Arctic Monkeys Get Farm Fresh in ‘One for the Road’
In the Arctic Monkeys‘ latest video, for “One for the Road” off their fifth album AM, the group finds themselves in a place that’s neither arctic, nor native environs for primates: a farm. Guitarist Jamie Cook drive tractors (in three-piece suits), the quartet strike poses in a cornfield to show off frontman Alex Turner’s quasi-pompadour and, later, Cook trades his tractor for a flatbed semi. It’s like if American Graffiti were though tractor-focused, with a tailgate party featuring models and fireworks, as is the Monkeys’ wont.
Arctic Monkeys Channel Black Sabbath, Dr. Dre on New LP
The video’s stark black-and-white sheen, captured by director Focus Creeps (Garbage, John Cale), is a fitting complement to the British group’s cool, pop-rocky track about drinking before driving and “some out of tune guitar, soundtrack to disaster,” as Turner sings in the bridge.
The group will release a single of “One for the Road” on December 10th in advance of a short North American tour of the Midwest and West Coast. A seven-inch edition will come backed with an exclusive new B side, “You’re So Dark.”
Earlier this month, the group stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live, where they played the AM cuts “Do I Wanna Know?” and “R U Mine.” They also found themselves playing with friend and “One for the Road” guest Josh Homme, of Queens of the Stone Age, at their L.A. gig at the Wiltern. And most recently, the Monkeys sat down with Rolling Stone to talk about just how they reinvented their sound.