No Filler Music Podcast - Ep 13: Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights

Episode Date: May 27, 2018

This week we explore the melancholic soundscapes of Interpol's debut album Turn On The Bright Lights. The emotional punch that this album packs is the perfect mix of somber and powerfully passionate in a way that, beyond their red ties and sleek haircuts, made Interpol stand out amongst the slew of bands from that era. Between the angular guitars of Daniel Kessler, the baritone attack of Paul Bank's vocals, and the one-two punch of Carlos D. on bass and Sam Fogarino on drums - Interpol delivers one of the most memorable releases to come out of the New York post-punk revival of the early 2000s. For more info, check out our show notes: https://www.nofillerpodcast.com/episode/music-review-interpol-turn-on-the-bright-lights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Explore the new Peloton Cross-training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. And you're listening to No Filler, the music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the spaces between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Travis. With me, as always, is my brother Quentin. Q. Are you as excited as I am to cover Interpol's 2002 turn on the bright lights? Dude, I'm so stoked, man.

For many reasons, this band, dude, I don't know where to start. This album in particular is something special. And this is, again, we're pulling from the early aughts, because that was the time, you know, when we reached that age, when we started really getting into our music, getting into our own music, you know, and listening to music on our own. Yeah, this was when we were discovering bands on our own.

You know, it wasn't just what was on the radio. We were kind of venturing out. And, you know, that was back when like MP3.com and pure volume, you remember that? Pure volume. You know, websites like that were out there. Yeah. So 2002, we were 15, right?

Right. Yeah, so let's just do a quick little, you know, Interpol was one of those bands that came out in the early O's in New York. Part of that post-punk revival, garage rock revival, whatever you want to call it. You know, so you had bands like The Strokes, probably the most famous garage revival band, you know. But you had, you know, the hives, the vines, the white, stripes, you could even kind of throw them in there at the time. You know, the yeah, yeah, yeah. Were they in New York?

No, but they were lumped into that. No, no, that's a good, that's a good point though. Yeah, they, you know, the strokes and Interpol, I think, are famously kind of the two New York bands to come out of that, that revival. But, but there was just a ton of those the bands, right? Yeah, I remember it, dude. I was, I was way into most of them, the hives. The hives, man. they had the whole outfits and stuff.

And like the history behind that is like the original garage garage rock sound comes out of the 60s. And basically, and we can get more into this when we talk about the strokes because I think they fall more into the garage rock sound than Interpol does. But basically the Beatles happened and then basically they influenced a ton of young people. to pick up instruments and make bands and hints they went into their garages with their friends and made music and some of them recorded records but most of them just you know it began and ended in the garage you know

but that's the idea like lo-fi like you know more about DIY kind of stuff yeah DIY exactly anyway that sort of vibe and that sort of like simple songs that that idea came back in the 2000 The garage band to me has always been the idea that anyone can pick up an instrument, get some friends together and make music. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. So anyway, Interpol is tied in with that group of bands. I think they have, I think Interpol has a sound that no other band from that era really had, you know? They've got this, um, I feel like blah, you know, I feel like about them as well. They have a what now? Aura. Yeah, yeah. Are I saying that correct?

Sure, sure, yeah. But, I mean, you know, I think bands like block party sort of like touched on that same kind of vibe. Oh, man. Every time someone brings up block party or I hear a block party song specifically from what is it called silent alarm, I think. I think so. That one album of there. Yeah, I think so. Probably run the same time.

Man, I just, it's like I'm just reminded of just how amazing they were like in how they just exploded on the scene. Yeah, silent alarm. Such a good album. Yeah. But yeah, there's something unique about Interpol. I think really it has to do mainly with Paul Banks, his voice. And I mean, I don't want to single out individual members of the band because all of them make it what it is. But the bass player, Carlos D, his bass lines are ridiculous.

And the drummer. Dude, and I got to say, yeah, the drummer, Sam Fogarino. Yeah, unreal drummer. Easily one of my favorite drummers dude He's up there with Jamie You know easily Because he keeps it simple

And he just drives the song In so many instances But but sometimes it's not so simple Dude he's got these really great fills He'll throw in there But anyway We're getting ahead ourselves as we usually do So let's dive into our

Our weekly segment What You heard I'll go first Because I think your band kind of ties into You're going to tie them into To Interpol a little bit I almost said spoon because we've been talking about spoon so much. Almost you did say spoon, brother bear.

