a hooky, sharply observed nightlife portrait, with ska rhythms and one Elvis Costello-worthy pun: "All the weekend rock stars are in the toilet/Practicing their lines."

At local gigs, the group gave away home-burned demo CDs of its punky, Brit-poppy tunes, which evoke Blur and the Libertines. Soon, fans posted the songs online, and ever-larger crowds of kids were singing along with Turner's uncannily smart lyrics. Last spring, Arctic Monkeys ended a bidding war by signing with U.K. indie label Domino Records, home to Franz Ferdinand.

The band hopes the hype from its fairy-tale ascent won't distract from its music. "We wanted to find a sound separate from changing styles and times," says Turner. "More than anything, we just want our album to be remembered."