Interpol (band)

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For the international organization, see Interpol. For other uses, see Interpol (disambiguation).
Interpol
Lead singer Paul Banks
Lead singer Paul Banks
Background information
Origin New York, New York, USA
Genre(s) Indie rock
Post-punk revival
Years active 1997–present
Label(s) Capitol Records
Parlophone Records
EMI Music Group(Japan)
Website www.interpolnyc.com
Members
Paul Banks
Daniel Kessler
Carlos Dengler
Sam Fogarino
Former members
Greg Drudy

Interpol is an American indie rock band, formed in 1997 in New York City. The members of the band are Paul Banks (vocals, guitar), Daniel Kessler (guitar, vocals), Carlos Dengler (bass guitar, keyboards - commonly referred to as Carlos D.) and Sam Fogarino (drums, percussion). The band's debut album Turn on the Bright Lights was critically acclaimed, making it into the NME top ten albums of the year for 2002.[citation needed] The follow-up, Antics, was both a commercial and critical success. In 2007 the group released its third album, Our Love to Admire.

Interpol is one of many bands associated with the New York indie music scene, being one of several groups that emerged out of the post-punk revival of the 2000s. The band's sound is generally a mix of bass throb and choppy, sparse guitar, with a snare heavy mix, drawing comparisons to post-punk bands such as Joy Division and The Chameleons.[1]

Contents

[edit] Name origin

There is confusion about the origin of the name Interpol. An article in SPIN magazine said one of Paul Banks' classmates would tease him by saying “Paul, Paul, Interpol,” pronouncing the name "Paul" with a Spanish accent. Yet guitarist Kessler said the band initially played many shows without a name.

"I got to the point where I was like, ‘Guys, we’re getting decent crowds, but like ... we don’t have a name, so no one knows who to go see again,’” Kessler said.

The band considered Las Armas and The French Letters[1] as names before adopting Interpol. They also famously performed a little-publicized show at the Luna Lounge in New York under the pseudonym Cuddleworthy.

[edit] Formation

The roots of the band stem from New York University, where all of the original line-up were students. Guitarist Daniel Kessler had “been looking to put a band together for a while” when he met drummer Greg Drudy on campus. Kessler later added Carlos Dengler on bass, after meeting him in a history class. Kessler had previously met Paul Banks while in Paris, and approached him to become lead singer when he ran into him on the street. In 2000, after releasing the Fukd I.D. #3 EP, Greg Drudy left the band, and Kessler recruited Sam Fogarino, whom he knew through Fogarino’s job at a local vintage clothing store. Fogarino had previously turned down the opportunity to replace Sara Lee Lucas as drummer for Marilyn Manson before moving to New York, and was the original drummer for The Holy Terrors - a South Florida band widely admired and respected by many local musicians in the area.

[edit] Career

[edit] Demos (1998-2001)

After self-releasing several EPs between 1998 - 2001, in early 2002 the band signed to indie label Matador, an independent label famous for breaking highly respected bands such as Pavement. The first release, a self-titled EP containing rerecorded versions of PDA and NYC — possibly to incorporate Fogarino’s distinctive drumming, as Greg Drudy had left the band shortly after the release of Fukd ID #3 — was released on June 4, 2002 to widespread critical acclaim in the indie music scene, which built anticipation for the full-length album.

[edit] Turn on the Bright Lights

Turn on the Bright Lights was released on August 19, 2002, again on Matador, and is widely considered one of the best albums of that year, making it into many 'Top 10 of 2002' lists and being named Pitchfork Media's "Album of the Year." Recorded at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the record sold exceptionally well for an independent release, and the band toured extensively, receiving a good deal of media coverage, making television appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, Last Call with Carson Daly and featuring on BBC Radio 1 and the NME Awards Tour in the UK. The album title is taken from a lyric in the song NYC: "it's up to me now / turn on the bright lights." Their song "Untitled" was featured in season nine, episode 24 of the show Friends.