Okay, so. Yeah, yeah. So I recently, I don't remember how I found it, but it was probably just recommended to me on like the home page of Spotify. But it was a, there was this curated Spotify playlist called Lava Lamp. Here is the description of that playlist. music to contemplate the ebb and flow of universal physics reduced to a bottle of friendly colored magma. I like that.

So it's basically a collection of, like it kind of goes from, the reason they say ebb and flow, I guess, is because it's kind of a collection of like down tempo songs, but also thrown in with some like more ambient electronic stuff. It's a really well-down playlist. But this band, Club 8, and basically these guys, this is a, um, A sweet This is a Swedish pop duo Caroline

Comsted and Johan Engergard if you want to know their names But I think it's Johan Yeah you're probably right You're probably right Johan

But they've been But they've been around Since 95 The name of the song is interesting. It's called Kill, Kill, Kill. And it's not a heavy metal.

How many kills? Three. It's not a death metal song. But I'm curious to know if you think of exactly the band that I thought of when I first heard this track. But this is a really eclectic, kind of like

really interesting track. So let's just play it and we'll talk about it. Yeah, so I just love I love the sort of the ambience and like the vibe and like the like it almost it has this sort of like haunted sort of vibe to it. Like there's like a like a pipe organ that comes out of nowhere that sort of sounds like you're at some like wake or something like that. I don't know. Dude, I really, really liked that. Yeah.

When did that come out? 2015. Now, it's worth saying that the rest of the album is sort of more dance electronic type stuff like club. dance type stuff, but I mean, you know, those are her, you know, she sings like that throughout the song. There's a lot more energy and more, more sort of dance beats on the rest of him. So that song reminded me of arms and sleepers mixed with like massive attack. Okay.

Yeah. You know, those other bands from around that time. Yeah, I can see massive attack. But I was mainly because of her vocal. Yeah. Her vocals reminded me of the star. seeds. Do you remember them? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was thinking that too, dude, but I was going to...

Sure you were. Sure you were. Who the fuck knows about the star seeds? Yeah, the parallel life. That was a great, great album. Anyway, so yeah, worth checking out. It's called... The album is called Above the City. The group is called Club 8. And that song was called Kill, Kill, Kill. Pretty easy to remember. All right, so Q, what have you been listening to lately this week, my friend? Well, as what usually happens, when I get into a band from a certain era in preparation for an upcoming episode, I'll start listening to bands from around that time, just because it gets me in that in that mind frame, you know? And I got back into this band called The Stills, and I know you're very familiar with them.

Yes, I am. the stills were a band that i feel like i came across i may have mentioned this in a previous episode but i mean our buddy mitch from our from our grade school days i was in a basically a blow-off class with him in high school it was like an auto cad drawing class or something and the teacher just let us do whatever the fuck we wanted basically until the fucking bell ring. And we were getting into a lot of music together in that class. And I want to say I watched a music video from the stills that just popped up on probably

pure volume or something like that. From this album called Logic Will Break Your Heart, which came out in October of 2003. And then I listened to this album heavily in high school. it was probably in around 2003 or 2004. They're a band from Montreal. And this particular song that I want to play from this album is called Of Montreal. So I guess it's a song about their hometown. And there's just something about it.

And, you know, I was listening back to it this week. And I realized that there's a lot of, a lot of, similarities in the guitar stylings between the stills and interpol. And I want to see if you pick up on it, Trev. So this is track five from the Stills album, Logic Will Break Your Heart. It's called Of Montreal. Remember that song, Trev? Yeah, man.

Just another great album from that era. That song in particular always stands out for me. It's always a song that pops up in my head, often. often from that album. There's a really, really great live video of that song that I know I watched in that classroom. I remember watching it in that classroom. That we should definitely post on the show notes for this episode. It just kind of captures the moment really well.

Like it kind of just takes you right right to that performance. Yeah, just another, you know, it's, so the guitar, right? Straight up Interpol. Yeah, I think it's similar sort of angular guitars. But yeah, I mean, you know, the staccato for sure at the end. Yeah, there's several songs on that album that have sort of the Interpol guitar vibes, you know. But yeah, I would say that the guitar player for the stills, I just looked it up.

