Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats.
Evening listeners, It's been a while since I've said this, but welcome to a new episode of Midnight Chats. It feels good to be back. We went away for a little while, had a summer holiday, a few pinicoladas, a little lie down, got carried away with the Football World Cup and the heat wave. But now it's back to business and probably a good time to do a little recap. Maybe you've been with us since the start of this podcast just over two years ago, or maybe you're listening
for the very first time. I'm Greg from Loud and Quiet and I host these intern with Stuart Stubbs, and Midnight Chats is our interview podcast series. The idea being that these conversations have a relaxed late night feel to them, maybe not as rushed or as formal as stuff you might hear elsewhere. And they're done with musicians who make our job worthwhile, which is to say that they're people who we think are interesting, people who we think have
something to say. Anyway, we've used this little bit of time off that we've had to make some tweaks, which hopefully you'll like. The big one is we're going to do more. Instead of every fortnight, there will be a new Midnight Chats every week every Thursday, dropping at midnight. We're also going to be doing these in series, so we're starting now and this series will run up until Christmas time. And as ever, if you like what you hear,
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let's get on with this. I am pleased to kick off this new series of midnight Chats with what I think is a really good episode. At the end of June I went to meet Daniel Kesler from Interpol. He was in London for a huge show they were playing with The Cure at Hyde Park. It was in the middle of both England's unlikely run to the semi final of the Football World Cup and also a British summer
heat wave. So despite the fact that it was thirty three degrees, I think that day Daniel walked into our chat wearing an impeccable black suit, great hair, looked brilliant. Eye on the other hand, looked like a sweaty tomato. But we had a really good conversation. There was a lot to talk about, not least that interpol sixth album, Marauder was on the horizon and that's out now if
you want to listen to that. This year marks twenty years since the New York band played their first show, and we talked a bit about those early days in what You're about to Hear. Their first trip to the UK recording a live session for the legendary John Peel at made Vel Studios right through to their decision to mark the fifteenth anniversary of Turn On the Bright Lights last year by playing that album in full at a bunch of shows. But it wasn't all reminiscent to me
at least. Order feels very urgent, like a band who are basically determined not to drift into a permanent state of nostalgia. And you can hear that in the way that Daniel talks about it, and also how you can tell that he's absolutely thrilled that whilst they were rehearsing at the Yaya Years Space in New York for this record, it got shut down by police for noise complaints, and you can sort of hear that excitement that he had as if he was starting the band for the very
first time in the story when he tells that. Anyway, loads of other stuff in there. It's great to be back. We're really looking forward to bringing you some brilliant episodes throughout the autumn here on Midnight Chats. So i'll leave you with this. This is Interpol episode fifty one of Midnight Chats. It's great to be back. Daniel, Welcome to our podcast Midnight Chats.
Thanks for having me.
How are things are you well today?
Good can't complain.
Obviously Interpol famously known as a New York based band. But you were born in London, right, so you're back in the place where you were born.
I was born here, yeah, soy true. Yeah, so maybe a little family here and stuff like that. So it's always nice.
To come back.
I've been gone a long time though, right, Yeah.
I moved when I was six, and it's why I lost the America hands, why I lost my British accent and gained an American one.
Do you still feel an affinity to London? What it mean? Is it? Does it just feel like any other city when you visit, or is it something a bit more special than that?
Still, No, it's much more special. It's my earliest memories in life. It's you know, it's earliest memories of family. I remember, you know, many aspects about London. You know, I was like a kid. I mean, six is still old enough that you're really you know, you're forming some of some cherish all kind of first memories. But no, you know, it still feels like I don't know if anywhere feels like home to me in per se, I guess New York.
But England and London. So definitely feels very much like a part of me for sure.
And when you come back to London, is it a chance to catch up that was still very early so possibly not with you know, friends from that era, but but it's still family based in London things like that.
Yeah, I have brothers who lives here, so I mean I saw them last night and it's a yeah. And I have a you know, my godmother lives here and my mother was from here or you know, from just outside London and so forth. So yeah, for sure, it feels somewhat of like a homecoming and you know somewhere that's it's not just like an anonymous place.
It's somewhere of a connection for me.
And what type of things has London got that you particularly appeal to you? You know, you live in a big metropolis, busy city similar to London and so many respects. But you know, we do, we have good pubs, we have we have certain things that maybe other places there.
Watching the England Belgium match yes Sday and I pub so yeah.
Eight year football soccer fan.
I am. I'm not I'm not religious.
I don't have to watch every you know, I don't have to watch every single match.
I don't follow you.
Know, the the line and every single day and so forth.
But yeah, I am.
You know, I played football when I was in high school and again my first sporting memories are of football and playing my brothers and stuff like that. And if I have to root for a team, I was routed for England as far as in the World Cup and so forth.
So yeah, terrible game, well notally terrible, al right, yeah, oh well I think that. I mean they would say not, but it was clear, wasn't it that it was obviously being played. The game was not being thrown as such, but was certainly tactically placed to move and forward.
I mean, if they had one, I think people would have been more angry than if they had lost.
