INTERPOL
THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE-BELIEVE
ΚΥΚΛΟΦΟΡΕΙ 15 ΙΟΥΛΙΟΥ
ΔΕΙΤΕ ΤΟ VIDEO
‘TONI’
(credit: Atiba Jefferson, hi-res)
Ο Paul Banks τραγουδάει “Still in shape, my methods refined”! Είναι στίχοι από το “Toni”, το εναρκτήριο τραγούδι του νέου άλμπουμ των Interpol, “The Other Side of Make-Believe” που θα κυκλοφορήσει στις 15 Ιουλίου από την Matador.
Μέσα από τα νέα τραγούδια φαίνεται ξεκάθαρα η λαχτάρα του συγκροτήματος να εξερευνήσει νέα μονοπάτια. H εκρηκτική κιθάρα του Daniel Kessler, τα τύμπανα του Samuel Fogarino που ξεφεύγουν από την ακρίβεια που γνωρίζαμε και η ηχηρή φωνή του Paul Banks αποπνέουν ένα συναίσθημα που είναι πιθανό να αγγίξει τους περισσότερους θαυμαστές της μπάντας. Άλλωστε, όπως λέει ο Banks, «υπάρχει πάντα μια έβδομη φορά για μια πρώτη εντύπωση.»
Το πρώτο single είναι το ‘Toni’ και συνοδεύεται από ένα video που αποτελεί το πρώτο μέρος ενός χορευτικού φιλμ το οποίο σκηνοθέτησε ο Van Alpert (Post Malone, Machine Gun Kelly)/ Το δεύτερο μέρος θα ακολουθήσει σύντομα. Μιλώντας για την συνεργασία αυτή, ο Banks είπε, «Ήταν φανταστική συνεργασία μας με τον Van Alpert για το video του Toni. Συνδεθήκαμε μέσω των κοινών μας κινηματογραφικών γούστων αλλά και από ένα πάθος για κλασικά μουσικά βίντεο των Glazer, Cunningham και Jonze. Ο Van, κατά τη γνώμη μου, είναι στην ίδια θέση με αυτούς τους θρύλους και ενθουσιάστηκα πολύ βλέποντάς τον πως δουλεύει»
Ο Van Alpert δήλωσε: «΄Έγραψα μια τρελή ιδέα που αισθανόμουν ότι ήταν κάτι νέο για τους Interpol. Ένα σύγχρονο χορευτικό φιλμ. Ήταν ένα όνειρο να δουλέψω με την αγαπημένη μου μπάντα. Ο Paul Banks είναι ο συνδετικός κρίκος όλων και έδωσε στην ιδέα ένα άλλο επίπεδο γιατί είναι εκ φύσεως εξαιρετικός ηθοποιός, καλλιτέχνης και συνεργάτης.»
(hi-res)
Το “The Other Side of Make-Believe” άρχισε να δημιουργείται το 2020 εξ’ αποστάσεως. Στις αρχές του 2021, οι Interpol βρέθηκαν και πάλι μαζί σε ένα νοικιασμένο σπίτι στο Catskills για να δουλέψουν το νέο τους υλικό. Το άλμπουμ ολοκληρώθηκε μέσα στη χρονιά, στο Βόρειο Λονδίνο, σε συνεργασία – για πρώτη φορά – με τον βετεράνο της παραγωγής Flood (Mark Ellis) αλλά και τον Alan Moulder.
Οι Interpol βρήκαν μια διαφορετική διέξοδο δουλεύοντας, ξεχωριστά ο ένας από τον άλλον, τα πρώτα στάδια αυτού του άλμπουμ, αφού βρίσκονταν σε διαφορετικά γεωγραφικά σημεία. «Πραγματικά καταφέραμε να βγάλουμε το μέλι από αυτήν την κατάσταση», λέει ο Fogarino. Ο Kessler προσθέτει: «Το να δουλεύουμε ξεχωριστά ήταν δύσκολο στην αρχή, αλλά άνοιξε ένα νέο κεφάλαιο για εμάς». Τελικά, κάθε μέλος βρήκε έναν τρόπο να επεκτείνει τον ατομικό του κύκλο σε μια τέλεια αρμονία μεταξύ τους.
