Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders says new album is ‘pretty much’ ready

Fans will no doubt lap up the exciting update

Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders has given an exciting update on the status of their next album.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting news on the their seventh record, which will be their first since 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

Speculation of a new album release in 2022 was strongly hinted following the apparent confirmation that the group, led by Alex Turner, had been recording new music at a venue in Suffolk.

Now, Helders has confirmed that the album will most likely be released in 2022, telling Rick Edwards on BBC’s Drumathon: “I think by the time we get everything together it’ll be next year.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” he said when asked if the new album was ”ready to go”, adding: “It was a bit disjointed how we had to do it, and there are bits to finish off, but yeah, it’s all in the works.”

Helders also said, all going well, the group will “get out and tour next summer”.

Going by this, fans can expect the new album to arrive in the first half of 2022.

(Getty Images)

In January, the drummer said during an Instagram Live: “There’s definitely a desire from our end to do a new record as soon as possible,” confirming that a new album was in the “early stages”.