His name is... Well, he's the singer, too. He was singer and the guitarist, Tim Fletcher. I would say that his guitar playing and Daniel Kessler from Interpol, their guitar playing was a huge influence on my guitar playing. You know, and that's the band that I was in for, you know, three to four months of a grass fight. We tried to write songs like Interpol, you know.

Dude, yeah, you guys are really gunning for that for that stuff. Yeah. Dude, we saw them open for Kings of Leon, remember? Yeah, no, dude. That was interesting. What's funny is like,

when you read articles about the post-punk revival of the early 2000s, you're right, you'll get the strokes, Interpol, you know, the Libertines, white stripes, like all those bands that you associate and then Kings of Leon,

oddly enough get associated with the post-punk revival because they they I mean they were doing sort of like a southern rock revival you know what I mean but they get lumped in yeah to this to this movement for some reason even though they weren't from New York or anything like that but if you want to hear more about Kings of Leon you can listen to our fourth episode third episode no dude third our third episode where we talk about youth and young manhood Anyway, let's get into Interpol. So, as we've mentioned, these guys, these guys formed in New York. They actually met, Paul Banks, met Daniel Kessler, the guitar player, in New York at University, New York University, in a philosophy class. And actually, I'm sorry, Kessler met Denghis.

So let's give the roster here before we start seeing names. So Paul Blank, Paul, Paul, Paul Banks is lead. What's in that coffee, brother? Oh, no. Paul, what? Paul Banks, lead singer, guitar player, Daniel Kessler, guitar player, Carlos Dengler, who goes by Carlos D, is the bass player. Sam Fogarino

or Fagorino or I think it's Fogarina Yeah he's Italian Sicilian so He's the drummer So There was a different drummer Before Sam joined

But I don't think he He didn't last Very long So basically Kessler Carlos D and Paul Banks all went to New York University

and that's where they met. Paul Banks was sort of doing his own thing, writing his own music. He never really entertained the idea of joining a band because he just wanted to kind of write his own stuff and do solo stuff. But then he met Kessler and, you know,

basically he says that, like, he just, he thought that Kessler was this really interesting guy who was into sort of this interesting music and like you know he'd listened to some of the stuff that Kessler was writing and thought that it was better than the stuff that he would or you know as good or better than the stuff that he was writing so he was like well this is the first guy that I've met that's like writing stuff that I actually want to contribute to and you know he said that like Kessler would do these weird things like like you know a teacher was

about to give a test at the university and he would just like stand up and be like, I can't do this right now and him just walk out. And Paul was like, this guy, you know, this guy's, there's something with this guy. I got to work with him. And then they meet Carlos D. And if you've heard, if you've read about Carlos D or I've heard him in interviews or just seen pictures of him from, from that era, like Carlos D is, I don't know how to describe him.

You know what I mean? Like he's just this. He's something else, man. Yeah, he is like. Very particular man. He's definitely one of those intellectual. type. Like he sounds like Yes. He sounds like a punk rock

like cool version. Well, not even cool. Just like a punk rock goth version of Niles from Frazier. You know what I mean? Oh my God, dude. Did you just make that up yourself? Yeah, I did, dude. Yeah, that's perfect. That's the first thing I thought of. It's perfect. Because he's super particular from the stories I've read about him. He's extremely logic as well. Very logical. He likes to argue about everything.

He's a bit you know, falcon. I'm sorry. Vulcan. He's a little bit Vulcan. Yeah, very logical. Yeah. And apparently him and Paul Banks were kind of butt heads in the early days because Paul Banks is much more laid back.

I think we should also say as well that Carlos D is no longer bass player for Interpol. No, he's not. He's not. There's kind of a falling out with the band. I don't know exactly when that happened, but he is no longer with the band. Yeah, it sounds like he was kind of hard to get along with. But... Which is for reasons...