Σε αυτό το άλμπουμ υπάρχει μια βαθιά διαπροσωπική κατανόηση που σημαίνει ότι κάθε μέλος σέβεται τις αντίστοιχες δυνάμεις του άλλου καλύτερα από ποτέ, αφήνοντας τις πρωταρχικές ιδιότητες της Interpol να λάμψουν. Τραγούδι με το τραγούδι, ο Kessler δημιουργεί το αρχιτεκτονικό σχέδιο, ο Banks τοποθετεί έργα τέχνης στον τοίχο και μετά ο Fogarino τακτοποιεί τα έπιπλα ώστε να έχουν μια συγκεκριμένη θέση και πρόθεση.
Το “The Other Side of Make-Believe” σύντομα θα μοιάζει τόσο οικείο στη συνείδηση του κοινού, όσο και στον Paul Banks, τον Daniel Kessler και τον Sam Fogarino. Όσο και να φαίνεται παράδοξο, το τρίο έχοντας φτάσει τα επτά άλμπουμ με αρκετές αναποδιές στο δρόμο τους, τα έχει καταφέρει καλύτερα από ό,τι θα μπορούσε να προβλέψει κανείς, χωρίς να αφήσει ποτέ την αίσθηση του σκοπού τους να ξεφύγει. Με την πάροδο του χρόνου, ετικέτες όπως “εναλλακτικό” και “indie” έχουν ξεθωριάσει. Είναι απλά ένα ροκ γκρουπ στις μέρες μας. Ένα από τα πιο ξεχωριστά και ανθεκτικά ροκ συγκροτήματα του 21ου αιώνα μέχρι στιγμής. Και έχοντας διανύσει ένα τέταρτο του αιώνα, το συγκρότημα επιστρέφει δυναμικά ξανά..
Interpol: their methods refined, still in terrific shape.
– Gabriel Szatan
The Other Side Of Make-Believe
Tracklisting
1. Toni
2. Fables
3. Into The Night
4. Mr Credit
5. Something Changed
6. Renegade Hearts
7. Passenger
8. Greenwich
9. Gran Hotel
10. Big Shot City
11. Go Easy (Palermo)
INTERPL TOUR DATES:
Apr 25 Dallas, TX, US The Factory in Deep Ellum
Apr 26 Austin, TX, US Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
Apr 28 Tempe, AZ, US Marquee Theatre
Apr 29 San Diego, CA, US Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
Apr 30 Berkeley, CA, US Greek Theatre
May 2 Salt Lake City, UT, US Union Event Center (The Union)
May 3 Denver, CO, US Mission Ballroom
May 5 St. Paul, MN, US Palace Theatre
May 6 Chicago, IL, US Aragon Ballroom
May 7 Detroit, MI, US The Fillmore
May 8 Cleveland, OH, US Agora Theatre & Ballroom
May 10 Washington, DC, US The Anthem
May 11 Boston, MA, US Roadrunner
May 13 Philadelphia, PA, US The Met Philadelphia
May 14 Brooklyn, NY, US Kings Theatre
May 15 Brooklyn, NY, US Kings Theatre
May 21 Pasadena, CA, US Rose Bowl
May 21 Pasadena, CA, US Just Like Heaven
May 28 Mexico City, Mexico Palacio de los Deportes
Jun 2 Barcelona, Spain Parc del Fòrum
Jun 9 Barcelona, Spain Parc del Fòrum
Jun 10 Berlin, Germany Flughafen Berlin Tempelhof
Jun 14 London, UK The Roundhouse
Jun 15 London, UK The Roundhouse
Jun 16 Brussels, Belgium Ancienne Belgique (AB)
Jun 17 Landgraaf, Netherlands Megaland
Jun 18 Paris, France Salle Pleyel
Aug 25 Asbury Park, NJ, US Stone Pony Summer Stage
Aug 26 Toronto, ON, Canada Budweiser Stage
Aug 27 Portland, ME, US Thompson’s Point
Aug 28 Providence, RI, US Bold Point Pavilion
Aug 30 Columbus, OH, US KEMBA Live! Outdoor
Sep 1 Cincinnati, OH, US Andrew J. Brady Music Center
Sep 2 Charlotte, NC, US the fillmore
Sep 3 Asheville, NC, US Rabbit Rabbit
Sep 6 Pittsburgh, PA, US Stage AE Outdoors
Sep 8 Indianapolis, IN, US TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
Sep 9 St Louis, MO, US Stifel Theatre
Sep 10 Oklahoma City, OK, US Criterion Theater – Oklahoma City
Sep 13 Las Vegas, NV, US The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
Sep 14 Paso Robles, CA, US Vina Robles Amphitheatre
Sep 16 Seattle, WA, US Paramount Theatre
Sep 17 Portland, OR, US Pioneer Courthouse Square
Sep 18 Portland, OR, US Pioneer Courthouse Square
INTERPOL RETURN WITH NEW ALBUM
THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE-BELIEVE
OUT JULY 15TH
WATCH PAUL BANKS ON THE SIDELINES OF EPIC DANCE BATTLE IN VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE ‘TONI’
FIRST INSTALLMENT IN TWO PART FILM
WOLDWIDE TOUR DATES
