Around the time of Antics [2004] your stage persona was very much inline with the music: atmospheric, brooding, serious. Eight years later there was lots of smiling and laughter. What changed for you? davetinsel
Daniel Kessler [guitar, backing vocals]: I feel like the brooding, serious stuff is still there, but I’ve learned to take into account the craziness and privilege of playing music, people coming to the concerts and having a reaction. You start to really appreciate that connection, which is happening in real time.
Paul Banks [vocals, guitar]: On our first tour especially, I think I had a chip on my shoulder about any criticism we encountered, so it was a little bit us vs them. But it’s not a pressure situation now. It feels like a party. Giving a toast at dinner or something, there’s this social pressure to be fun or relatable. But performing in a rock band I always feel like the authority on my own lyrics, so that whichever way I choose to deliver them is the right way. I always felt relaxed on stage … much less so off stage, probably.
What’s your fondest memory from recording or touring Antics? Monica_
PB: The record had leaked and some fans in Spain came up to us talking about it. Having people hear your unreleased record isn’t usually good news, but it was to me because we were on our second record and I could feel this building energy.
DK: We recorded it in Connecticut and were right up to the deadline if we wanted it to be released on time. Matador sent a limousine to get us back to New York for mastering at 9am. We had six or seven hours to master it and sequenced the track listing in the car – remarkably, we all agreed, so the last two hours of the drive were very enjoyable.
PB: Limo well spent!
Over your 20-plus years as a band, do any tracks now have a different meaning to you entirely? AdamJosephByrne
PB: A movie director doesn’t have to show his first movie every time he releases something, and a comedian doesn’t have to do the jokes they wrote when they were young, but in a band you’re confronted with your early work all the time. There are entire self-help philosophies about leaving the past behind, but not if you’re touring your second record again. So it’s an interesting gig … There’s a punky song on our first record called Roland which I probably hated at some point, but now it helps me re-inhabit what I was thinking, instead of being like: “What are these shitty lyrics?”
DK: Similarly for me, with a song like NYC from our first record – it’s about tapping into the emotion that was behind it when we wrote it. As a performer later in your career it becomes about the ability to go there emotionally, and there’s a certain kind of pleasure in putting the shirt on again, as it were, and thinking: “We did this.”
Were you worried about losing respect for putting your song [Untitled] in Friends? fruitcoverdnails
PB: It was something we were mindful of and we certainly avoided certain commercial licences because we didn’t want to undermine our legitimacy by being associated with some kind of product. But we were always interested in having our music in cinema or fiction. Friends was a lighthearted sitcom, but very iconic, and the proposed scene [Joey and Rachel’s first kiss] was a pretty hardcore moment in the course of that show. I liked the idea that the scene was a bit off. We asked ourselves: “Is this cool?” And I’m very glad we said yes.
Which song or songs were written during the few days when you were stuck on the tour bus in the snow [in 2014]? Notbuyingit
PB: We wrote albums five and six. I’m joking.
DK: We were stuck just outside Buffalo for days and every night you’d go to bed hopeful that the storm would stop. But no, you would wake up and the snow ploughs would still be buried. We were just trying to keep our heads above water, so to speak.
PB: We were lucky, relative to anyone else stuck in that thing. We had a tour bus and just happened to get stranded near a gas station. We were able to walk out of the bus, get some beef jerky and have a little adventure in the snow. It was just life in Interpol.
Is Slow Hands about Eric Clapton? If not, who or what is it about? JohnAlridgesUSARant
PB: My dad was a huge fan and the first concert I ever went to was when my dad took me to see him on the Behind the Sun tour. But no, the song is not about Eric Clapton. For me, that term could be for lovers and there’s also some assassin motifs in there … a steady, precise hand.
I saw you at Glastonbury in 2005. Apart from the mud, do you have any other memories? Robert_Smith_1989
PB: I was maximum fucked up at that point. Was that the year I hung out with Har Mar Superstar? I remember watching Muse [one year] and being very impressed.
DK: We played in 2003 and it was beautiful, an amazing sunny day, but 2005 was a mudfest. There was a serious downpour. While we were playing, somebody actually went past the stage in a canoe.
The Killers covered Interpol’s Obstacle 1. Which Killers song would you choose to return the favour? McScootikins
DK: Human. I really like the emotion and the lyric.
PB: Somebody Told Me. The Killers are all great players and for me Brandon Flowers is like Rihanna or Katy Perry: a pretty pop voice, but there’s grain in there, there’s soul.
Have you still got 200 couches? [Referring to a lyric in PDA] Snooproll
PB: We do, and they’re all in a warehouse in Williamsburg, where we also keep the puppet guy from Evil. No … I’d hate to rain on someone’s good time by spoiling the lore or theories about some songs, but generally they are wrong. Everyone thinks Evil is about serial killers but it isn’t at all. The theory that the 200 couches are the baggage from a relationship isn’t the worst theory, though.
Will Banks & Steelz [Banks’ duo with RZA] return? DejanWankovic
PB: I’m a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan and Riz was someone I’d admired for a long time. I brought him up as an influence when I was doing my solo album [Banks, 2012] and his manager read it and suggested we hook up. I don’t think Riz was an avid fan of Interpol but he’s really adventurous as a musician and we just really get along. Much of the Banks & Steelz record [Anything But Words, 2016] was done by him sending me beats. He’d knock out 50 ideas and it was like Picasso had done a bunch of sketches and handed them to his assistant. It was such a wonderful experience that I’m sure eventually we’ll get around to doing some more work. We didn’t split up!
Who are your biggest musical influences? Girl-bruise
DK: Fugazi in terms of playing. Bad Brains. The Specials. Aphex Twin definitely made me think there are different ways of approaching music. My first musical memory is of the Jam. Born in London, I was sharing a room with my two brothers and my oldest brother had cut-outs of them all over the walls, so I figured this has to be very important.
PB: The foundational ones would be Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Nirvana, Frank Black, the Velvet Underground and the Cure. I do love Joy Division, but found them later, in college. I found the Cure when I was a kid.
What is your favourite Chameleons song? dale69
DK: When people compared us to other bands I deliberately didn’t go and seek them out, especially at that age. I probably know the Chameleons songs now without realising it.
PB: I understand where the question comes from. I didn’t know the Chameleons when we started either, but I have since heard them and they sound super fucking cool.
Which of you is most likely to end up on the wanted list of the other Interpol? poekie
PB: Daniel.
DK: It’s true. Never sleeping in the same place twice.
PB: We went through a couple of names before settling on Interpol.
DK: French Letters was a front runner. I remember doing one show and afterwards everybody going: “We’ve got to change the name.”
PB: I’m pretty sure we did one show as Bruno My Keeper. It was a reference to The Tin Drum, which I was reading at the time. I don’t think we’re going back to that name now.