Now, ultimately, so yeah, they did, right.
What was the atmosphere like where you were? Was it? Was it busy? Was it kind of fun?
It was pretty civilized.
I think everyone was sort of attentively watching the screens but also realizing that it's the best interest for them to not win, so kind of moaning when they.
Missed a pretty close shop.
But I think if you actually went to you know, further of investigation, I'm sure they'd be like, well, naturally, I don't really want them to score, but yeah, I guess was a desired result in.
The end, losing one.
Now it gets to this point in the year where festivals are happening, in big live music events and all of the well sporting competition so like the World Cup. And I've over the years so many times found myself being at a festival and they're being like England would be playing, and you're kind of like torn and you're like, well, I want to watch that, but I want to watch
this band. From a band's perspective, Is there any Are there any sports anything that you're into where if like a clash comes up and you'll be like, I really really wanted to watch that. Is that happened over the years at any.
Point It hasn't. It's more more of a curiosity, you know. I think it's more of a curiosity than anything. I think when the polls are really big, my band mate polls are really big. Boxing of Ficionado, and when Mayweather was last summer and there was the big fight Mayweather Connor McGregor.
And the guy from UF Yeah, yeah, I pol is.
Definitely and we were on tour and we're swinging around Europe, and I think it had to be sort of He definitely started planning that one on how to be at a conflict. As far as where we were traveling, I think maybe we're arriving in Denmark and Copenhagen or leaving Copenhagen. Either way, basically everyone had to was sworn into silence
because with the time difference. I think the match was in Las Vegas, so with the time difference, no one could utter like any you know, any sort of semblance of tipping the result before he had a chance to actually watch it, because you know, they recorded and so forth. And then I think the next morning he watched it with one of our bandmates and the venue, and I think he succeeded in not knowing the results till he got to that moment.
That's hard these days, you can all we have to do is turn on Twitter or Instagram.
Yeah, so it's harder to uh, it's really hard to avoid it.
It is about a mile from where we are right now. In a few days time, you are playing with The Cure in London, not for the first time into pub played with The Kill before. What are your first memories of meeting The Cure and performing with them before.
I mean, it was a really really, really fun tour, and I mean that in full sincerity. There there was incredibly hospital It was also a fun tour because it felt like a festival tour because there were these other bands on that. There was Maguay, who I was, you know, old friends with fights who work at a record label.
Magua was the they put out their first record on that label.
So you know, I was there when I got to meet them when they first came to America for the first time. And so they played, and The Rapture played, and you know, many other bands played, and so there was like a nice camaraderie and then they would all sort of come come down to a nice little improvised like football match at she like after the festivals finished. But just with The Cure, there was just so hospital
kind and they really just hung out. It wasn't like you know, there were two ships, theres and everyone else's. It was all, you know, sort of like a nice caravan and we you know, everyone was quite social after the gigs and hang out and just sort of it was a really fun tour.
I'd to say it was one of the more memorable ones.
This is the Curiosa exactly. It is about two thousand and fourish, that's right, So.
You just you would have been just before it was right before he released Tantics. We just finished it.
And Robert Smith, because he's just in the last couple of weeks been curating the Meltdown Festival London put on an amazing ten days of music. I think mag Whit actually played one.
Of those nights.
But he's these days from the outside people perceiven. Perhaps it's a little bit elusive because he doesn't necessarily put himself out there in public attention, doesn't do you know, a lot of interviews and things like that. He doesn't make kind of public appearances for appearances sake. He kind of gets on with the work and plays in his band and performs live and makes new records. Boiler accounts. He's actually pretty fun guy to hang out with, right.
Oh, he's really social, really and I mean I haven't seen him since you know, we did that tour. It's been a long time. But mind you, he was really no, he was really social, really kind really you know, all that hangout and and not like I said, like you know, not not removed from all the other bands were playing the bill. Wasn't that facade. It was actually really nice camaraderie and a super cool guy. All the bandmates, all
those bandmates are really great, his management great. Everyone was like really cool to us, and it was you never know what to expect when you go on, you know, touring with bands who've been doing this for a minute and they have a great legacy.
I don't know if it's going to be.
Inclusive or exclusive, and you can't really say what's right and wrong in this. It's really you know, it's it's everyone has their own journey and and you know has to do what is right for them to keep the pace going. But he was really Yeah, he was very present, and so were his bandmates.
Apparently he's a bit of a Steve Albinia and he's very good at the cards, and he like often we'll clear up with his support bands when they don't realize that he's so.
Good play cards. I didn't.
I don't think I played, but I do remember him being on the back of our bus playing cards with my bandmates and maybe his mothers.
It gives us one hand, he's like, yeah, guys, come on too with us. Yeah, give me, it'll be a yeah, it'll be a tidy fe And then the other hand he's like, I'm taking my money off and taking you lunch money off you today.
Maybe someone told him that list, you know, back in the day.