(credit: Atiba Jefferson, hi-res)
“Still in shape, my methods refined,” sings Paul Banks on ‘Toni’, the opening track from Interpol’s 7th LP The Other Side of Make-Believe, released July 15th on Matador. The album breaks fresh ground for the group: parallel to exploring the sinister undercurrents of contemporary life, Interpol’s new songs are imbued with pastoral longing and newfound grace. Daniel Kessler’s serpentine guitar arrangements crest skywards, Samuel Fogarino shatters his percussive precision into strange metres, while Paul Banks’ sonorous voice exudes a vulnerability that is likely to catch most long-term fans of the band off guard. After all, says Banks, “there’s always a seventh time for a first impression.”
A bolted-on future fan favourite, first single ‘Toni’ arrives today as the first instalment of a two-part dance film directed by Van Alpert (Post Malone, Machine Gun Kelly), with the second chapter to follow soon. Speaking on the collaboration, Banks notes, “It was a blast working with Van Alpert on the video for our song Toni. We bonded over shared film inspiration as well as a passion for classic music videos by the likes of Glazer, Cunningham and Jonze. Van, in my opinion, is in the club with these legends; and it’s exciting to watch him build his own enduring body of work.”
Video director Van Alpert says: “I wrote a crazy idea that I felt was new for INTERPOL, a hyper-modern, cinematic dance film. A “Lover’s on the Run” story, with a classic cliffhanger ending. Dream job working for my all-time favorite band! Paul Banks ties everything together and elevated the concept, because he’s naturally a great actor, artist, and collaborator.”
Interpol play the Roundhouse in London for two nights on June 14-15 and some of their biggest worldwide shows to date throughout the year, including the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles and City Palacio De Los Deportes arena in Mexico City.
Full dates, album tracklisting and artwork can be found below the album bio by Gabriel Szatan.
(hi-res)
The Other Side of Make-Believe began remotely across 2020. In early 2021, Interpol reconvened to flesh out new material at a rented home in the Catskills, before completing it later that year in North London, working for the first time with production veteran Flood (Mark Ellis), as well as teaming up again with former co-producer Alan Moulder.
Writing on their own in those geographically-dispersed early stages gave the members a way out of their respective heads: “We really extracted the honey out of
this situation”, says Fogarino. Kessler echoes the sentiment: “Working alone was raw at first, but has opened up a vivid new chapter for us.” In the Interpol Venn Diagram, each member found a way of expanding their individual circle in perfect harmony.
As Banks was grounded in Edinburgh for close to nine months, he got cosy in a window-side chair with a pen, pad and atypically cream-coloured bass guitar. “We usually write live, but for the first time I’m not shouting over a drumkit,” he says. “Daniel and I have a strong enough chemistry that I could picture how my voice would complement the scratch demos he emailed over. Then I could turn the guys down on my laptop, locate these colourful melodies and generally get the message across in an understated fashion.” Banks adjusting his personal volume dimmer to a hush chimes with a period of global disquiet and the yearn for reconnection: “It’s like Mickey Rourke in Barfly, singing to a patron at the end of the tabletop, and we never felt the need to flip that smoky intimacy into something big and loud when it came to rehearse and record. I got a real kick out of doing the opposite.”