You know, it's like what we were just talking about. Yeah, but, but, you know, as we will hear in this episode, like, he's got some of the best bass lines. They're so cool. Yeah, he's a phenomenal bass player. What's funny is there's actually a quote from Paul Banks when he was talking about Carlos, and he said that while they were recording, Turn on the Bright Light, Carlos D used to joke that they should call the album Celebrated Baselines of the Future. because he was so

cocky and confident about his bass playing but like you know in a way like he wasn't wrong you know what I mean but anyway so they made at New York University that's kind of

that's all I know about sort of the origins I don't know when Sam gets pulled into it but as far as leading to turn on the bright lights basically they were playing these shows in New York with all the other bands

that were doing shows in New York. I think the strokes had already kind of hit it big or had just hit it big with like, is this it? You know what I mean? Yeah. And they hadn't come up

with a name for themselves yet but they were getting a good following at some shows and stuff. So they called themselves Interpol. They start making some demos and then they go to record, turn on the bright lights. So basically Sam, the drummer,

had worked with and knew this record producer named Peter Cadiz and he basically had this studio in his attic in this mansion so they recorded Turn on the Bright Lights in this mansion which used to be like a

hospital for mentally ill children or something like that What? Yeah I never read that That's perfect dude That is so perfect Hey let's play the first our first pick, man, right after that. Okay, yeah, that's good.

So, anyway, I was just going to say that, you know, this is one of those albums where, or one of those studios where they basically went and lived there and recorded it, you know what I mean? So it was one of those things were like... So they lived in, well, once was a hospital for the mentally ill, and recorded this album in that place. Yeah, so basically, yeah, so here's, here's, Here's a quote.

Here's a quote from Paul Banks. He says, the studio is this big old, I don't know if you'd call it Victorian, a few hundred-year-old house that was once a mental hospital for kids. The whole top floor is a studio. For kids? For kids, yeah. I didn't even say that at the beginning. I thought I did.

But yeah, he says the whole top floor is a studio. So you just come and live with Peter as a band and make your record. So here they are. recording an album in this this old mental hospital for kids I mean it's this this guy it's not like it's a like an abandoned mental hospital that they just stumble upon

like this is this guy's house you know what I mean but still like those those vibes and like that aura as you said earlier like that's still there you know what I mean yeah but either way so that's the kind of

and you know I don't know I don't know why but that's that's perfect for this album Let's listen to track one, shall we? Yeah, let's go into track one. And I think it's the perfect track one for Interpol's debut album because it just does this great job of sort of introducing each member of the band.

You know what I mean? Yes. And like, like it's just the perfect, like it just tees it up so perfectly. So anyway, this is called Untitled and it's track one off of Turn on the Bright Lights. Man, just a little tease of Paul Banks' vocals in that. Yeah, and that clip that you shared.

And that's part one. I've got another, we've got the next part of that. I think we're hearing the whole song, actually, because it's not a, it's not a very, so the next clip pretty much plays out the rest of the song. But, yeah, what a great, I mean, there's just something, like, the sort of the... Where do you start? Yeah, you know, just sort of the extended intro, like it's a long intro before Paul starts singing. it starts with just the guitar,

which is like, you know, the guitars are such a staple of, of Interpol. And then both Sam and Carlos come in at the same time with those drums. Let me just say something about Sam, dude,

right from the outset. Like his, drummer, Sam is the drummer. His high hat and symbol stuff is fucking great. Yeah. And that's the first thing you hear on this album is his symbols.

You know what I mean? No, and you're right. And it shows up again throughout the record, like what he does with the high hat. And if you don't pay attention to drums, if you're not a drummer, there is an art to, I don't know, finessing the high hat. Like accent notes that you can pull off just with the hi-hat. And if you don't know what the hi-hat is, do you think people know what the hi-hat is, dude? Should I explain? Yeah, dude.

If you're listening to this podcast, you should know how to high hat. You should, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he just, he just plays the shade out of his high hats, man. And it's something that I've, look, I've been playing drums for a long time, and I'm just now getting around to actually focusing on what you can do with just the high hat and the way that you play it, you know, with the way that you step on it, that you step on the pedal for the high hat. and you can do very intricate and delicate subtle changes with the high hat just in the way that you

play with em and i don't know if you want to leave all this in dude because you know who gives a shit right um but yeah like every time i play this record you know this song comes on and every time i'm just like anticipating sam you know leading us into the song with the with with the high hat and it's like no one it's coming, but every time it comes in, you know, it's just exciting and it just gets me pumped for the rest of the record, dude. Yeah, and then, not to mention the guitar,

you know, he does that, that initial, you know, you hear the guitar, the main guitar rib, but then you hear either Paul or Daniel come in with like this this guitar chord that he kind of plays and just lets it kind of it's not,

he doesn't sustain it, but then the second time he hits it, like he holds it and like, he holds it and like slides down with a lot of reverb on and stuff. I love that. I want to listen to that and focus in on that part again, dude. All right. I want people to know what we're talking about because honestly, it is my favorite part of this song introduction.

