A new documentary podcast series on the early days of indie rock band Arctic Monkeys is launching next week on BBC Sounds and Radio 1.
The eight-part series, titled Arctic Monkeys: Believe The Hype, will be launching on 23 January and will explore the band’s journey from starting off as teenagers in Sheffield to the making of their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and the cultural impact it had in 2006.
“Brought to life with the band’s music, live recordings, and archive interviews, it’s the story of a boy who scrawls observations from behind a bar in his hometown, and lives to see them thrown back his way by audiences the world over,” the company stated. “It’s the story of steel town blues and a band destined to disappear over the horizon, in search of adventure. It’s the story of the specific, made universal.”
The podcast follows a renewed enthusiasm for the band, after the release of their seventh studio album The Car in October 2022, almost four years after their previous record.
Kate Nash, one of the Arctic Monkeys’ musical contemporaries and the singer-songwriter behind the hit single ‘Foundations’, is the main narrator. The podcast also features first-hand accounts throughout the documentary from people who knew the band personally including mentors like Richard Hawley and John Cooper Clarke, friends like Jon and Chris McClure, fans like Mahalia and Yungblud, and cultural commentators like Jo Whiley and Conor McNicholas.
Produced by creative audio studio Cup & Nuzzle - known for creating music story-telling podcasts such as The Lost Art Of Conversation - A Pink Floyd Podcast- the Arctic Monkeys BBC podcast combines elements of live concert recordings and clips from early interviews with the band to enhance its story-telling aspects and bring the documentary to life.
Other recent documentary-style podcasts from the BBC include series 2 of I’m Not A Monster with this season focused on the story of Shamima Begum and hosted by investigative journalist Josh Baker.