Coming from a group whose early material was characterised by Polish knife-wielders and incarcerated serial killers, you might expect Interpol’s take on the present day to be an emotional tar pit — perhaps doubly so, given the towering credentials of Flood and Moulder’s history with Nine Inch Nails, Curve, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and more.
Yet Banks felt the call to push in a “counterbalancing” direction, with paeans to mental resilience and the quiet power of going easy. “The nobility of the human spirit is to rebound,” he says. “Yeah, I could focus on how fucked everything is, but I feel now is the time when being hopeful is necessary, and a still-believable emotion within what makes Interpol Interpol.” Kessler concurs: “The process of writing this record and searching for tender, resonant emotions took me back to teenage years; it was transformative, almost euphoric. I felt a rare sensation of purpose biting on the end of my fishing rod and I was compelled to reel it in.”
Even with spare piano caressing the intro of ‘Something Changed’, open-hearted cyclical chord progressions on ‘Passenger’, or anthemic waves of Kessler’s cresting guitar on ‘Big Shot City’, it doesn’t mean Interpol are entirely stopping to smell the roses, though. The Other Side of Make-Believe’s title, cover and a frequent lyrical lean toward fables, smokescreens and the mutability of truth reflect Banks’ disgust with the curdling of the information age. “I feel like the slipperiness of reality, and being willing to get violent on the basis of a factual disagreement, has had a super strenuous effect on the psyche of everyone in the world. Although,” he laughs, “I was talking about it so often that it kind of spooked my bandmates, so I found a way to express my concerns more through the lens of human beings’ non-rational faculties, and less civilizational collapse.”
On The Other Side of Make-Believe, a deep interpersonal understanding means each member respects the other’s respective strengths better than ever, letting Interpol’s elemental qualities shine through. Song by song, Kessler sketches the architectural blueprint (invariably while watching a film — locus of inspiration for almost every song in the band’s catalogue), Banks frames artwork on the wall, then Fogarino arranges the furniture to have a certain positioning and intent.
Fogarino highlights Flood’s part in this equation “was to hyperbolise all of our good qualities. Our band has never exploited rock ‘n roll tropes, no big drum fills or wailing solos, so he located the core honesty in our sound and found a way to widen it. There’s a phrase I love about drumming: ‘the rhythm hates the melody’ — the best kind of drumming either totally accentuates what’s being conveyed, or ploughs through it.” So what does the splashy, dramatic beat on songs like ‘Renegade Hearts’ and ‘Gran Hotel’ imply? The answer comes back with a grin: “I guess Flood gave me room to plough.”
The Other Side of Make-Believe will soon feel as familiar in the public consciousness as it is to Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler and Sam Fogarino. Ever the paradox, the noirish trio have weathered nearly seven albums’ and several line-ups’ worth of rollercoasters far better than anyone might have predicted, never letting their sense of purpose escape. Over time, tags like ‘alternative’ and ‘indie’ have even faded from view. They are simply a rock group nowadays; one of the most distinctive, consequential and enduring rock groups of the 21st century so far. And a quarter-century into their lifespan, the band are all fired up again.
Interpol: their methods refined, still in terrific shape.
– Gabriel Szatan
Read the full album bio HERE.