Yeah. Well, you know, it's he does that a lot throughout the album. So yeah. But yeah, let's play that again real quick. But yeah, like like that kind of like, you know, like, It's a quick slide down. He's got some delay on it and some like reverb. And then the next time, as you heard, he holds it and goes down slower.

And so you really hear that like that reverb and that echo. It's just great, man. It's perfect. And let's just let's nerd out a little bit more. The way that Sam and Carlos play, play along with each other, dude. They're one of the best. It's a rhythm section, right? Bass and drums is a rhythm.

They're one of the best rhythm sections in a long time. I mean, I can just feel it, you know, like, if you pay attention to the bass line and the bass drum, and what Sam is doing with his right foot on that bass, on that bass pedal, it's just, he's just playing alongside, playing along with what Carlos is doing as he's plucking those bass strings.

But it's just, oh man, it's just so good, dude. And let's go ahead and just dive into the next clip, shall we? Yeah. Let's get a little bit more into this song. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. So let's talk about Paul Banks a little bit there.

So this song is an example of Paul Banks when he's keeping it light. Yeah, so here's the thing about it. You know, keeping it somber. So he's famous for this baritone range that he has, which, you know, basically, you know, he can sing. both the lows and the highs, you know what I mean? Like, he's between bass and tenor. So, like, he's a little bit more on the, on the tenor range here. But, yeah, it's more of a soft delivery.

Yeah, and I'll say this right now, dude. This is the Paul Banks that I like most is the more soft. Well, that's funny that you should say that because I love it when he, I don't, I, one of the. things I love about Interpol is when he really strains his voice and like and you can hear it in obstacle one which we played in the intro I almost want to play it again and maybe I will but I like it when he when he goes from the soft to the loud and really like almost like like releases his like it's hard to explain without playing a sample so we'll play a sample from obstacle one right now

But yeah, you heard it right there, and right as the verse started up, and everything kind of came in. But yeah, they start the album off with his more soft vocals, right? And that's what's so great about Untitled, which is the first track leading into Obstacle 1, which is what we just played. Like, Untitled is a very more kind of soft song, and then Obstacle 1 just smacks you, you know what I mean? Yeah. So anyway. It's good. It's good.

And let's say this too, dude, because I've talked about Interpol with enough people to know that this is another one of those. You either love them or you hate a band. Yeah. In most cases, it's either, you know, you love or you hit this band because of how Paul Banks sings. Yeah. Well, you know, he gets compared to Joy Division a lot. Right. Probably because.

Something or other. Yeah. Ian Curtis, I think. Ian Curtis. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, because his, you know, it's that monotone range almost. You know what I mean? Right, right, right, right.

But again, it's like, that is what makes Interpol, Interpol to me, you know? That is what contributes to the vibe. I think it's, it's, it's never a good idea to completely dismiss a band because the singer sounds like another famous singer because Interpol doesn't sound like Joy Division. No, but yeah, but I mean, I guess it's just if you don't like monotone singing, then you might not be able to get past that, you know what I mean?

But when you listen to the music, the bass and the drums and the guitar, right, you got to think about the band as a whole. Right. Not just how the singer says. sound. And I feel like his, his voice is what,

is what makes his music have that emotional, like punch, you know what I mean? Yes. And especially we'll hear that when we play our third song. But let's go on to our second pick,

which is obstacle two. And it's a good, it's a good song to play after hearing untitled because it kind of shows the other side of Interpol. So, yeah, let's play it and we'll talk about it.

I'm gonna pull you in clothes, gonna wrap you up tight, gonna play with the braids that you came here with tonight. I'm gonna hold your face and toast the snow that fell because friends don't waste wine when there's words to sell.