Probably Yeah, you're playing on the show with a Cure. But also in a couple of months time, at the end of August, you were releasing Marauder, which is into sixth album. Just kind of untangle the process from where this album started for people listening. So last year we saw Interpol on tour. You were celebrating or marking the fifteenth anniversary of Bright Lights. So where did the kind of work on this album begin. Does it go back
a few years ago? Now? Just talk a little bit about how it came together.
Well, the songs tend to begin with me, so like I think I started writing like the foundation of the songs that would eventually end up on Morato. Probably here and there, maybe while touring on the back of our last record, up in tour, but at that moment we don't really know if you're writing or not writing. You're more just having a guitar present, playing in between tours, maybe playing a little bit on tour, but we don't know,
it's not a real concentrated effort. But then sometimes the ideas come about and you record them, you play some of them when you are in between tours, you kind sort of realize them a bit more, you know, put them into some sort of arrangement and so forth. But I think really when we concluded touring on Elpin tours for probably towards the end in twenty fifteen, is when I started really trying to put some efforts into you know, songwriting, and then so and then I think we got together.
So I wrote quite a bit over.
Twenty fifteen, at the end of twenty fifteen, and predominantly in twenty sixteen. Paul and I first got together probably towards the end of twenty sixteen, and just to see if there's anything there for ready yet and so forth. But much like Elpintour, you know, things kind of the first few days of the process of writing to seeing you if we're ready to write a new record were quite fruitful,
and you know, I remember exactly what songs. I guess actually we probably made some good foray into what would become the first song on the record.
If you really loved nothing.
And I don't remember exactly where else we went, but it was pretty clear that, you know, the chemistry was there and we were kind of ready to begin again, to begin anew and then Sam came by, you know, shortly after that. And then since we're not always in New York at the same time and Sam doesn't live there.
Anymore, we sort of coordinate a schedule.
So we do like ten days on or week on, usually about a week on I would say, once a month. And then you know, and the word felp in tour and I think it's lots of a man because you don't know if the results will be there, if you're gonna have chemistry, if you're gonna have ideas of think. Knowing that there's a bit of a timeline kind of kept our focus going. And then it gives you a little bit of space to reflect on the material you're working on from afar. So every time we come back together,
we'd you know, advance it further and so forth. So yeah, it was it was cool to do this the second time. Now, like as we you know, up in tours, a bit of a different process for us, and having that under our belt I think made it sort of you know, I feel kind of confident with exploring what have become the songs for Marauder.
When you marked fifteenth anniversary of Turned On the Bright Lights last year by doing those shows, what effect did that have on the process of making or actually, first of all, why did you feel compelled to do that? Why on the fifteenth a diniversary? Why was that the right time? And why did it feel?
No, it wasn't something really it was.
We didn't have the idea of doing it until probably something like January of two thousand and seventeen. It wasn't it was like we were already you know, instinctive. Yeah, we'd always initiated the process of what would become, you know, the songwriting for Marada, and but we never contemplated doing
something like this before. We've never done tours in between records, even though you know, in the same age a lot of our bandmate, a lot of our friends who are in bands do that quite often without you know, wethinking it. But we usually just tour quite a bit on the back of a record, disappeared for a few years, come back for a new record and begin, you know, once more.
And when the idea was sort of raised. It didn't take you know, it wasn't sort of like no. Everyone was sort of like, yeah, that sounds like fun, and everyone is. It was a real quick decision and no one overthought it. And and I think somewhere along the way, you know, we were already pretty by the time we actually ventured out wet. By the time we started rehearsing for Bright Lights the Bright Lights tour, probably in July towards end July or something like that, we were pretty
far along with the songwriting with Marato. So it felt like kind of like a healthy thing to to, you know, to basically for once, try to do something a bit different where you okay. So now we're you know, I would say ninety percent there as far as actual at least the music. Maybe Paul still working on vocals and lyrics,
but ninety percent there. Go out tour, leave these songs alone for several months, really, because we toured all of August into September in Europe, and then we went to la and New York towards the end of September or beginning of October, and then played in Mexico two nights to the third week of October, so we didn't really start writing it or get back together and start playing
the songs until the end November. I think we just did one week of a session, but the songs came running back to us and we felt like a good place of what we captured.
We liked the.
Direction we're going in, and and a week later went in started we did our first recording session for Maroder.
Like So it was really it was good.
It was good, and I think it kind of I think maybe like neglecting them for a few months, but knowing that they're still there and forgetting about them, switching gears was I think we had suspicions it'd be like a healthy thing to do, but it really was.
It was cool.
I mean, we didn't need to do it, but it was definitely didn't hurt us by by you know, having that come about.
And it's interesting to hear and you say that it was a very instinctive thing to do, because I know that some bands kind of aminah about whether doing something like that is the right thing to do, because it feels like looking back at a time when a lot of artists want to just always just be looking forward. But it sounds like you guys were like, well, that would be a fun thing to do.
I mean, we were looking forward, you know.
We obviously you feel more passionate, not more passionate than one record or the other, but you feel more passionate just in life about what's happening, and you're you know, at that moment, you know, and certainly from an artistic perspective, like the work you're doing now, that you should kind of feel like, oh man, I'm more invigorated by this than anything done previously. That's whether someone else feels the same way or not, that's debatable.
