Who is the last good band? Well, if you ask Damon Albarn or the Hives’ leader Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, there’s only one answer to that question: Arctic Monkeys. In separate interviews, they both recently came to same conclusion.

The Blur/Gorillaz leader recently made an appearance on the Broken Records Podcast, and the subject of the “last great guitar band” came up. Per American Songwriter, Albarn said: “I feel like there’s a bit more excitement about guitar music again, that can’t be a bad thing because it got so sterile. For me, the last great guitar band would have been Arctic Monkeys and I don’t really know if there’s anything as good as that since,” he said.

Albarn, at least, sees some hope for the future: “But now there are bands with a huge amount of potential. It’s really dismantled itself guitar music and put itself back together again in a different form. You’ve got some fantastic new mutations of the genius of it.”

In a different interview, Almqvist — who recently toured with Arctic Monkeys — also name-checked the band: “We toured with them in South America about 10 years ago and had a great time, so I’m really happy they wanted us back,” Almqvist said. “It’s a really great tour to be on; it’s really fun. I think Arctic Monkeys are fucking amazing. They’re the only good really popular band – and that’s not easy to do.”

Arctic Monkeys released a new album, The Car, last year, and they’ve been touring behind it. A couple months back, they performed “Mardy Bum” live for the first time in 10 years.