Okay, so this is what I was talking about with regard to his the other side of like his vocal range you know what I mean and not even range like you know there's these moments where he just sort of sings almost like off key and like it's almost like

it's imperfections yeah and it's almost like he's straining or like he's yeah you know that's just yeah it really contributes to the to the song you know I mean yeah one thing I heard

I don't remember who said it. It was an interview that I was listening to. Apparently, the first few sessions, when they were, you know, when they all came together as a band and started kind of jamming and rehearsing, you know, early on, Paul just kind of observed. And they didn't even hear his voice until a few jam sessions in. And then when he finally, you know, staying, when he finally saying, they were all just blown away. So, you know, I guess he was kind of shy at first about that. Okay. I've got this great passage from this book that I started reading that deals with that exactly.

It's actually Paul Banks talking about his voice. So there's this book that came out, I think in 2015, called Meet Me in the Bathroom. the subtitle being Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001 and 2011. So basically it's a collection of interviews that this the author is this

I think she's a writer for like NME and this other music publication and she wanted to kind of tell the story of like New York post-punk revival that whole scene. So she went around... And meet me in the bathroom is the song title of a...

of a stroke song. It's a stroke song from their, what, third album? I think that was from their second album. Yeah. Room on Fire. Yeah. So anyway, and she's talking to, this is where I heard about the mental hospital thing.

That was pulled from this book. They were talking about the studio space. And then Paul Banks says, he says, I was a big fan of the music we were doing. Felt like that couldn't be fucked with. But I had issues with my vocals. The first time we ever did a demo, I said to Carlos,

Dude, I feel like I should sing PDA and octave up because my voice sounds fucking weird. I don't identify my voice as being that bassy. That baritone that I'm known for, it was where the fuck did that come from? I was not a fucking singer at all when the band started. I wanted to emulate how we sounded in the rehearsal spaces, but when you get into a good studio and it's like a fucking spit guard in a $5,000 microphone, it's pristinely clear. So when we did that record, I was just drunk a lot.

I was on scotch because it was a wintertime. If it was a summer, it would have been vodka. And then Sam goes on, he was just insecure about his voice. Nobody else felt that way. Wow, dude. I love that. I just love that that was the case. Yeah.

You know, such a unique voice that brings so much to this record, came from someone who didn't even consider himself a singer. And what's interesting is, like, you listen to the stuff that they're putting out over the past few years. And, you know, his voice has, I don't want to say matured, but I mean, it's definitely, like,

his singing voice has gotten better. But, again, like, I hesitate to say that because I liked the imperfections of his voice on, turn on the bright lights. And I like the fact that he was kind of shy about it because you definitely, like, especially in the early live performances that they do on like, on like the late night shows, like you could tell he was still kind of working it out. You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. And that goes back to what I was saying. For people that don't like Interpol, it always comes down to Paul Bing's voice, always. They just can't get past it. Yeah. Let's play our last pick. Okay. So here's the thing about this song, dude.

There's something that happens in this Yeah In this song too That just Okay so we played Untitled Which was the more slow melodic

Soft singing voice Paul Banks Interpol song Then we played Obstacle 2 Which is kind of the more That's more The Interpol sound That's kind of throughout the album

The more like You know Punchy kind of rock song The new Which is the next song We're going to play Kind of combines both of those In one kick ass fucking

song, dude. And it's got this part. We'll just let it play, but... Yeah, there's a lot that happens in this movie. Yeah, there's a hell of a lot that happens in this song. And I've got two clips, but it's the entire song. So we'll play the first clip and that stops right before the change in the song. So let's hear it. So, okay, so like the very first thing you hear is like that really kind of sounds like what he's doing is like he's taking his guitar pick and strumming the like below the bridge of the guitar yeah that's how it's making that sort of like I don't know I don't know what to call it's like it's like past the point where the strings are in tune yeah I'm just trying to describe the minimal knowledge that

I have on how guitars you can also get that sound by by by plucking like near the tuning pegs too like above the... Yeah, up top. But yeah, that's what he's doing there. And he's got some... It's almost like a reverse echo type thing on it or something. But anyway, very slow melodic, like start, more on the somber side.