But from an artist, you know position, I can get.
You know, what's the point of doing something trying to if you don't feel fully invested in it, you might as well just do something else. And I think, you know, we never force being a band. We're a band together still to this day. It's because we still have great chemistry when we write music and when we play together and so forth. You know, I think we have We're quite different from one another in many ways, but I think we're going together writing music. I think we have
a probably you know something we do. Think we're still advancing and getting better and better, and so and the fact that you know, I love that.
I mean, I never want to be a band.
That sort of divorced themselves from the first record or certain songs.
I always want to be you know.
I'm happy to play anything that people want to hear, and I just also don't when we're making Bright Lights and other records, especially Bright Lights, I can say since just a first record, I was really very mindful, like, well, this is kind of forever, you know, whether people actually
care about this record or not. Eventually I had no idea, but it's more of like I want to be okay with this record forever, meaning that you know, years later, if I'm playing it, I should be okay if that versus well, I don't know what else trying to do there. I never want to be a band that was trying to do things besides what we were we wanted to do.
I didn't want to try to please other people. I think artistically we try to please ourselves and hopefully if we're into what we're doing, then other people will be into it too, which is kind of what you know, sort of the catalyst of the songs that would be on Bright Lights. So that's kind of sort of our formula to date.
I think by the time people hear this, Marauder will be out. I think it sounds like insp most urgent record today. It feels like there's an energy about it that feels like like a determination. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels really invigorated. Did it feel like that making it?
Yeah, I think there was. There's a couple of things to it. I agree. I think it was.
I don't think it was intentional as much, just that's just what came out. I think the songs were coming out on me a little bit like that.
And then when we.
Were, you know, writing them in the in the rehearsal space, you know, I think writing sometimes in New York, you're
there's no ideal rehearsal space. It's all the sort of you know where we Sell Upon was based, you know, basically the same place where we wrote our Our Love to myr Our, you know our third record, which is you know, one of the few buildings where like so bands rehearsing there and you can hear all the bands coming through the wall, so you really have to It's something that you you it's a lesson you learn early on.
If you're intending to play music in your and even more so nowadays because there's even few rehearsal spaces or complexes. It's just got to really just drown out what's coming through the walls and just do what you're doing, and just you know, even I mean whether it's other bands or like taxis or cars, it's just you're just concentrating on what's happened in that room. Well that your bandmates, you know, performing what you're performing, and the energy and
so forth. So I think in general, I think there was also kind of just the songs. There was a bit of like a rawness to the way we were playing them together. And uh and probably an urgency too. And and then I think working with Dave Fridman, we didn't really know what it would be like. You know, obviously we're great admirers of all the you know, the many great wonderful records that he's he's worked on, but
they're all quite varied. You know, they're from MGMT to The Spoon to Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev mixing some of you know the mixings a he's unfi like Tim and Paula who I mean, it's not really one cohesive thing.
It's all the place.
So I knew we were making a really live records what it felt like to me, and I really wanted to keep that and so, but we wanted to be open too, and wanted to leave plenty of room for Dave, you know, the idea of going to work for a producer for the first time.
I want to leave room for him to say something.
And you know, I think until probably not that long ago, we probably would have been like a step back when someone else, you know, we're very sort of a punk rockers kind of like, oh we got this, you know, but we wanted to be open, you know, to if he has an idea.
We wanted to like listen to it.
So but I think from him listening to the rehearsal recordings that we've done, you know, we're banned that very much like even pre bright Lights, we go in the studio when the songs really have an identity, when they're kind of you know, we can play them from start to finish, and you know, and and this was no difference. So what we were sending and were really finished songs.
There weren't many songs of holes them. Maybe they'll be portions where Paul hadn't finished, like the lyrics or maybe a vocal here and there, but the actual identity of the songs as as what ended up on the record was already happening in the rehearsal space, and so I think, you know, when he listened to them, he you know he.
I think that's when he basically probably the reason why he wrote us an emails like thinking of recording this, you know, all in two inch tape, and which we've always recorded to two inch tape, but we usually have to a certain point just for ease and expediency, just dumping into pro tools, just to the guitar with doves, just not for the just to make it faster and
not have to overthink things. But I think because he heard that the songs are so quite realized and he didn't have any issues with the arrangements, and I think he liked it. I think he wanted to be more exploit that attribute of the actual songs, the inherent songs, and I think that's one of the major contributions that he had to the record, and it was cool that he did that versus you know, I don't know.
He's like a specialist.
It's interesting he doesn't have one, like we were saying, doesn't have one particular approach, just applies to all the records he works on. I think he listens, he thinks, and then he gets an idea and then he wants to see it through. So I think he wanted to capture that identity, that rawness, that liveness, that urgency, and which really was pleasing to me because I would have I wanted to keep that too. I didn't want it
to become too smooth. I wanted to sound like a dirty guitar jumping off your stereo, and I wanted sam strums to snap at you and I want to be I want it to sound like a band playing in the room.
And I think that's what it sounds like.
