One Less Arctic Monkey

06/21/2006 2:10 PM, E! Online


Bassist Andy Nicholson won't be touring with the Arctic Monkeys in June or going anywhere else with them, either.

The remaining Monkeys confirmed in a statement posted Monday on their Website that Nicholson will not be rejoining his mates after bowing out of their North American schedule last month, ostensibly to take a breather from the Sheffield, England-based band's increasingly hectic life in the spotlight.

"We are sad to tell everyone that Andy is no longer with the band," frontman Alex Turner, guitarist Jamie Cook and drummer Matt Helders said.

"Nick O'Malley, who stood in for Andy while he was absent from the recent tour of North America, shall carry on playing bass for the remaining shows this summer. We have been mates with Andy for a long time and have been through some amazing things together that no one can take away. We all wish Andy the very best."

The Arctic Monkeys head back to Europe later this month before heading off to Australia and New Zealand to wow the Down Under crowd with tunes from the band's mega-hyped debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Billed as the biggest thing to come out of the United Kingdom since Franz Ferdinand, Coldplay, Oasis and the royal family, the Brit band hit the ground running in January, with Whatever People Say I Am selling more than 350,000 copies in the U.K. its first week out.

With U.S. critics being a tad more reserved than their British counterparts, the same album debuted in the States at number 24 on the Billboard 200--strong, yet still sending the message that the Monkeys will have to prove their mettle stateside.

And perhaps they have. After playing to sold-out audiences during a U.S. club tour in March, the "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" rockers added another North American jaunt, which kicked off June 2 in San Diego and winds up June 17 in Toronto.