It's been 16 years since Interpol turned on the bright lights with their debut album.





The vast majority of bands will never make a record so airtight and self-assured - let alone at the onset of their career. But Interpol is not like other bands. They were born seemingly full-grown, with polished songs and an impressively-realized post-punk aesthetic. It's not difficult to see why other New York bands of the era were at times bitterly jealous of how easy success appeared to come to them. That illusion of effortlessness might be one of Interpol's greatest strengths, though. Because in the near two decades since Turn On The Bright Lights, Interpol has proven to be nothing if not a hard-working, globe-trotting career band.





Last month, the band released their sixth effort, Marauder, a darkly slick collection of what can really only be described as classic Interpol. Over the course of its 13 tracks, Interpol does what Interpol does best - hauntingly memorable guitar rock that you can move your body to.





With a show coming up at Bass Concert Hall on Friday, September 28th, we conducted an at times very silly interview with lead singer Paul Banks. Read our Strange Inquiry with Interpol, below.

























Do512: What's the most memorable way you've accidentally hurt yourself?





Interpol: I burned the shit out of my abdomen making coffee with a french press, and anyone who has ever owned a french press can probably identify. I needed my caffeine fix so I got a little impatient with the plunger and it was resisting, so I forced it and it just shot hot water out of the carafe and onto my abdomen. So, I went to the hospital... It was hot.









You often tweet about Sci-Fi movies, UFOs, and even a buddy of yours who made a documentary about conspiracy theorists - has your interest in the esoteric been a long-held passion?





Interpol: It has been, yeah. I've gone deep on the YouTube's on ancient Egyptians, and Planet X, and all kinds of shit. A good friend of mine from college, who I would probably watch and enjoy anything he's involved in, did make a particularly compelling documentary about gang stalking. I don't know if you've watched the documentary, but there's this really quirky doctor who's the voice of reason, but he's so quirky that it kind of like, messes with the idea of him being the voice of reason. What he's saying makes sense, but how he's saying it almost makes it seem like he's full of shit. I really recommend watching it. It makes you sort of paranoid of how it's a very normal evolutionary tendency to be kind of, analyzing, when we're out and about and it's just an ever so slight bump in how sensitive your threshold is for suspecting stuff. And then that means that suddenly everything you see is potentially a threat. But it's a very subtle deviance from the norm.









What's the worst party you've ever been to?





Interpol: (laughs) I have one, but I can't tell you that one.





Okay, what makes a party bad?





Interpol: I feel like you bring your own good vibes, and I wouldn't let any awkward thing or the lack of any kind of music bring me down if I was in party mode.









Photo Credit: Jose Luis Beneyto





You’ve done a Reddit AMA with RZA for your Bankz and Steelz project, but are you aware of the daily memes that happen on the Interpol subreddit?





Interpol: No. (laughs) Sometimes I'll get on my Twitter and see that someone posted a meme of me, and it's funny but... I've gotten better about having a sense of humor about myself over the years, but I'm not all that good. I don't know, I don't want to be pained by looking at that subreddit.





You should consider popping in some time, they're all pretty positive memes.





Interpol: Oh, okay. Well, that's nice. The worst thing is the inopportune screen grabs, where you want to just go, fuckin', full Beyoncé. That's rough. I mean, I can see that it's hilarious, but it's still super fuckin' unfortunate.









It seems like you’re constantly watching movies and giving your followers a quick review - have you ever had your own idea for a movie? What would it be?





Interpol: I think I maybe see things in terms of movie scenes a little more than a full movie... I'm fascinated by the concept of why we love gangster films so much, and westerns before there were gangster movies. I think part of the attraction is that there's this sort of black and white quality, good/evil, righteous/unrighteous of taking actions into your own hands that you could never do. It sort of cuts to the chase, you know, the showdown where you go "Okay, this guy's a rat and we're going to take him out to the desert and shoot him." I think there's this sort of immediacy that's like a fairy tale, but it gratifies our interest to see justice dealt out. That movie The Drop with Tom Hardy, for instance, or Killing Them Softly with Brad Pitt - they're both just kind of low-key gangster movies. I think that's the kind of template I would be interested in.









Interpol | Matador





On stage, you have a very put together, formal clothing ensemble. What's your favorite shirt to wear when you’re just sitting on the couch at home eating tuna fish straight out of the can?





Interpol: Either no shirt or I have a vintage David Lee Roth t-shirt that's full of holes that I got in a thrift store in LA. It's fucking awesome, but it's got so many holes that I feel like if I cross my arms it's going to fall off. I might possibly have to retire it at some point.



What’s your least favorite song off one of your favorite albums?





Interpol: A lot of times it'll be the artists' single that I've heard too many times or it's just like... When you're a super fan, it's kind of snobbery, but sometimes on Drake records, I'll just want to skip the big song and go for the other track because that's where I feel like the gold is. I don't even have a favorite, favorite album, but... an old favorite album of my is called Copper Blue by Sugar, and there's a single on it called "If I Can't Change Your Mind," and that's one I'd skip.





Because you've heard it too many times?





Interpol: No, in that case, it's because that album is full of sort of dark and mysterious, awesome music and that was this one really upbeat song. I think they did very well with that song and I love that band, so I'm not disparaging it in the slightest, it's just that it was this very sunny, upbeat song on a record that was full of really dank and mysterious songs. I really liked all of them except for the one that happened to get on the radio.





You’re a New York guy. Whether it be screaming at someone for claiming your bagel order in a crowded deli or yelling “I’m walkin’ here!” at a taxi cab, please describe the most New Yorker moment you’ve ever had.





Interpol: I mean, one of them was involving a car as I was crossing a street in the East Village. Some older guy in a red convertible had to break to not hit me as he turned onto the street and he just yelled (In extremely New Yorker voice) "Whattaya strongah than the car?!" (laughs) There was another time too when a bicyclist was annoyed at me for kind of loitering in the bike lane, and he rode by and goes "It's your world, man!!!"





Where are people getting these amazing one-liners?!





Interpol: I don't know, man. I think it's just a lot of time spent on the roads, really. Once I started renting cars and driving around New York City, I realized that pedestrians are crazy. This is a pedestrian city, and people don't give a fuck about the cars. So, I understand the frustration.









Photo Credit: Matador Records









What will you always order if it's on a restaurant menu? Meatloaf?





Interpol: Caprese salad. You know, some mozzarella and tomato basil.





Paul Banks, you’ve been blessed with a fantastic career filled with memorable highlights and legions of adoring fans. Have you ever stopped to just say, “Paul, Thanks”?





Interpol: Yeah, I mean I do feel super fortunate. It is kind of funny, early on in our career if something landmark-ish would happen, like playing in a studio for the first time I remember thinking "Now I'm just going to do this thing," because if you think of the monumentality of the moment then I would worry that it would daunt me or take me out of it. So I just thought I'd be present in the moment and then later I'd think about what it all means and contextualize it for myself. But then the career just kind of continues and I do find that I never really did have that moment where I sat down and just thought about everything that's going on and what it all means and how I feel about it because you know, the fuckin' ball just keeps rollin'. I'm always very thankful every time we have a show and mindful of the privilege and honor to be in this situation, but there's definitely ways in which I've yet to sit down to sit down and think about my career, so that's... pending.











