Alex Turner with Dev Hynes for a one-off show in London and recorded a spoken word track "A Choice of Three" for Helders' compilation album "". Turner has described Arctic Monkeys' third album, "Humbug", released in August 2009, as "a massive turning point" in the band's career. They travelled to Joshua Tree, California to work with producer Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and explored a heavier sound. While Petridis of "The Guardian" found some lyrics "too oblique to connect", he was impressed by the band's "desire to progress". He described "Cornerstone" as a "dazzling display of what Turner can
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