Maybe in the grand scale of things, an album made on the shoulders of late seventies post-punk music from Manchester shouldn’t mean a whole lot. Yet for Americans, namely New Yorkers, there had been a huge gap in time in which their home, a cultural epicenter, had been sanctuary to any happening musical scene. Long since the days of punk in the seventies had there been something of merit in the realm of music here in Gotham. With the exception of hip hop, not yet on a mass scale in the eighties, the rock 'n' roll presence was left in stagnant despair as a collective whole, not only in NYC, but the majority of the country. Seattle gave the genre its last hurrah (pre-hip hop explosion), and then the shift occurred where it left next to nothing for fans in a time span of about ten years. Then unsuspectingly behind the cloud of hollow power rock like Creed, rap metal such as Korn, and whimsy folk pop rock with Dave Matthews, a small number of bands were, whether they knew it or not, forming rock’s dignified resurgence, the focal point being New York due to the light a band named the Strokes shone on the local scene after their initial success. Suddenly it wasn’t a frivolous venture to be in a band that called New York City its home. Attention was being given by labels to see if there was anything else to be had in the land that had fostered the Strokes. What label reps were to find is that there most certainly was.
In need of something fresh, it is of no wonder to some that after all that had come before, modern musicians had to pore through a different record collection to find its inspiration for what a younger generation was perhaps not as familiar with at the time. Young New Yorkers such as Carlos D, a local Goth and DJ in the scene, knew this and, along with his fellow cohorts, they drew upon the teachings of many bands from the post-punk / new wave / Goth scene, most prominently Joy Division, to which they would draw numerous comparisons from fans and critics alike. Careful to never plagiarize, but merely extract elemental ingredients, Paul, Carlos, Sam, and Daniel configured a record that would further help put New York back on the rock and roll map, reintroduce underground British music to middle America, and spawn a small legion of imitators as far and wide as bands like the Editors, who call Great Britain their home. Irony has a funny way of showing itself.
Dressed to the nines in finely tailored dark suits, they encompassed the range of bittersweet urban despair with a grand freshman effort titled Turn On The Bright Lights. Perhaps an inappropriate name for such an album riddled with an overcast sky, the songs all the way through shine darkly. The third number, “NYC,” puts a nice touch on encapsulating the facade of a key aspect of social interactions in New York City life and the loneliness and disillusionment it might produce. Lyrics such as, “I had seven faces. Thought I knew which one to wear, but I’m sick of spending these lonely nights training myself not to care,” put the sentiment into focus. However, lyrics aren’t generally Interpol’s strong suit so much as the atmosphere their music creates. For example, the compelling force of the album’s two tracks at the tail end of the LP, “The New” and “Leif Erikson,” display the band’s ability to drive it all home and bring the listener in for a true release at the end of a bit of emotional duress expressed in the lyrics.
Very quickly they became the new darlings of the city’s nightlife and, in turn, the revitalized music scene. The band saw the world on the road in support for the album, and music elders such as the Pixies and the Cure would have Interpol share stages with them. By their third album, Our Love To Admire, Interpol have already gained major label support, and after extensive touring and playing to many large audiences, they have gotten to perform in the biggest venue of their own New York backyard, that being Madison Square Garden. In many respects Interpol have truly arrived, even if fans lukewarmly received the current album itself. (Though you’d never know by the record sales that first month.) Yet one might not see it now, in the years ahead, the informed listener has to know that Interpol’s debut album will be a calling card to a time and place where our city was in a transitional phase, longing to produce a recognized music scene that was, in fact, ripe with all the talent necessary to turn on the bright lights towards New York City once again.
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