And I think I don't think it sounds like anything like turn on the bright Lights, but turn on the Bright Lights does sound like. It sounds like us as we were playing at that moment, And that was the idea of making that record. Was really just wanted to make it sound like us and as we were like as a rehearsal room, and that's what really that was one of the things that we just somewhat overcomplicated, and I would say to the greed that wasn't we have
any goals? So much for Marato as much as I would say, well now that sounds like us where we played those songs, you know, live, we play together.
And one day you're rehearsing and the cops turn up at the door.
Well, this is before we went into this other. Yeah, we were.
That was the first half, like, you know, two halves of the first half of the songwriting on this record. We were sharing the wonderful y Aays rehearsal space on
the Bowery. It was like the greatest rehearsal space I've ever been in, and it was also kind of the most classic stored of rehearsal space in the sense that it was like subterranean and you have to lift up a grade from the sidewalk from the Bowery in New York City, you know, and so just like literally, I mean, it was the most romantic thing, if you want, in terms of rock and rolls, literally a half block from CBGB's and like right by Phoebe's, which is like now
it's kind of like a night like a sporting kind of diner, but back in the Eveny's and Ramon's days. It was sort of like one of places that all those guys hung out at anyway, But yeah, and it was great in the ya yas they hadn't been using in a while, mostly in la and they were really kind about letting us use it and sharing with them. And it was so it was decked out all their you know, the toy paraphernalia and so forth, and it was so cozy and so nice, and it worked great
for the longest time. I mean, you couldn't you know, you're down there just you just felt so comfortable, sounded great. And then you know, after I don't, I don't know, maybe a couple of months, you got like the first complaint from the cops and they have totally kind of figure out where it is.
You have to go really down stairs.
And then and then after a while the landlord, who was really cool too, she got another complaint from it was a neighbor.
And then we try to meet the neighbor.
We try to reason with him, we try to be like, you know, a peace to him, and he seemed like we were getting somewhere. But then soon enough the cop arrived at the second time. And then it was basically very much, you know, make clear that we need to get out of there otherwise face consequences. So it felt bad for the Yes, but I think they knew that, you know, that that name had already complained and you know that their days there were like numbered and so forth.
So sadly we had to like sort of in a scrambl DeCamp and then we had to you know, go back to the same building that we recorded we wrote Our Love to Admire and you know, ten years ago.
So it all worked out just fine, but still it was a little bit. It was just it was too good to be true.
And some certain elements in yorka the s and age are too good to be true, or you know, are no longer too good to be true, I should say.
I think London similar. One of the things that I was thinking about earlier was looking back on Interpol and the things you've done in the years previous. Back in the very early days, you recorded a session for John Peel at the Made of Vale studios in London, I think like early two thousand and.
One around that was April two thousand and one.
Yeah, so Made of Veil is a studio so for people listening. You most people will know Made of Vale Studios hosted so many bands over the years. It's a bit of a rite of passage if you get to go in there and record a session for the BBC. But that the BBC of moving out made a bell soon in the waving, Yeah, moving to a new facility in Stratford and made the veil won't be won't be
what it was. And so like it's kind of sad to see buildings, you know, particularly buildings that have housed such kind of historic moments change.
You know.
Obviously we we we got we put out our first EPNG Chemical Underground, and and it was a big moment for us. And you know, they were all the people who were Chemical Underground the dog out as a band. They were alls, they were supportive of the band since the very you know, since the beginning, and they were like super cool. And then they had this idea of the series and they offered to put out a couple of our tracks from our first two demos and it
was a big thing. And then through that, you know, we were a banned for a met you something like three started played our first we record that demo actually March like our February maybe like sorry, we played our first show March ninety eight, and then we recorded that demo like June ninety eight.
But consequently and all that time, we saw, you know, you just kind.
Of weren't really getting anywhere moving and you really want a tour, you want to try to give yourself a reason to continue as a band, and uh, and then they decided to put that out, and then through that, you really we really wanted to come to the UK and do like a little tour. Whether it was practical or not, or whether it was gonna be economical, we're
gonna lose a ton of money. But one of the reason ways that we actually made it work was that they helped us, you know, chemical on ground helped us get a Peel session, which you know obviously was John Peel was a legend, and and uh then it just all the Peel sessions were like, you know, like, oh my god, that you know, so and so did the
Peel session. Blah blah, I can't believe this. And on top of it was you know, we had like we just really wanted to go to the UK and just do some dates, and they give you like a little bit of money to to do that to record that, which was like great, maybe you can put that towards like renting a van and and flying over here like you know, and we had no money, you know, and so and uh so we did and the tour for the most part, I wouldn't say the disaster, but it wouldn't.
It didn't really work.
I didn't do anything, you know, played a funny well and it.
Was just didn't really work out.
