Nicholas Edward O'Malley (born 5 July 1985) is an English musician, best known as the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

ist and backing vocalist of English band

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, back ...

Career

Career beginnings

O'Malley states that he picked up the bass guitar at the age of 16, after ambitions to play the drums and guitar were rejected by his father. Before joining Arctic Monkeys, O'Malley played the bass guitar in local garage rock band The Dodgems

Arctic Monkeys

O'Malley was drafted in as a temporary replacement for bassist

Andy Nicholson Andy Nicholson (born 13 February 1986) is an English musician, DJ, record producer, and photographer, best known as the original bass guitarist of the Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys, which he left in 2006. In 2008, he founded Mongrel with Jon M ...

when the latter announced he would not make the band's North America tour in May 2006, while working at

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

. O'Malley says that he learned the whole of the band's debut album in two days of intensive play where he ''"''pretty much didn't even leave the house''".'' His first recordings with the band were on their non-album single "

Leave Before the Lights Come On "Leave Before the Lights Come On" is a song by English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. The song was released on 14 August 2006 as the band's third single in the United Kingdom. The song was not included on the band's debut album ''Whatever Peopl ...

", in which he played bass guitar. His first appearance with the band came on 25 May, when the band played a secret gig at the Old Blue Last pub in east London. The 120 capacity venue was seen as an opportunity for O'Malley to have a test run before the band's first

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n gig in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

on 27 May and festival dates in front of fifteen to twenty thousand people. O'Malley broke his hand following some drunken antics with his former Dodgems bandmates only a week after agreeing to fill in for Nicholson—"As we were walking home from the pub, our roadie (Adam Guest) grabbed him (O'Malley) and pulled him over our neighbour's wall. It's quite high and he landed on his right hand." Dodgems singer Phillip Goodwin was quoted as saying on Angry Ape. However, despite being his

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

-hand he was still able to play the bass and joined the band in the successful tour. Although O'Malley was only expected to continue until Nicholson had fully recovered, Nicholson's departure from the band saw the announcement that O'Malley would become a full member of the band. As he became a full-time member, he stated in an interview with Q TV that he had known the band prior to him joining them: "It never felt like such a big pressure thing."

Equipment

Basses

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrum ...

(2006–present) - Used on "

Do I Wanna Know "Do I Wanna Know?" is a song by English rock band Arctic Monkeys written by Alex Turner. It was released on 19 June 2013 by Domino Recording Company as the second single from their fifth studio album, '' AM'' (2013). It received a digital down ...

" *

Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass The Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass is a 4-string hollowbody bass guitar manufactured by Epiphone. Jack Casady approached Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer o ...

(2013–present) – Used on "

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" is a song by English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. It was released as the third single from their fifth studio album, '' AM'', on 11 August 2013. It was written by the group's lead vocalist Alex Turn ...

" * Rickenbacker 3000 (2006–present) * Gretsch Broadkaster (2009) * Hofner 500/1 Bass (2018–present) *Burns Sonic Bass 1962 Reburst (2018–present)

Amps

*Ashdown CTM-300 (2013–present) *Ampeg SVT-VR

Pedals

*Skychord Truck Loud Overdrive *

Electro-Harmonix Electro-Harmonix (also commonly referred to as EHX) is a New York City-based company that makes electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. It is best known for a series of gu ...

Micro POG *

Zvex Z.Vex Effects is an effects pedal company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their name derives from the name of founder Zachary Vex who is a respected innovator in the business, and by some described as a "mad scientist". Products The company's ...

Woolly Mammoth FuzzNick O'Malley , Equipboard®
Equipboard.com. Retrieved on 25 October 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omalley, Nick English rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Living people Arctic Monkeys members English people of Irish descent Musicians from Sheffield 1985 births 21st-century English bass guitarists