And then it transitions into... He starts... You know, his voice picks up a little bit. And they've got this great little... I guess it's like a... I guess it's sort of the interlude of the song, you know? But then... Probably one of my favorite parts,

on the entire album happens next. And this is the kind of shit that you don't hear on a stroke song or any of these other bands. Like this is what made Interpol great. So let's play this next part. I don't think it gets any better than that, dude. Yeah. And like I said, you never hear the strokes do something like that.

No. Not to pick on the strokes because the strokes are one of my favorite bands of all time from that era. Right. So we're just talking about another New York City band. Yeah, we're talking about the, yeah. I mean, this is what. revival scene.

This to me is what made this album stand out to me. Look, man, if I was recording an album in a fucking rundown... Well, yeah. In a mental hospital for children. That's how the songs would come out. All right, I got to ask you this.

During that one, you know, uneasy, queasy part in that clip two. You mean where he's being? the string kind of up. Yes, I was going to ask you, is he, like, actively detuning the strings on the guitar? I don't think.

No, I don't think. I think what he's doing is he's got the string bent up already. He's bending the string up and just, and just bending it down as he's strumming. That's what makes that sound. And I love, so one thing we didn't really get into, but I feel like we should talk just a little bit about, the lyrics in the majority of this album are very there's a lot of like sexual tension

in the lyrics well there is I guess and this yeah and this I mean in that part in particular the lyrics are you're looking all right tonight I think we should go what do you think he's talking about dude the thing about his lyrics though is is like you know yeah he's got that but then on Roland he's talking about my best friends from Poland and oh he has a beard they caught him in his

they caught him with his case in a public place that is what we had feared so like his lyrics are all over the place they always have been especially like if you go but there are a lot of lyrics that are specifically

that he's singing about you know an attraction to a particular woman or something like that yeah but again like I said like you know like the very first line on obstacle one is I wish I could eat the salt off your lost faded lips

I mean like he's very like poetic with his words and like yeah um the subway in New York City the line you know the subway is a porno yeah what anyway so that's just a little test of turn on the bright lights dude and hey Guess what we barely did? What? Scratch the service.

But I think that this, you know, the three songs we picked are a good sampling of the album. You know what I mean? I hope so, because that's, hey, that's what we're here for. And we were just picking from songs that weren't singles, dude. Because that's what no filler's all about. Right. That's right, Q. That's what we say in the intro.

That's right. Every week. So that's it. That's Interpol. That is their debut, turn on the bright lights. It is still one of my favorite albums of all time. I feel like it,

you know, because this is when, like we said, this is kind of when we were discovering music on our own for the first time. I hadn't, you know, I didn't know about, you know,

joy division or, you know, they get compared to some new wave stuff as well, like Echo and the Bunny Men. Yeah. Not so much. much Echo in the Bunnyman's like hits that everybody knows, but like the early Echo and the Bunny Man stuff.

Yes, which I think we're going to cover for our side track. I want to. Oh, really? Okay. Some echo. Yeah, dude. But yeah. So, you know, not having any of those bands, um, in my rotation at the, you know,

when I was 12 or whatever, 13, or I guess 15, 15 of this. Like, this was the first time I had heard music that sounded like this. You know what I mean? Right. And you know what? For me, it, it took a while for me to get into Interpol. I was fucking sold from the from the beginning dude like I think I stumbled upon these guys on

on MP3.com or something like that and I was just hooked I think Obsticle 1 was the first song I heard and I was just really I was drawn to it immediately and I think the guitar playing really kind of changed the way I approached my guitar playing you know whenever I tried to

write my own stuff or pick around and come up with my own licks and stuff, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, this is definitely a really important album for this era of music. I think it's something that, if it's, you know, it needs to be on a top 10 list for sure for albums of the early 2000s. I mean, not only is it on one of those lists, it's number one. on Pitchfork's top 50 albums of that year, number one. First off, I can't believe they have a list with 50 albums from one year.

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Let's hear, here are some of the other albums on that list, if you're curious. A Walk Down Memory Lane. Sea Change came out that year by Beck. What? That's number 42, according to Pee. hitchfork on their top 50. For 2002? For 2002.

Damn. The M&M, the M&M show. Is that the one with Slim Shady? I think so. Yeah. Oh my God. I don't fucking know. I mean, maybe. What else? I mean, I'm not recognizing any of this stuff. Oh, dude, the Walkman.

