Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner has stopped writing lyrics on tour because they always end up “terrible”.

‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala’ singer is known for his distinctive wordplay in songs, but admits he can’t concentrate on writing new material when the band are on the road.

Speaking to Absolute Radio’s Pete Donaldson, he said: “No I don’t really [write while touring] anymore. You know, we come up with a few little ideas and some sound checks and that, but I’ve kind of wrote too many terrible lyrics touring round so I decided to stop.”

The singer also acknowledges how since he has grown to become an international rock star, the subject of his songs has changed, but he doesn’t pine for the days he wrote observation of about small town English life, or “chip shop rock and roll,” as he calls it.

He added: “Yeah, it’s hard to do the old chip shop rock and roll, once you’ve done that once then you don’t want to hang around that many chippies any more.

“I think that’s natural, I couldn’t ever write about my surroundings in the same way that I did back then, because if I did that now what would them songs be about?”

Arctic Monkeys latest album ‘Suck it and See’ is out now.