And then, uh, the culmination was that we were going to do this peel session towards the end, and you know, it was it was great, It was really great. And I remember I saw the engineer Simon, who was like amazing,
and uh, it's a really wonderful experience. But because of some of those recordings that eventually it led us to being you know, signed to the label that we're still a part of mad at Or and that's and so we have you know, I think we were a great debt to to that session and we have great you know. It's also those romantic early days of actually doing something, you know, actually having doing something, you know, kind of
people actually being interested in what you're doing. We didn't have that many things to go on back then so someone being offering us a Peel session was a huge thing and consequently had a you know, great repercussion onto why we're still able to play music now, I think was.
That a buzzbein stood in that in those legendary made of al studios, you got all your kit set up, you've got your headphones on, and then the voice of John Peel comes down the line and it's like evening interpol.
Well, I think when you recorded, you record it separately, and that I think at the end he broadcasted like that. And so yeah, hearing him do that was definitely a trip. And we you know, it wasn't like we had no press back down we had. It was maybe at the very beginning of people paying attention to you know, the you know music coming out in New York.
So yeah, the.
Strokes are already started receiving quite a bit of attention and so forth. But so like we had, you know, those all things were definitely just there are big moments for us, and not even because it led to other ones, but just says it was a thrill. I think for us to record, there was a thrill to have it actually go out, and you know, definitely encouraged us to keep going.
What's it been like being in a band that has straddled the pre Internet era and the post Internet era, because, like you say, early days of the band, late nineties, early two thousands, you come to the UK, you do something like a John Peel session, which is a big tick box, as you already said, like you a real buzz to do that, and there are certain handful of channels that you would go down to try and get
your music heard. Twenty years on, eighteen years on, it's obviously a completely different world in terms of the way that people consume music. So did you have you always just gone with the flow with the way that things have changed, or do you have fond memories when things were a little bit maybe more straightforward or simpler, or maybe they weren't at til I didn't.
I I don't know.
I used to I used to work at record labels and stuff like that, you know, And so to me, I think I've just kind of all rolled with things, and I think with bright lights, I never had any other expectations besides hopefully making a record and putting it out on a record label that I loved. And you know, so as soon as we signed a mat or made
a record. I had no expectations beyond that the fact that people, for instance, that you were interested in sort of had a slow growth, but it you know, kind of word of mouth sort of spreading, and it felt very much like I think Bright Lights is way more in common with the decades prior to the music industry, like word of mouth and build and so forth, and in America college radio, so had like a lot of
impact on actually you know, spreading things. And every time we went on tour it got a little bigger, little bigger versus you know obviously now where things can go from zero to one hundred and twenty like in no time. And then but by the time we put out Antics, it was you know, he finished it, it leaked by like two weeks after he finished it, and like three
months before it came out or something like that. Like we're on tour with the Curatu and the you know, and people were reviewing it like in the dailies or in the weeklies when we're going by, and I was like, yeah,
you know, the reviewing basically a bootleg. And I think that was the beginning of like records leaking like that kind of I mean, not our record, but it was around the same time that things were happening, So I think even then I was sort of like easy compies, you go, you know, I mean, I'm fortunate that we're touring, we're playing, we're doing this, but like I can't control
those elements. And no, obviously I think multiple cycles since then, you know, with seemingly you know, music industry going forever into an abyss with no you know, bottom as far as like creating a model when people actually gonna buy records or find you know, some sort of commerce for it to downloads and working here and there, like on iTunes and stuff like that, to now streaming, which is now sort of like really taking its course and become
a you know, a legitimate thing, a legitimate entiteam people are responding to. So it's kind of like, I don't know's it's interesting. It's I don't know if it's completely settled upon where it's going to go who and who knows, But I think it's you know, the release is not in a boring time, you know, it's an exciting time. And I think it's also like ealitarian time in the sense that if you if you have like maybe you know taste, it's a bit searching, a bit more out there,
and you live in a remote location. You're not punished for that, you know, You're not just like well you got to get down to the local supermarket and buy what they have. Now you can be like, well I like this and now and you know, I can through this source, I can get that record, I can listen
to it and so forth. And I think that I think that was the thing that struck me even back in when you know, like around the antics sign was like cool man, So if like a kid lives like I don't know someone really remote, you know, someone somewhere like in Indonesia, someone like where there aren't like someonere remote and you know, very rule they they have that access, that they have that taste, and that's I think that's
very fair to me. And that's just you know versus back in the day maybe you're you're you know, your only subject to your environment, and that's not quite fair. So I saw it was like I think I was even optimistic backed around the antics when of the record leagues, I was like, okay, well, you know the plus side is that music is probably at an all time you know, popularity level, and I think that's great.
I've read before that Paul was saying that he still takes the most enjoyment out of making a record and if he could, he'd make three albums a year and like not tour as much. So do you think the music industry will eventually The way we've seen things emerge have been that as it's less financially viable selling records, you know, people don't make as much money, you know, in the current climate with streaming and things like that, and like touring has become such a big deal because
it's such a big revenue for all bands. Do you think, though, it will grow to the point where that goes as a complete circle, and like streaming will be so omnipresent that maybe artists there will be artists that can just make music again, recorded music and live off that.
I don't know. I think anyone who's like yes is it's like how can you? How can you? How can you really tell?
