The Last Shadow Puppets

The Last Shadow Puppets are a British supergroup consisting of Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Miles Kane (the Little Flames, the Rascals), James Ford (Simian, Simian Mobile Disco), and Zach Dawes (Mini Mansions).

The Last Shadow Puppets were formed by co-frontmen, Alex Turner and Miles Kane, in 2007, after they became friends when the Little Flames supported Arctic Monkeys on tour in 2005. They bonded over their shared love of Scott Walker and David Bowie, and decided to write songs inspired by their music. They have released two records, The Age of the Understatement (2008), and following a lengthy hiatus, Everything You've Come to Expect (2016). Both of their albums reached number one in the UK charts. They were nominated for a BRIT Award in the British Breakthrough category, and shortlisted for a Mercury Prize in the Best Album category, for The Age of the Understatement.

History

2007: Formation

In August 2007 NME magazine reported that Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner and lead singer of then newly formed the Rascals, Miles Kane would be recording an album with Simian Mobile Disco member and former Simian drummer James Ford producing and playing drums. Turner and Kane had become friends when Kane's previous band the Little Flames played support for Arctic Monkeys on their 2005 UK tour. The Little Flames also supported Arctic Monkeys on their April 2007 UK tour, when Turner and Kane wrote songs together for a collaborative project. Their collaboration extended into Arctic Monkeys material, with Kane playing guitar on "505", the closing track of second Arctic Monkeys album Favourite Worst Nightmare and on "Fluorescent Adolescent" B-sides "The Bakery" and "Plastic Tramp". Kane also guested on "505" and "Plastic Tramp" at several Arctic Monkeys gigs in 2007, including the summer mini-festivals at Lancashire County Cricket Club and Arctic Monkeys' 2007 & 2013 appearances at Glastonbury.

2007–2008: The Age of the Understatement

The initial recording of the songs that would eventually form their debut album took place in France in late August 2007 with additional material added between August and December that year. In December, Owen Pallett was appointed to arrange the strings, brass and percussion for the album with the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra. During the recording of the album Turner and Kane hired a documentary film-making team, Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull, to capture the story of the project. On 20 February 2008, Miles Kane and Alex Turner revealed they would be known as the Last Shadow Puppets and that their album, titled The Age of the Understatement, would be released on 21 April 2008. At first, the band chose the name Shadow Puppets because they thought it sounded like a 60's girl groups band name, which they were listening to a lot at the time, yet added The Last to it as the name was already registered. They also considered Turner and Kane but quickly discarded it because it sounded "like a bad cop film". The band played their first ever show in Brooklyn, New York, at Sound Fix Records on 4 March 2008, playing a second gig at the Lower East Side's Cake Shop the following night. Their first show in the United Kingdom was a short two song set on 5 April at the Lock Tavern in Camden, London. They played "Meeting Place" and "Standing Next to Me" in support of Remi Nicole, who organised the party both to celebrate her birthday and to raise money for MS sufferers.

The album went straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart. The first single, "The Age of the Understatement", was released the week before on 14 April, with new song "Two Hearts in Two Weeks" and covers of Billy Fury's "Wondrous Place" and David Bowie's "In the Heat of the Morning" —a song previously mentioned by Turner as a favourite— as b-sides. After the album release the band played a secret set at Glastonbury on 28 June 2008 with Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders playing drums on "The Age of the Understatement" and Jack White playing a guitar solo on "Wondrous Place". Two days later, they announced their debut world tour, which would start on 19 August that year. On 4 July 2008, they performed "Standing Next to Me" as part of a birthday present for Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1. They also performed a cover of Rihanna's "SOS". Their second single, "Standing Next to Me", was released on 7 July 2008. That same month, the album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize but lost out to Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid.