Arctic Monkeys - ScummyMan DVD

Mon 3rd Jul, 2006 in Music Reviews

Before he became immersed in making concept albums about his success, Mike Skinner wrote lyrics that perfectly encapsulated everyday trivialities of ‘sex, drugs and on the dole’ where:

/nothing seems to change/
/same old thing every day/
/just gets played and replayed in different ways/

Yet that mantle of everyman, ‘kitchen-sink’ poet, replaying that ‘same old thing in a different way’, has clearly passed from The Streets to Alex Turner and his Arctic Monkeys with their tales of cop baiters, weekend rockstars and scummy men.

/and what a scummy man/
/just give him half a chance/
/I bet he’ll rob you if he can/
/can see it in his eyes/
/that he’s got a driving ban/
/amongst some other offences/

Their lyrics deliver clear images with their telling references and details, offering impressionist stories – clearly marking characters with just a few simple lines. While the video for ‘Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor’ sought to capture the band in the glory of their DIY, punk simplicity this new DVD release realises and honours Turner’s skill to create snapshot narratives backed by vibrant Clash and Jam influenced rock.

 The film is produced by Warp films, an offshoot of the Warp record label – home to the brain splicing sounds of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher – and the film wing seems set to maintain the labels image as an innovator of the highest quality. Drawing from the lyrics of ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ writer, director and regular Shane Meadows collaborator (Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, Room for Romeo Brass) Paul Fraser has created the three short films that make up this DVD. Each film features the bleak industrial estate existence of Nina, a young, drug addict, and her abusive pimp – the scummy man. A taxi driver has the misfortune of meeting the pair and tries to offer Nina help, but she seems too far gone to recognise it. The second film ‘Just Another Day’ reprises the story with a greater emphasis on the relationship between Nina and the taxi driver, while the third film is the video clip for ‘When the Sun Goes Down’, racing through the images of the first two films trying to keep pace with the Monkeys’ frantic playing.

 This is Mike Leigh scripted by Irvine Welsh; where working class meets working girl, where the cutlery at the local greasy spoon has holes drilled in it so that junkies won’t bother to pinch them. It’s a murky and dispiriting film, yet Fraser avoids clichés and the performances are nuanced with glimmers of hope amongst the despair and violence. Stephen Graham relishes his title role, swaggering about with violence consistently flashing in beady eyes – neither as hard or quick witted as Begbie in Trainspotting, but with a similarly dangerous charisma.

 Thankfully the Arctic Monkeys seem, with this film, to be distancing themselves from the supposed junkie glamour that infected their most immediate influence – The Libertines. And for all his Kubla Khan aspirations Pete Doherty is far more likely to end up as a Sid Vicious character sneering his punk poses with increasing irrelevance. Let’s hope that the Monkeys avoid the seemingly inevitable and refuse to follow this DVD by releasing a hastily cobbled film of live performances and footage of the band milling in airports and hotel lobbies.