Nicholas O'Malley (born 5 July 1985 in Sheffield), is the bass guitarist of Sheffield-based band Arctic Monkeys.

O'Malley was drafted in as a temporary replacement for bassist Andy Nicholson when the latter announced he would not make the band's North America tour in May 2006. [1] 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."[2] His baptism of fire continued as the band were imminently recording their new single, "Leave Before the Lights Come On", 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 [1]. The 120 capacity venue was seen as an opportunity for O'Malley to have a test run before the band's first North American gig in Vancouver on 27 May and festival dates in front of fifteen to twenty thousand people. [2]

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 the music website Angry Ape. However, despite being his plectrum-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 has fully recovered, Nicholson's departure from the band saw the announcement that O'Malley will become a full member of the band.

Despite being billed as the quieter member of the band, Nick O'Malley actually has a very affable personality and can be seen on popular website YouTube.com in several videos showing his more out going personality. Nick is also the only smoker in the band, as revealed in the band's interview with NME in December 2007.

As far as equipment goes for touring with the Arctic monkeys, he uses Ampeg bass heads and cabinets and a Fender Precision bass. He has also been known to use a Rickenbacker 3000. His overdriven bass sound is rumored to come from the power amp tubes in his amp simply heating up, he has one bass amp set to low gain and one to hi in which he can switch to overdriven and non overdriven amp sounds, although just one of the two of them is to be seen on stage.

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