They are one of those rare bands who undoubtedly peaked at their first record but who could never be accused of under achieving.
They are one of those rare bands who undoubtedly peaked at their first record but who could never be accused of under achieving.
The dark ringing tones and slick, almost obsessive layering of sound has been a consistent trademark throughout Interpol’s 5 album career. Their sound has become so well-oiled and so technically accomplished that it can appear routine; but their mix of energy and technique has led to many to see them as one of the greatest bands to come out of New York in many years. There has been a four year hiatus since Interpol last toured an album, but in their second consecutive sold out night at the Roundhouse they played with sparkling precision.
Opening with their trademark Say Hello to the Angels, Interpol’s instrumental set up was icy and spirited, with the usual coaction between guitarists Kessler and Banks providing a gloomy soundscape behind Paul Banks’s gritty vocals. They have always been a tidy-looking outfit, and here their smart dress matched the neatness of their sound. Fogarino’s crisp – Stephen Morris influenced – percussion created a strident beat for the others to flourish over. Their sound fitted the acoustics of the old industrial railway shed perfectly, the quintessential setting for a post Gothic band! I’ve always seen Interpol as a sort of modern day city worker’s equivalent to the blues, smartly dressed and utterly depressed; the romantic dream of leaving the office and creating something beautiful is the alluring light on the front of their debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights.
From their very early years they have held the reputation of being a classy live act and while it seems a while since their much celebrated early intimate shows, little about them seems to have aged that much. This is mirrored by the Roundhouse audience whose makeup includes many in their 20s and 30s amongst those older fans who saw them in the earliest years. These shows come 13 years on from a now legendary debut European tour with the then counterpart newcomers British Sea Power, who have themselves just been added to the Roundhouse bill for a show in June. The longevity of these two bands set themselves aside from the majority of the early 2000’s new wave explosion, most of which have perished or faded into obscurity. While both of these bands were far from the most explosive at the time, they possessed a certain edge which excited music lovers who looked for something beyond mere hype, and which in turn helped them become well acclaimed.
The rawness of those early shows in pub basements and obscure nightclubs, which thankfully still exist on YouTube, is harder to hear in Interpol’s current live spectacle. The critical acclaim of 2002 grew into full blown commercial success by 2005, and at their height they were selling out venues the size of the Alexandra Palace and headlining the Lollapalooza festival. In this period the band adapted to their new growing audience, and the influence of this has made their sound fuller and more robust, if a little less subtle. This is particularly noticeable in the almost anthemic singles from Antics, Slow Hands and Evil, both clearly crowd favourites going by their reaction at the Roundhouse. The dark and gritty resonance of their early years however still lingers; most noticeably in the four songs they play from their debut album, which still feels as cutting edge as they ever have. They close the main set with the melancholic Stella was a Diver and She Was Always Down, and the second encore with Untitled, suggesting that the band and their audience still feel a great affinity to this early period of their history.
It was Turn on the Bright Lights which after all set them apart from the rest of their generation. It’s an album some shrilly regard as one of the greatest of the modern age. At the time of its release everything written about them drew direct comparisons to 80s British gothic influences such as Joy Division and Sisters of Mercy. Manchester based writer Cath Aubergine – who followed the band on their European tour with British Sea Power – first drew me to the attention of the far closer matching Chameleons comparison. These are all relatively obscure bands in Interpol’s native New York, but they drew a great deal of interest here in the UK. At the time alternative guitar music was screaming out for something with a bit of vigour, and Interpol were able to fill this void. As Cath explains in her fantastic 10 year anniversary review:
“The late nineties had not been kind to indie guitar music, as the Blairite coke-party of Britpop decomposed into dad-rock, lad-rock and several shades of beige. Travis asked why it always rained on them, as if it wasn’t blatantly obvious, while Starsailor and Turin Brakes…sorry, just nodded off a minute there. It felt like what they said 1974 felt like, in need of a kick up the arse.”
Interpol’s stylistic approach represented more than just a break from the haze of 90s brit pop; the dark tales of metropolitan life struck a chord with the increasingly noticeable failures of urban yuppie culture which had once titillated the New Romantics and the Brit pop movement. Just as the British post rock despair of Joy Division had reflected the inept political stalemeate of the mid 70s, and the beckoning miseries of post-industrial life under Thatcherism, the gothic sounds of Interpol would go onto mirror the post 9/11 anxiety of New York and the rest of the world (a stark contrast from the decadent surroundings in the Stroke’s Is This It, recorded and released just prior to 9/11). In amongst this bleakness existed depressed, heartbroken and mundane lives, and Interpol’s touch of melodrama did not go amiss. Just as the 19 year old Matthew Lewis’s deprived gothic masterpiece once captivated impoverished readers of the enlightenment with a sinister romance, Turn on the Bright Lights provided tragic romances for the 21st century Goth.
I make no apologies for spending so much time reflecting on this album in a live review 13 years after its release, as for me this still remains the most exciting part of seeing Interpol today. They are one of those rare bands who undoubtedly peaked at their first record but who could never be accused of under achieving, simply because what they achieved so early on was of a magnum opus scale, of sheer technical beauty. Excitingly the other highlight of the night was the material from their latest album El Pintor. All the Rage Back Home and My Blue Supreme had a freshness which their previous two albums (for me at any rate) lacked. They also seemed to fit naturally into a set list made up of material mostly from their first two records, and which was noticeable for the absence of all but one song from their 2010 self-titled release. After their four year break from their last album, Interpol have arguably returned fresh; and to the form of 2005, the years just prior to their greatest commercial success.
13 years on Interpol are still one of the alternative bands to see and this is still very much their generation. They are still wearing smart shirts and tank tops, and they sound as dark as ever before. It makes you wonder over a decade on, how is it that so little has changed?
Martin Percival is a British writer based in Oxford.