[edit] Antics

Paul Banks, lead singer of Interpol, playing at Roskilde Festival, Denmark 2005 at Arena Stage
Paul Banks, lead singer of Interpol, playing at Roskilde Festival, Denmark 2005 at Arena Stage

The band regrouped in late 2003 to begin sessions for the follow-up album, again decamping to Tarquin Studios to record. On September 28, 2004, Antics was released on Matador. The album achieved far greater commercial success than Turn on the Bright Lights, perhaps due to the lighter, more accessible arrangements and bigger hooks featured in songs such as "Slow Hands", "Evil" and "C'mere". The record garnered much critical acclaim and was once more a popular choice on critics' Top 10 lists for 2004. The record also saw Interpol record their first UK Top 40 hits with "Slow Hands", "Evil", and "C'Mere" charting at 36, 18 and 19 respectively. The album's title comes from an unused lyric Banks wrote during the recording process. The album was eventually certified as going gold in the UK.

Interpol toured once again after the release of the album, playing more dates than ever before and at bigger venues. The Antics tour stretched on for almost 18 months, including a number of shows playing as undercards for U2 and The Cure, and the band reported feelings of exhaustion to Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe at a concert in Sunderland. The band took only three months off after touring finished. Whilst on the road, the band had also released the one-off track Direction, written for the official soundtrack to HBO's Six Feet Under, Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends. The track was written during soundchecks on the bands European tour, and was recorded the day after they returned to New York. Their song "Evil" was featured in season one, episode five of the hit show Grey's Anatomy.

[edit] Our Love to Admire

In late March 2006, drummer Sam Fogarino confirmed that the band were back in the studio working on new material. In an interview with Pitchfork, Fogarino stated "[the process is] moving right along where I think it should...we're all pretty much on fire about it". Fogarino also dispelled rumours that the band had signed to major label Interscope, but also confirmed that they would be leaving Matador in search of a new label. An update to their website in June confirmed that the band had been working on the follow-up since the turn of the year, but did not confirm a name for the album or comment on the mounting speculation that they were imminently to sign to a major label. On August 14, it was widely reported that Interpol had signed for Capitol Records, a fact confirmed by Matador on September 1 in a press release on their website.

The band toured Europe, Canada and the US playing small venues and experimenting with new material. The album was released on July 10, and secured an impressive #4 debut on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.

Our Love to Admire represents a departure for the band, being both the first record they have recorded in New York City (at The Magic Shop and Electric Lady Studios), and the first time they have included keyboards in the arrangements from the start of the songwriting process. As a result, the album is more atmospheric and diverse than its predecessors, with fewer tracks in a similar vein to Slow Hands and Evil, and some experimental songs such as The Lighthouse. The band plans to tour the album extensively, beginning with the summer festival circuit throughout the United States and Europe. In August 2007 Interpol headlined one of the days of the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. Our Love to Admire was released in the UK on July 9th on Parlophone, on July 10th in the United States on Capitol, and in Japan on July 11 on EMI Music Japan.

EMI has also released a special tour edition of Interpol's latest album "Our Love To Admire"[2]. This special version features a bonus DVD which contains six live tracks, recorded at the London Astoria earlier this year, plus the promo videos for "The Heinrich Maneuver" and "No I In Threesome".

The song, "Pioneer to the Falls", was featured in Smallville Season 7, Episode 10.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock UK Singles Chart
2002 "Interpol EP: PDA / NYC / Specialist - - 170 Turn on the Bright Lights
2002 "Obstacle 1" - - 72 Turn on the Bright Lights
2003 "Say Hello to the Angels"/"NYC" - - 65 Turn on the Bright Lights
2003 "Obstacle 1" (re-mix) - - 41 Turn on the Bright Lights
2004 "Slow Hands" - 15 36 Antics
2005 "Evil" - 24 18 Antics
2005 "C'mere" - - 19 Antics
2005 "NARC (radio single only)" - - - Antics
2005 "Slow Hands (re-issue)" - - 44 Antics
2007 "The Heinrich Maneuver" 118 11 22 Our Love to Admire
2007 "Mammoth" - - 44 Our Love to Admire
2007 "No I in Threesome" - - - Our Love to Admire
2007 "Rest My Chemistry" - - - Our Love to Admire

[edit] Compilation tracks

[edit] References

  1. ^ Everly, David. "Our Love to Admire". Q, July, 2007.
  2. ^ Special tour edition for Interpol album 'Our Love To Admire'

[edit] Source

  • Raftery, Brian. "Night Falls on Manhattan". SPIN. April 2005.

[edit] External links

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Interpol
Paul Banks | Daniel Kessler | Carlos Dengler | Sam Fogarino
Former members
Albums
Extended plays
Singles