where did the arctic monkeys get their name
Alex Turner (musician) Turner's parents bought him a guitar for Christmas 2001.[35][36] In a 2013 interview, Turner states that it was during this time that he first began writing songs, using a bass guitar and an assortment of microphones.[37] In mid-2002, Turner, Cook, Nicholson and Helders decided to form a band, having watched friends including Milburn play at local pubs.[38] The name Arctic Monkeys was conceived by Cook. Turner initially did not want to be the singer; a number of schoolmates including Glyn Jones tried out before he became the frontman.[36][38][39] All four were beginners on their instruments; they practiced in both Turner and Helders' garages and, later, at an unused warehouse in Wath. According to Helders' mother, who drove the teenagers to and from their rehearsal space three times a week: "If they knew you were there, they would just stop so we had to sneak in ... Half the time, though, they were playing table tennis."[40][41] At first, the band's original songs featured nonsense words[38][42] but Turner eventually began to share his own lyrics with his bandmates: "I had this sense of dread that the others would laugh me out of the room. Mickey-taking is a useful quality control."[39] They practised for a year before playing a live show: "A lot of people have an idea of the music they wanna make and then they go make it, but we started the band to have something to do and then figured all that stuff out."[43] "I’m quite easily influenced. I could have ended up anywhere with a little push from whoever. So it was important that it was us four.”[44] Their first gig was on Friday, 13 June 2003, supporting The Sound at a local pub called The Grapes. Their eight-song set comprised three covers and five self-composed songs.[45]
Brass monkey (colloquialism) During the 19th and 20th centuries, small monkeys cast from the alloy brass were very common tourist souvenirs from China and Japan. They usually, but not always, came in a set of three representing the Three Wise Monkeys carved in wood above the Shrine of Toshogu in Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan. These monkeys were often cast with all three in a single piece. In other sets they were made singly. Although three was the usual number, some sets of monkeys added a fourth, with its hand covering its genitals. Old brass monkeys of this type are collectors' items.[1][2] Michael Quinion, advisor to The Oxford English Dictionary and author of the website World Wide Words, writes, "it's more than likely the term came from them".[3]