Perhaps the best thing about the whole Strokes/New York underground music “revival” is that it has brought a bunch of bands that are a whole damn lot better than the Strokes into the mainstream. Although those guys think they’re cool with that scraggly-haired thrift-store alcoholic image they stole from CBGB circa. 1979, they still can’t cover up the fact that they’re a bunch of pretentious, semi-talented rich kids whose second album is likely to go the way of a Chevy Chase talk show.
Meanwhile, other talented groups like the White Stripes and the Hives that have been toiling away on the indie scene for just as long, if not longer, are finally getting some large-scale credit. Even younger acts like The Vines and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have garnered some momentum for their debut albums thanks to the pop resurgence of underground/garage/heroin/punk/whatever rock. At least we can thank the Strokes for that.
One such band to emerge from this musical climate is Interpol, playing tomorrow night at the 9:30 Club. Like the other bands that have benefited from the increased hype surrounding the “saviors of rock,” Interpol probably owes The Strokes some due as well. But like those other groups, Interpol makes the Strokes look like pretenders to the rip-off throne.
Interpol formed in 1998 when three NYU students-Daniel Kessler, Carlos Dengler, and some dude named Greg-hooked up with an old friend of Kessler’s named Paul Banks. The band toured around New York with regular stops at clubs like the Mercury Lounge, but Greg quit, leaving the band to pick up Sam Fogarino on drums.
Unsurprisingly, Interpol first got major attention in Britain. In 2001, they released a number of EPs on several different U.K. indie labels before being featured on a local New York release later that year. Their first full-length album, the guitar heavy Turn on the Bright Lights, was released just a few months ago to modest hype and numerous well-deserved comparisons to Joy Division.
Like most of the other bands floating in the ether of the New York underground circuit, Interpol is heavily influenced by that depressing Manchester sound in many respects—moaning vocals, jangly guitars, funny suits and so on. And yes, Banks sounds like Morrissey. And yes, a lot of their riffs sound straight-up lifted from Television’s Marquee Moon.
However, in spite of the derivative elements, Interpol still kicks ass. I mean, Puffy’s “I’ll be Missing You” was a rip-off, but it’s still a modern-day masterpiece. You’ll see.
Interpol maintains that Joy Division-esque brooding throughout Turn on the Bright Lights, with exuberantly joyful lines like “You’ll go stabbing yourself in the neck” and creepy references to love that should discourage anyone from ever dating these guys.
Despite the fact that the band occasionally loses itself in murky depression, wandering around in droning, paranoid sob-rock, it still manages to balance brooding with enough pop sensibility to keep your head bobbing. Sounding like the Chili Peppers one moment and the Clash the next, Interpol will certainly leave you drawing comparisons to past masters—but won’t leave you disappointed.
And while the band may just be rich kids kicking it old-school like the Strokes, Interpol does it much better.
Interpol is playing Friday at 9:30 Club, 815 V St., N.W.