You also have to think that, you know, I mean, just like it took us, you know, four years that you can get signed. There's so much music out there right now, you know, because you don't have to wait, you know, you put anything up there.
So I don't know. It's like a lot of I don't look.
At music and other people doing stuff as competition. But you could say that there's a lot of people to digest and to choose from. So I don't know, I don't look at it, you know. To me, it's like I don't really overthink that stuff. Like I like, I like playing shows, I like touring, and I think Paul is too. It's just like, after all, yet there's a bit of a grind to just you know, sleeping on like someone on the run in a different hotel at night after night, or sleeping on buses or you know,
border crossings and things like this. It takes its toll a little bit, and if you want to advance other elements of your life. But uh, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's really Also it's kind of I feel like it's kind of good to do things and then just kind of sit here for a little bit. Maye people kind of miss you and pay attention to what you're doing. That's that's the way I guess I am A little bit of stuff.
We mentioned New York earlier. You still live in New York. As the city's developed and changed, and obviously, like everybody gets a bit older, do you still love it as much as you did when you first moved there, when you were first making music there? How things change, is it's still a place that feels vibrant and exciting and fit for where you are in your life now.
I think New York's a great place to come and go. It's all.
It's really feels good to leave that place, and it feels really great to return to.
It, like like no other place.
And I think that holds true for like a lot of people live there for a while. But I think unfortunately, I do travel quite frequently, and I know not to oversee my welcome there. It's all my my home. It's I've seen, you know, I've lived there for so many years. I've seen so many changes. I can't pretend that it's you know, as it's definitely an affluent place, you know,
like not even just Manhattan. I think Brooklyn's prettyffluent in parts, or more parts of affluent now than they were let's say, ten years ago, which is, you know, some parts are really gentrified that no one ever thought would be possible. And that's just that's just that's just a fact of it. And but I think that, you know, like you're saying, London's on the same burl, and it's the same. Many other cities have done same. It's something that's happening all
over the world. I still like New York. There's an ease about it. Not an ease, but there's an ease if you want to. You can have those great days where you can just do so many wonderful, like cultural things in one day. And it's a small and it's fascinting. It's a small little like Manhattan, a small little island where you can go to these some of the world's most incredible museums, you can go this restaurant, you can go to that, you can take a nice bike.
Ride up here. You just you can have like really the best of days.
And you can make it all happen. And there's something about that. I still have that romantic notion for this. But if I'm there for too long, then yeah, it starts weighing on me. And there's elements of it I do drive me crazy. Like you know, I spend a lot of time in Europe and uh, you know, Mexico and stuff like that. And it's just like in New York, you go out to dinner for someone and you you don't want to go to like a completely shitty restaurant, but you want to go. You know, it's like an
okay restaurant. It's just like you have two glasses and wine each, and and you know, your two dishes each, and also you're you're paying like just you know, hundreds of dollars, and it's like, what is this And I, you know, all those other parts of the world that just are not anywhere near that, you know, I mean so yeah, So I did those elements.
Definitely. They tried me at times, you know, but.
Overall, like I said, like in doses, I think when I'm there, I, you know, have so many great friends there, have so much history there. I do still try to look on the positive what it has to offer, especially on the cultural elements. It's it's all right there if you want it. But I do really enjoy going and really attach myself and going kind of to a polar opposite location offering something completely different. And I don't need I don't feel like I have when I'm not in
New York. I don't think I'm missing out on things. I don't I'm pretty good at being present and where I'm at at that moment and just trying to like, yeah, just explore what that city, what that location has to offer, and and really making the most of that.
You know, you mentioned the lack of things like rehearsal space these days as properties got more expensive, things that had to move out of the city, and opportunities perhaps aren't what they were. Are you Is there any part of you that think it's kind of glad that you started out when you did, when there were more opportunities. It's like, do you think there are if you were starting a band now in New York City in twenty eighteen, is it is it a tougher thing to get going? So?
I don't know, you know, because I think when we started out too, there were only two real clubs that mattered in the sense of you know, labels and having sort of some sort of repercussions on your advancement as a band. That was like the Mercury Lounge, which is still there, and Brownies, which is no longer there, And so you just kind of ping pong back and forth, and you know, they would count people at the door
and see who's coming for you, they'd ask them. So it was kind of like you really but you know, since then, there's many, many, many many more clubs that've opened up. I mean not just you know, I mean Brooklyn really became a really sort of a pinnacle spot to play. And just in Manhattan, as many spots in Brooklyn, as many spots and people were kind of open, there's new spots silk sprouting up that are just as vital. Sometimes new spots don't really have to earn their way.
