Ex-Arctic Monkeys touring musician recalls ‘time of my life’

Twenty years ago, sound engineer John Ashton travelled to London to see a much-hyped band with a “daft” name.

Little did he know, this young Sheffield four-piece would soon take him around the world – and he would eventually be given the dream offer of joining them.

As he prepares to auction off his collection of Arctic Monkeys-related memorabilia, the musician recounts “the time of my life” to BBC News.

The band ripped through future indie club night classics including I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor and When The Sun Goes Down at the capital’s Islington Academy, with John “absolutely blown away”.

“I had never seen anything like that and I have never seen anything like it since,” he recalls.

“It was sold out, everyone knew all the words.”

John, who has also worked with the likes of Tame Impala, remembered the band being “fully formed” as a live act despite their tender years.

“It was already all there, it was just astonishing.”

Their first two singles, bellowed back to them from the sweat-drenched moshpit at the London venue, went straight to number one – with their debut album becoming the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history.

“It was an event when they arrived,” says John.

“Oasis were important but they didn’t arrive in the charts like the Arctics did.”

John was asked to join the touring operation when “it looked like it was going supernova” for the-then teenagers, with their rapid rise seeing them graduate from playing pubs and small venues to large arenas in the space of two years.

Frontman Alex Turner offered him the opportunity to join them as a live member around the time third album Humbug was released, with John also featuring on several track recordings.

“On the Favourite Worst Nightmare tour I used to play [James Blunt hit] You’re Beautiful on the guitar to entertain them,” he says.

“He would borrow my iPod and ask me about certain artists, songs and things, we just started exchanging music.”

Having already played live with Turner on side project The Last Shadow Puppets, John describes the process of joining Arctic Monkeys as “very organic”.

“It was just in passing,” he says.

“Alex was like: ‘Oh, by the way, do you want to join the band on keyboards?’

“I was like, well, of course!”

“I remember [drummer Matt] Helders had his headphones on, Alex nudged him and said: ‘He’s in.’

“He just replied: ‘Oh, right’ and put his headphones back on.”

John moved on at the end of 2011 and had to decline an offer to rejoin as a touring musician due to the imminent birth of his son.

“The one regret for everyone who tours is always that they missed their children growing up – I just couldn’t do it,” he says.

“I had the time of my life with them – it was brilliant as a sound engineer, then it just went up a notch to amazing.”

John runs a studio in Gateshead, where he lives, and works as a production manager at Newcastle’s Boiler Shop venue.

Meanwhile, his now 11-year-old son likes to boast about his father’s former life.

“He does show off with it from time to time, but at the same time he can’t possibly let on to me that it’s any good.”

His memorabilia collection, which will be auctioned on 27 March, includes tour t-shirts, signed posters, a branded flight case and a custom-made amp from his time playing with the band.

“I hadn’t realised I had so much, it’s all very evocative,” he adds.