The Other Side Of Make-Believe
Tracklisting
1. Toni
2. Fables
3. Into The Night
4. Mr Credit
5. Something Changed
6. Renegade Hearts
7. Passenger
8. Greenwich
9. Gran Hotel
10. Big Shot City
11. Go Easy (Palermo)
INTERPL TOUR DATES:
Apr 25 Dallas, TX, US The Factory in Deep Ellum
Apr 26 Austin, TX, US Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
Apr 28 Tempe, AZ, US Marquee Theatre
Apr 29 San Diego, CA, US Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
Apr 30 Berkeley, CA, US Greek Theatre
May 2 Salt Lake City, UT, US Union Event Center (The Union)
May 3 Denver, CO, US Mission Ballroom
May 5 St. Paul, MN, US Palace Theatre
May 6 Chicago, IL, US Aragon Ballroom
May 7 Detroit, MI, US The Fillmore
May 8 Cleveland, OH, US Agora Theatre & Ballroom
May 10 Washington, DC, US The Anthem
May 11 Boston, MA, US Roadrunner
May 13 Philadelphia, PA, US The Met Philadelphia
May 14 Brooklyn, NY, US Kings Theatre
May 15 Brooklyn, NY, US Kings Theatre
May 21 Pasadena, CA, US Rose Bowl
May 21 Pasadena, CA, US Just Like Heaven
May 28 Mexico City, Mexico Palacio de los Deportes
Jun 2 Barcelona, Spain Parc del Fòrum
Jun 9 Barcelona, Spain Parc del Fòrum
Jun 10 Berlin, Germany Flughafen Berlin Tempelhof
Jun 14 London, UK The Roundhouse
Jun 15 London, UK The Roundhouse
Jun 16 Brussels, Belgium Ancienne Belgique (AB)
Jun 17 Landgraaf, Netherlands Megaland
Jun 18 Paris, France Salle Pleyel
Aug 25 Asbury Park, NJ, US Stone Pony Summer Stage
Aug 26 Toronto, ON, Canada Budweiser Stage
Aug 27 Portland, ME, US Thompson’s Point
Aug 28 Providence, RI, US Bold Point Pavilion
Aug 30 Columbus, OH, US KEMBA Live! Outdoor
Sep 1 Cincinnati, OH, US Andrew J. Brady Music Center
Sep 2 Charlotte, NC, US the fillmore
Sep 3 Asheville, NC, US Rabbit Rabbit
Sep 6 Pittsburgh, PA, US Stage AE Outdoors
Sep 8 Indianapolis, IN, US TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
Sep 9 St Louis, MO, US Stifel Theatre
Sep 10 Oklahoma City, OK, US Criterion Theater – Oklahoma City
Sep 13 Las Vegas, NV, US The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
Sep 14 Paso Robles, CA, US Vina Robles Amphitheatre
Sep 16 Seattle, WA, US Paramount Theatre
Sep 17 Portland, OR, US Pioneer Courthouse Square
Sep 18 Portland, OR, US Pioneer Courthouse Square
“Still in shape, my methods refined,” sings Paul Banks on ‘Toni’, the opening track and lead single from Interpol’s 7th LP The Other Side of Make-Believe. The album breaks fresh ground for the group: parallel to exploring the sinister undercurrents of contemporary life, Interpol’s new songs are imbued with pastoral longing and newfound grace. Daniel Kessler’s serpentine guitar arrangements crest skywards, Samuel Fogarino shatters his percussive precision into strange metres, while Paul Banks’ sonorous voice exudes a vulnerability that is likely to catch most long-term fans of the band off guard. After all, says Banks, “there’s always a seventh time for a first impression.”
The Other Side of Make-Believe began remotely across 2020. In early 2021, Interpol reconvened to flesh out new material at a rented home in the Catskills, before completing it later that year in North London, working for the first time with production veteran Flood (Mark Ellis), as well as teaming up again with former co-producer Alan Moulder.
If fate didn’t quite ordain the circumstances for Interpol’s seventh album, it was at least fortunate that the band had happily concluded their Marauder cycle on stage in front of 30 thousand-odd Peruvian fans. Rather than be sent scrambling like so many other musicians, when the first lockdown clamped Interpol had no new release to promote and no tour to rearrange. They quickly got into a productive mood.
Writing on their own in those geographically-dispersed early stages gave the members a way out of their respective heads: “We really extracted the honey out of this situation”, says Fogarino. Kessler echoes the sentiment: “Working alone was raw at first, but has opened up a vivid new chapter for us.” In the Interpol Venn Diagram, each member found a way of expanding their individual circle in perfect harmony.
