Glances exchanged are acknowledged with a wry smile. Tickets had been begged, borrowed and stolen for tonight’s show. Those present know how lucky they are. Heaving waves of bodies sway in unison. The fans all wide-eyed and expectant watch the clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock…
Meanwhile a haggard tout wrangles €100 from an eager lady — she wasn’t the first. On a bright if breezy evening scowling teens brush shoulders with twenty-somethings, each clenching a fistful of notes. In one hour tonight’s show had sold out. Everyone inside and outside the venue continues to watch the clock: the tout charging exorbitant prices, the ticketless being exploited and the thirsty who risk running to the bar before the show starts.
Backstage tension crackles. No one dares to speak. Tick-tock, tick-tock…
Waiting for showtime the drummer, Sam Fogarino, washes his hands ritualistically. His bandmates Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler and Carlos D pass the time smoking. They’d enjoyed a couple of shots of Jameson while watching the support band, Spoon. Right now they are just four regular guys. In fifteen minutes they’ll transform into Interpol.
The clock ticks on. Just prior to releasing their second album Antics in September of 2004, they opened for The Cure as part of that band’s Curiosa Festival. The Cure were, as Fogarino says, “amazing. I mean Robert Smith’s worst songs are brilliant! It felt so natural. All of The Cure were amazing. For many a teenage girl Robert Smith was their idol but he treated everyone the same. He watched every gig by every band on that tour no matter what genre. He was and is an amazing role model.”
Tonight Interpol are the headliners, and perform flawlessly, a perfect rendition of their album material, something which critics still manage to criticise. Fogarino explains: “I love Mercury Rev, who can take a song and play different arrangements of a song every night but it was a couple of years ago that this noisy improv was popular. We receive negative critique from certain journalists for sticking faithfully to the album when playing live.”
As perfectionists, spontaneity doesn’t come all that easily on stage or in the studio. “Some songs are instantaneous. But some songs can go beyond laborious. We’ll all work on it and compose parts and listen to it a lot. Everybody puts their two cents in but vanity can get in the way.”
It’s a formula that works. Together they’ve sold millions of records, dominated the charts, been lauded by critics and fans alike (a rare occurrence) and regularly graced the covers of Q, Spin and Rolling Stone. Most recently, how could I forget, they’ve topped the polls for the best dressed/best looking band of 2004. Even their clothes are perfect.
Interpol are a band who have mastered the art of goth chic but still don’t see themselves as trendsetters. “Other people are all preoccupied with it. It’s absolutely not what we are about.” Slammed by some, they refuse to be tagged as just a ‘bunch of male models’. “Well we do leave ourselves poised for such criticism. I mean, look.” Decked out in matching trousers and shirt, Fogarino looks the part. As he grins he reveals a very bling silver incisor.
After the show Interpol descend on The Village with a sizeable entourage of Dubliners whom “we befriended in times past”. Carlos D elaborates: “I had the ‘pleasure’ of being introduced to the acquaintance of one of my friends, who shall remain nameless.” When their relationship soured, and “it finally dawned on her pea-brained head that she wasn’t wanted around us, she punched one of my friends square in the eye.” Before a fight could ensue, the scuffle was silenced by security. More of the same for the Interpol lads at The Village tonight, with “people who seemed unable to get over the fact that we were actually there ‘in the flesh’ hanging out alongside them. Whooptydoo! So some dude in a band you like is in a bar with you. What’s the big deal? I’m just trying to have a beer. I am always touched and moved by fan appreciation. But just because I won’t sit with somebody I don’t even know, that means I’m an asshole? Hrmph.”
Conversation flows back to making the music. Interpol are enjoying their heyday, and like any relative newcomers you have to wonder how far their current wave of success will carry them. It turns out Antics could mark something like their half-way point.
“If in ten years time we’re happy at what we are doing and not parodying ourselves then there is no reason why we couldn’t be writing and touring with the same intensity as now. But I do have this romantic notion of writing five albums and then just split … What’s important is making good music. We are a very control-heavy band. Honesty and integrity are very important to us.”