Interpol maintains unified front with "Love"

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Interpol has always been a band with a dark -- some might even say twisted -- sensibility.

"There's No I in Threesome," a track from the band's new album, "Our Love to Admire," due July 10, is a particularly fine reminder of this, turning on perfectly deadpan lines like "Babe, it's time we give something new a try / There's no I in threesome and I'm all for it."

But lead vocalist/guitarist Paul Banks isn't the only one with team spirit.

"One thing about us that's been consistent is that it's not just one guy making decisions, it's always four people," founder/lead guitarist Daniel Kessler said. "That's the only way we can exist."

That unified, self-contained stance helped guide the quartet, which includes bassist/keyboardist Carlos "D" Dengler and drummer Sam Fogarino, in its decision to leap from independent label Matador to Capitol in the summer of 2006.

"Like any decision we make, it was based around the fact that nothing is going to change between these four people. All of our decisions come down to us making them together," Kessler said, "and we weren't going to alter the way we do things."

Major labels had been in hot pursuit of Interpol for years (Capitol reportedly first approached the band before it had signed with Matador, in 2001), but interest escalated after the band's second full-length release, 2004's "Antics," matched the success of its predecessor, 2002's "Turn On the Bright Lights."

WEIGHING THE MOVE

Interpol had a lot to consider when its Matador contract expired. Besides having a devoted following, the group's sound practically helped define the second coming of "indie rock." But in the time since "Antics," Interpol has seen several of its peers, including such New York compatriots as TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, make the major label move without any meaningful backlash, and Capitol itself had already secured hip acts like Portland, Ore.'s Decemberists and the United Kingdom's Lily Allen.

Kessler said Interpol made "the exact same record we would have made on Matador. We made it in the same studios we would have, with the same people, and it has the same sound and look."

Although "Our Love" finds Interpol making greater use of keyboards on expansive, expressive tracks like "Pioneer to the Falls" and "The Lighthouse," the album is mostly true to the band's earlier sound, with characteristic melodic bass, reverb-heavy guitar, straight-ahead drumming and moody vocals dominating.

In the States, first single "The Heinrich Maneuver" is already No. 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart and is also being worked to triple-A (adult alternative album) radio, a first for the group. A deluxe version of the CD, featuring a hard-back, 24-page book expanding on the provocative animal-dioramas photography done for the album, is due out the same day as the standard edition. Additionally, a gatefold vinyl release is on the slate, and, in a twist, will come bundled with the CD.

Now in the midst of a European run, Interpol returns to the States in mid-July and again September 10, with overseas dates in between.

A "Late Show With David Letterman" appearance is slated for the album's release date, with TV commercials, an online advertising campaign incorporating viral video and special fans-only events also in the works.

But even with all the activity Capitol has swirling around "Our Love," Kessler said the band remains unified and focused. "We sort of have the attitude that whatever comes, comes. We'll just keep doing what feels right to us."

Reuters/Billboard

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