As Banks was grounded in Edinburgh for close to nine months, he got cosy in a window-side chair with a pen, pad and atypically cream-coloured bass guitar. “We usually write live, but for the first time I’m not shouting over a drumkit,” he says. “Daniel and I have a strong enough chemistry that I could picture how my voice would complement the scratch demos he emailed over. Then I could turn the guys down on my laptop, locate these colourful melodies and generally get the message across in an understated fashion.” Banks adjusting his personal volume dimmer to a hush chimes with a period of global disquiet and the yearn for reconnection: “Flood told me the vocals on the demos evoked Mickey Rourke in Barfly, singing to a patron at the end of the tabletop, and we never felt the need to flip that smoky intimacy into something big and loud when it came to rehearse and record. I got a real kick out of doing the opposite.”
Coming from a group whose early material was characterised by Polish knife-wielders and incarcerated serial killers, you might expect Interpol’s take on the present day to be an emotional tar pit — perhaps doubly so, given the towering credentials of Flood and Moulder’s history with Nine Inch Nails, Curve, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and more.
Yet Banks felt the call to push in a “counterbalancing” direction, with paeans to mental resilience and the quiet power of going easy. “The nobility of the human spirit is to rebound,” he says. “Yeah, I could focus on how fucked everything is, but I feel now is the time when being hopeful is necessary, and a still-believable emotion within what makes Interpol Interpol.” Kessler concurs: “The process of writing this record and searching for tender, resonant emotions took me back to teenage years; it was transformative, almost euphoric. I felt a rare sensation of purpose biting on the end of my fishing rod and I was compelled to reel it in.”
Even with spare piano caressing the intro of ‘Something Changed’, open-hearted cyclical chord progressions on ‘Passenger’, or anthemic waves of Kessler’s cresting guitar on ‘Big Shot City’, it doesn’t mean Interpol are entirely stopping to smell the roses, though. The Other Side of Make-Believe’s title, cover and a frequent lyrical lean toward fables, smokescreens and the mutability of truth reflect Banks’ disgust with the curdling of the information age. “I feel like the slipperiness of reality, and being willing to get violent on the basis of a factual disagreement, has had a super strenuous effect on the psyche of everyone in the world. Although,” he laughs, “I was talking about it so often that it kind of spooked my bandmates, so I found a way to express my concerns more through the lens of human beings’ non-rational faculties, and less civilizational collapse.”
On The Other Side of Make-Believe, a deep interpersonal understanding means each member respects the other’s respective strengths better than ever, letting Interpol’s elemental qualities shine through. Song by song, Kessler sketches the architectural blueprint (invariably while watching a film — locus of inspiration for almost every song in the band’s catalogue), Banks frames artwork on the wall, then Fogarino arranges the furniture to have a certain positioning and intent.
Fogarino highlights Flood’s part in this equation “was to hyperbolise all of our good qualities. Our band has never exploited rock ‘n roll tropes, no big drum fills or wailing solos, so he located the core honesty in our sound and found a way to widen it. There’s a phrase I love about drumming: ‘the rhythm hates the melody’ — the best kind of drumming either totally accentuates what’s being conveyed, or ploughs through it.” So what does the splashy, dramatic beat on songs like ‘Renegade Hearts’ and ‘Gran Hotel’ imply? The answer comes back with a grin: “I guess Flood gave me room to plough.”
The band found themselves struck by the producer’s egoless way of operating and the breeziness of recording in his North London studio. They also seem charged by how much Flood and Moulder complimented, rather than challenged, their kinetic energy when performing. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” Kessler states. And though he means Flood and Moulder’s contributions, that sentiment extends to Interpol’s work as a whole.
The Other Side of Make-Believe will soon feel as familiar in the public consciousness as it is to Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler and Sam Fogarino. Ever the paradox, the noirish trio have weathered nearly seven albums’ and several line-ups’ worth of rollercoasters far better than anyone might have predicted, never letting their sense of purpose escape. Over time, tags like ‘alternative’ and ‘indie’ have even faded from view. They are simply a rock group nowadays; one of the most distinctive, consequential and enduring rock groups of the 21st century so far. And a quarter-century into their lifespan, the band are all fired up again.
Interpol: their methods refined, still in terrific shape.
– Gabriel Szatan
