James Ford Discusses The Origins Of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Opening Night’ And Future Music Plans

James Ford has spoken with NME about how Arctic Monkeys’ new song ‘Opening Night’ actually traces back to the band’s ‘AM’ era.

Earlier this week, NME sat down with the producer to discuss War Child’s new ‘Help(2)’ compilation album track by track. The charity project features contributions from artists including Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg, Young Fathers, English Teacher, Pulp, Damon Albarn and several others, alongside the Sheffield indie band.

‘Opening Night’ arrived as the first preview from the compilation and marked Arctic Monkeys’ first new release since 2022’s ‘The Car’. Its arrival quickly sparked debate among fans, with many wondering if the track hints at more music on the horizon or if it might serve as a final farewell.

When asked about that possibility, Ford responded, “No comment! They’re all still great mates, and they may do something again, but there’s nothing on the cards right now.”

Along similar lines, Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders recently told NME that the band does not currently have immediate plans to return to the studio. Still, he made it clear that nothing has been ruled out, adding that making music remains “something we love to do”.

Ford also explained that Alex Turner was among the first artists he reached out to when putting the album together. “For obvious reasons,” he said, “I’ve got a longstanding working relationship with those guys. It was kind of a big ask because the Monkeys are not touring at the moment or in the studio, and they didn’t particularly have any plans to be.

“They all live in different parts of the world these days, but they really pulled out all the stops to be a part of it.”

Ford also revealed that the song originally dates back to the time around the ‘AM’ era. “Al had the demo of a song that was written around the time of [2013 album] ‘AM’, actually,” he explained. “The chorus lyric and chorus music were from that era. He said he always thought that there was something in it, but it never really went anywhere. We batted around that idea. He wanted to write a new verse, I talked him into writing a new middle eight.

“He’s got his own little studio setup and he put that little drum machine in the intro just to keep him in time. I loved the way it sounded with that shonky acoustic guitar. The idea was for it to start quite lo fi and then build into the full band thing.”

Helders also recently spoke with NME about the band revisiting unfinished ideas from the past.

“We had ideas laying around from over the years that have never become stuff, so we went back to a few of those things to see if we had anything good enough for this. We decided to go with something new,” he said, before explaining that there were “parts” of the track “that I remember from us trying things in the past,” although “it was something that was never completed”.

“It’s not another version of something we already did, but I just know that there are elements of it,” he continued. “As is quite often the case with us, there will be things that we kick around for a bit that aren’t ready yet or just didn’t make the cut at the time.

“There are parts of it I remember, but there’s obviously how our sound has changed over time and developed and our ability. I always go back to the fact that there’s some of this stuff that we couldn’t have done like 10 or 15 years ago. We’re still getting better at doing stuff.

“All the harmonies, that’s obviously something later in our career, to be able to do something like that and pull it off.”

Fans have also been reflecting on the group’s legacy after Arctic Monkeys recently marked 20 years since releasing their landmark debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ on January 23.

You can read Alex Turner recalling how ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ came together and revisit Arctic Monkeys’ first ever NME interview from 2005.

Chris McClure, the man featured on the album cover, also recently told BBC Radio Sheffield that he doubts the record’s level of success could be repeated today.