People get really excited about them right off the bat, and they're more vital than some somewhere that's been there for a long time, which wasn't really the case when we started out. I'm happy that we, you know, things happened that they did for us, because it didn't come easy. We could have easily broken up many times. We made three demos before this, you know, we got signed. The same label that signed us eventually rejected our first two demos, even though a lot of songs are on both demos,
so including PDA just on our first demo. Granted it wasn't as execute as well as maybe you know, like was would end up on the record for sure it wasn't, but so the it wasn't We weren't so far of course, of what would be the direction for the songs that
would end up on Bright Lights. But at the same time, it's sort of like, you know, in kind of you know, maybe to draw on really like an American you know, sports saying, like the minor leagues you don't get in baseball, you don't get cooled up to the major leagues until you're ready. And so in that sense, I don't know
if we were ready or not ready. The timing wasn't ready for us, and so, but I you know, it was very difficult, and it was hard to keep the band together, and I was you know, it's really fortunate that we just did and we crossed some sort of threshold probably maybe a year like in a year before we made the Bright Lights we got sign where we just kind of think we were hitting a streak of writing like nyc Obstacle One and some other songs that I think we you know, for me, I remember leaving
a rehearsal early on, you know, with no sort of prospects that anyone was going to sign us, we'd never make record, you know, but having a particularly good rehearsal, feeling maybe really really excited about something we just were working on, and I, you know, I had this this this calm and I, you know, reflection to myself that I was like, if no one ever hears any of this, at least I'm getting something out of it. It doesn't have to be the culmination, doesn't have to be recording
an album and so forth. And I meant to like, I just was getting something out of it, and you know, I was trying to find the piece next. I had no reason to think that there was anyone interested by, you know, and the stuff we're doing. Hence why when we did put out on the Bright Lights that there was a reaction was like nothing. I could anticipate it because every record label in the world rejected, So why would I think there'd be an audience for us? You know that said, I think it sort of kind of
created something for us. And when we had to write like antics or we sort of were able to sort of just kind of put windows up and not think about xtations what people wanted, and just do whatever we want to do, because that was part of that's what we you know, we'd had that time to sort of formulate as a band, as a writing entity and so forth. So we didn't overthink what it's going to keep doing what we all done, you know, we just blocked out
the noise. And we also didn't overthink. We didn't take too much time right you were writing. We're very conscientious of writing in between tours of Bright Lights, so we kind of got get ahead start before we had too much time on our hands. And so when we did finally stop touring for Bright Lights, you already had like a good sock of songs that would end up on Antics.
And I think that was part of definitely like very conscientious, let's not get ourselves into the situation maybe with blank slate after touring for a long time and feeling a little bit, you know, like it was a bit of a weight around our you know, our neck. And but yeah, it's a very different time period.
I don't know.
I think it's probably the plus site is for new bands that you have the Internet to get your music out there. And I do still believe that good music will be heard. I felt that way even back then, even though you know, I just I did, But I
think that way now. But the difficult thing is, like it's I don't know which is the best way to get it out there, and it's you know that everyone has the opportunity to put it up there, and like you know, in the various ways that are obvious to us, whether you get hurt because you're good or not good, I don't know, but I do believe it will be heard. I do believe that's what you have to do, and you just have to do it for yourself and that you know, I overthink, like I'm doing this for this.
I hope this happens because of this.
She's you know, if you find collaborators, if you need them, if you're not doing everything yourself, and just do it for you and keep it simple, and then I think good things can come about if you know things are feeling right to you.
I talked a bit about those very early days working with Chemical Underground, doing the first John Peel session, right up to you know, he's celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of Turn On the Bright Lights and then making a sick that album Marauder. We head into almost a third decade of Interval in the next couple of years. Do you still love it? Do you you know? Do you function better?
As a band these days, now that you've known each other for twenty odd years, Like, how you feeling generally about it?
I mean, I think, you know, yeah, I do. I mean, I really love my bandmates. I feel really fortunate to have this. It's incredible that I've gone to you know, I love traveling. I love the fact that I have friends all the world. I love the fact that I've learned so many things. I feel this is something that I think I always wanted to be a sailor, and I got to become a sailor. And then and then the fact that you know, we were not still banned because well.
Okay, well this is our livelihood, this is what we do, or an insecurity thing.
I don't I really don't think that it's you know, I think it's all sort of you know, those early days of songwriting between Paul and I, especially right at the beginning, where it's like the last two records being very fruitful right off the bat, and you know, you know, a couple of songs from their identity right away. I think that's more of a testament like oh yeah, we
still have much more to say. We're still going forward, and I think we all feel that way, you know, And I think the three of us after Marauder, we really felt it was probably the most on the same page you've ever been, you know, as far as leaving a record being.
Like, we feel good about what we did. We feel really happy about this.
I mean, there's so much there's a degree of like you can't control how people can react to receive it with a to say. And that's beautiful thing about music. There's it's not subjective. I mean, it's not objective. People think it is, but it's not. It's you know, maybe you love antics because you maybe that's when you met your future wife, like around that time listening that record, or maybe our love to my or bright Lights or
what have you. But you know, at least from our perspective, I think we feel Marauda, you know, holds its own compared to anything we've done to date, and is you know, us moving forward. And so I think that galvinizes us to keep doing it. And you know, it's, uh, that's why we did it. That's onely reason why we did because we feel like we so more to say, and I you know, I really love I think you know, when we play the songs just even practice, I think we feel has an energy and we can't really wait
to play them live. And I think these are the reasons why we're still banded to say and you know and onwards.
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