Alex Turner Arctic Monkeys in mid-2002. In the early days of the band, Helders has recalled that Turner "wasn’t necessarily going to be the singer" but was the obvious candidate for lyricist: "I knew he had a thing for words." Before playing a live show, the band rehearsed for a year in both Turner and Helders' garages and, later, at an unused warehouse in Wath. Turner gradually began to share lyrics with his bandmates. 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
Alex Turner years old. At the age of five, Turner met his classmate and neighbour Matt Helders, and they grew up together. They met Andy Nicholson at secondary school and the three friends bonded over their shared enjoyment of rap artists such as Dr. Dre, Wu-Tang Clan, Outkast, and Roots Manuva. They spent their weekends "making crap hip-hop" beats using Turner's father's Cubase system. Turner and his friends became interested in guitar bands following the breakthrough of The Strokes in 2001. That Christmas, when he was fifteen, Turner's parents bought him a guitar. Turner was educated at Stocksbridge High School (1997–2002). He