Andy Nicholson

Andy Nicholson is an English musician, DJ and producer, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys, which he left in 2006. In 2008 he founded Mongrel with Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers. In 2009 he became the bassist for ex-Milburn (band) frontman Joe Carnall's band The Book Club, but left later that year to join Reverend and the Makers. He is currently producing and performing in hip-hop group Clubs & Spades with Maticmouth from Reverend Soundsystem.

Biography

Early days

An attendee of Stocksbridge High School, Nicholson was the only member of the Arctic Monkeys to not live in the High Green district, residing in nearby Hillsborough. Nicholson played bass guitar, and was seen as "the band wit, reliably swift with a self-deprecating quip".

Leaving Arctic Monkeys

The band announced in May 2006 that Nicholson would miss the band's forthcoming North America tour as he was suffering from "fatigue following an intensive period of touring", and would be temporarily replaced by Nick O'Malley of The Dodgems while Nicholson recovered. However, on 20 June 2006, it was announced that he was no longer part of the band, with Alex Turner later stating "we sorta found ourselves in a situation where we wanted to move forward". The band asked Nicholson to leave. Helders later remarked: "It’s not for everyone, the traveling, I suppose ... He didn’t get specific. We didn’t want to drag all of that out of him ... We took [Nick] out to America and we just couldn’t see going back to the way things were for whatever reason."

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield. The band consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar), Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals), Jamie Cook (lead guitar, rhythm guitar) and Nick O'Malley (bass, backing vocals). Former band member Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) left the band in 2006 shortly after their debut album was released.

They have released five studio albums: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), Humbug (2009), Suck It and See (2011) and AM (2013), as well as one live album, At the Apollo (2008). Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in British chart history, and in 2013, Rolling Stone ranked it the 30th-greatest debut album of all time.

The band have won seven Brit Awards—winning both Best British Group and Best British Album three times, and have been nominated for three Grammy Awards. They also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album, in addition to receiving nominations in 2007 and 2013. The band have headlined at the Glastonbury Festival twice, in 2007 and again in 2013.

Matt Helders

Matthew Helders (born 7 May, 1986) is an English drummer, vocalist and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has recorded five studio albums.

In 2015, Helders collaborated with Iggy Pop and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Dean Fertita to record Pop's forthcoming studio album, Post Pop Depression (2016).

Biography

Helders has said that he ended up playing drums as "that was the only thing left. When we started the band none of us played anything. We just put it together. They all had guitars and I bought a drum kit after a bit." However, Helders has mentioned the influence rap music has had on the band, saying "We were rap fans at school more than now... it still influences us in some ways; like for me, it's the drummin'. The groove element, like foon-keh music." In addition, Helders cites seeing Queens of the Stone Age as the biggest influence on his development as a drummer, saying "the one thing that changed me the most was seeing Queens of the Stone Age live at a festival last year... as soon as they came off I was like - "Fuck, I need to start hitting harder." Helders also explained the band's insistence on singing in their native Sheffield accent, saying, "when you talk between the songs at a gig and you're speakin' English in our normal accent, it seems a bit strange when you burst into song like you're from California or something...it looks a bit daft."

The Bottletop Band

The Bottletop Band is a supergroup consisting of leading musicians of both Brazilian and English music. Mario Caldato, Jr. is the prime organiser of the band, overseeing the whole Bottletop band record and he was behind the mixing and production of the majority of tracks. Notable musicians include Carl Barât, Eliza Doolittle, Gruff Rhys, Matt Helders, Andy Nicholson and Tim Burgess. Despite primarily being a jam band, the band was eventually organised to record an album, Dream Service, from which all proceeds have been given the Bottletop charity. The charity in which supports initiatives in Brazil, Malawi, Rwanda, Mozambique and the UK, addressing key issues such as sexual and reproductive health, substance abuse and gender equality. The band's debut single, "The Fall of Rome", was made available for free download on the project's official website. The charity set up recording sessions at Dean Street Studios in Soho and in Rio de Janeiro with a wide variety of musicians to record a selection of ideas together under the stewardship of producer Jagz Kooner.

The Band

The Band was a Canadian-American roots rock group, originally consisting of Rick Danko (bass guitar, double bass, fiddle, trombone, vocals), Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboards, saxophones, trumpet), Richard Manuel (piano, baritone, drums, vocals) and Robbie Robertson (guitar, percussion, vocals). The members of the Band first came together as they joined rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins's backing group, the Hawks, one by one between 1958 and 1963.

In 1964, they separated from Hawkins, after which they toured and released a few singles as Levon and the Hawks and the Canadian Squires. The next year, Bob Dylan hired them for his U.S. tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. Following the 1966 tour, the group moved with Dylan to Saugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes, which forged the basis for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink. Because they were always "the band" to various frontmen, Helm said the name "The Band" worked well when the group came into its own. The group began performing as the Band in 1968 and went on to release ten studio albums. Dylan continued to collaborate with the Band over the course of their career, including a joint 1974 tour.