
Here’s the second part of our look at the main influences on the Last Shadow Puppets, the band featuring Alex Turner and Miles Kane. Really, this list could’ve gone on forever with endless speculation and bits and pieces taken from interviews acting as a confession of their influences. And here‘s a look at the first part if you were unfortunate to have missed it.
Paul Weller
Kane has in fact worked with the legendary British musician, with some seeing Kane as a type of heir to the throne. The style, musically and fashion-wise, of the mod revival group The Jam seems to be right up the alley of the duo. Recently the two also talked about the influence of the Style Council, Weller’s 80’s dance-influenced the project, on the second album by the band “Everything you’ve come to expect”.
Serge Gainsbourg
Part romantic poet, part agent provocateur, Gainsbourg remains the go-to reference for artists trying to prove their extensive knowledge of a sophisticated music world hidden away from most other, less adventurous listeners.
However, much fewer quote Gainsbourg musically. Sure, there have been tribute records made in recent years, but TLSP, and Turner especially seem on an endless audition to play the Frenchman in a movie. With a confident, overly sleazy presence in concerts and a sound influenced by Gainsbourg and his Epoque, Turner and Kane seem determined to have the Gainsbourg play an important role in their own music.
Scott Walker
One of the most interesting, uncompromising, and, for many, frustrating singers in the history of modern music, Walker continues to have a gravitational pull on everyone interested in music just left of the center of the mainstream.
Initially, a pop singer in a more regular sense of the term with the Walker Brothers (a group featuring no actual “brothers”), Walker’s music became ever more challenging as time went on. His most well-known and influential records are the first four albums of his solo career, labeled Scott Walker (one through four). The albums featured numerous covers of Jacques Brel, French singer and musician Walker had recently discovered and on whom the American built his new musical foundation.
The lyrics of Brel’s songs were translated to English, given the huge sound combining pop music with the orchestral backing typically found on large soundtracks production. Walker created arguably some of the best and enduring work of the decade, work that stands outside of its time and place. Scott Walker is certainly the biggest influence on the Last Shadow Puppets.
There are numerous other bands that could benefit from a mention, but almost all of them can share one characteristic. It’s the fact that just about all of these artists are associated with the decade of the 1960’s and its culture. But the biggest achievement from Turner and Kane is that they have managed to make new music that while it does sound old, it does not parody or outright steal from the source material. Rather they’ve cleverly used these influences to create a backdrop for their inventive songwriting.