**Tough Guys Carry Combs **

What is it about street gangs and their clothes? We're not just talking about Frank Lucas's Harlem crew or Miami's cocaine cowboys. Before that came American greasers and their British analogues, the Teddy boys. Teddy boys were working-class teens who bought their expensive threads on layaway—only to brawl in them. Imagine a young tough stomping out a rival, then whipping out a comb to restyle his quiff. The look's never gone out of style, thanks to thrift stores—but now we're in the midst of a full-blown Teddy-boy resurgence. Designers like Hedi Slimane and Miuccia Prada are reworking varsity jackets and chesterfield coats, and young rockers like the Monkeys' Alex Turner have also adopted the style. So how do you pull it off? It starts with the hair. "All the boys [in the band] got shorter hair, and I thought, 'What can I do to one-up them?' I am the singer after all, and you've gotta be a dick sometimes," Turner says, laughing. "I saw an Elvis picture where he had the curl, and I thought, 'Maybe I could do that.' Once you have the haircut, certain clothes just start to look right, don't they?"

**From the Arctic to L.A. **

Alex Turner has a cough. He's in Vienna and was out late last night drinking whiskey with the Bad Seeds, because he is, after all, a rock star. Still, the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys is excited to talk about the band's fifth album, AM. "The whole thing for me is like a chemical reaction," says Turner of recording. "It's like you put your different elements into all the test tubes, and you try and mix them together and get the right-color smoke."

The thoroughly British band wrote the album in Joshua Tree, where, Turner says, there's "a magic, anything-is-possible kind of feeling that comes over you." Then they recorded in L.A. "On a lot of L.A. records," he says, "the groove leans back a little. And there's a bit of that on this new Monkeys record." Turner insists you can hear this groove on all the great L.A. records, "whether it's in west coast hip-hop or the Eagles."

Though AM is firmly indie rock, with fast, hard drums and growling guitars, the band counts Roots Manuva and Dr. Dre as influences. "This record, in the vocal production and the melodies, there's a contemporary R&B kind of twist," says turner. "But that, coupled with a '70s-rock kind of thing. That combination makes definitely the right kind of smoke."

Shirt, $545 Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci. Tie by $125 Band of Outsiders. Jeans, $196 J Brand. Jacket, $4,335 by Prada. Tie bar by The Tie Bar. Belt by Levi's Vintage Clothing. Ring (near belt) by Tiffany & Co. Other ring, vintage