James Ford discusses his relationship with Arctic Monkeys and producing ‘The Car’
In a new interview, prolific producer James Ford has discussed his relationship with Arctic Monkeys, having worked with them on every album excluding their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
Speaking to The New Cue, Ford shared greater insight on working on the band’s latest album, The Car, and explained how he pushes Alex Turner – also his bandmate in The Last Shadow Puppets – into new musical directions.
He explained, “I’ve known them so long now. I’ve been working with quite a lot of new bands… But with the Monkeys, it’s a totally different thing where there’s this deep trust that we’ve grown up together.”
Talking about Turner, he said: “Me and Alex, our music tastes have grown together, I’ve introduced him and he’s introduced me to so much different music … sometimes that’s good and bad. It’s a funny thing, but I still definitely try and push him as hard as I can. I’m aware I don’t want him to settle into a comfort zone and it just become boring, you’re trying to keep finding ways to move forward and do new things.”
The producer also detailed how Turner is becoming more involved in the production side of the band’s music. “Alex is getting very into recording stuff himself. I seem to remember the writing process for The Car was quite long [because] he went to and fro with a few different direct directions. He’d do four or five different versions of the same song with different tempos and he’d played some of them to me and I’d be like, ‘Oh, that one’s sounding great.'”
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