Everyone who pretended to like me is gone. That's one with those kids smoking on the cover. Smoking cigarettes. Hot Hot Heat, dude. There's another band from that. Man, that's a good one, dude. That's another one of those albums that I forget about. Now here's where, here's where, you know, we get to make fun of pitchfork again.

Why on earth would they put hot, hot heat above sea change? Right? You know what I'm saying? Dude, probably because they're looking at Sea Change as another album from Beck, who at that point had already had so many great albums. Yeah, but it was such a change from the rest of his music, you know. It was just like a C's worth of change. But here's their top, here's their top ten, dude.

Here's their top ten. Liars. I don't know who that is. Sonic Youth, Murray Street. Boards of Canada. Geogadi. Throwback. Am I right?

Number six. Spoon Kill the Moonlight Which is what we're covering next After next week's side track Well actually I almost forgot to mention this In one of the interviews that I saw with With the boys from Interpol They were asked

And this is actually This will tie into the outro pick This is a question that was asked On this interview there's What music were you guys listening to And I think it was Carlos That said he was way into kill the moonlight

at the time. The drummer said that. It was around 2002, 2003. Yeah, yeah, the drummer said that, which is, you know, I mean. The drummer said that? Yes. Yeah, that was Sam who said that.

So, I mean, it's no, obviously he was, he was a fan. Yeah, he's a Jamino fan. Yeah, of course he is. But if you're just to, to wrap this up, number two on that list was Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco.

Oh. But Interpol, but turn on the bright lights, beats all of those according to pitchfork and you know I don't necessarily disagree with them I mean no no as far as like impactful an album that as far as something that that's really different you you know what I mean yeah especially for that for that for that for that year and from those all those bands that came out I just wonder if if a big reason why that hits number one is because it's a debut album. Maybe.

And it's a debut album that's that memorable and different. Yeah. And, you know, kind of like we said about girls can tell, the thing about turn on the bright lights is just one of those albums that just has this mood. You know, you push play and straight from the beginning, it just gets you in this headspace and, you know, it's just got this vibe. Yeah. And now, knowing that.

that they recorded that in a in a what used to be a kids a mental hospital for kids whatever you want to call it yeah what yeah right exactly I mean and like I said like the the entire second floor was the studio space so like

just imagine they're playing that outro like they're recording it the new you know it's just you can feel it dude it's a yeah it gives you goosebumps man. Yeah. All right.

So that's it. Let's wrap it up. Yes. So check out our website, no filler podcast.com. You can listen to all the episodes going back to episode one. You can find us on SoundCloud or, you know, any other podcast player. And that's it. Next week we'll have our sidetrack episode.

Yes. And I'm going to, I'm going to. I'm going to walk us out, dude. I'm going to walk us out today. For our outro, I'm going to pick a song from the Warlocks, particularly from their album, Rise and Fall, which came out in 2001. This was an album that apparently band members of Interpol listened to together.

They were all into it at the time of the recording of Turn on the Bright lights. So this was one of those bands where, you know, if someone said, hey, have you heard of the Warlocks? I'd say, yes. But I couldn't tell you one song of theirs. I couldn't, you know, couldn't pick them out from a group of bands. But I'd heard of, I've always heard of the name the Warlocks, never got into them. They are a psychedelic rock band from the late 90s. They've been around since 98. And I, you know, just gave a listen to this album after hearing that, that quote from the interview that the boys in Interpol were into them. And one song in particular I really liked from this record.

It's called Song for Nico. Nico Case? My guess is, no, my guess is Nico as in, um, You know, the one that saying, yeah, the one that sang with the Velvet Underground. Yeah. And that one record with a banana on it that everyone knows. Yeah. Yeah.

The Andy Warhol record. Right. Yeah. And yeah, I don't have much else to say about them. It's just a great song and it's a good song to close this one out with. So that's going to do it for us today. Be sure to check back with us. We're going to have our sidetrack episode up next week.

I think we're going to cover Echo and the Bunnymen to kind of tie up any loose ends for this Interpol episode. So that's going to do it. My name is Quentin. My name is Travis. Bye. Progressive presents adjusting to the suburbs. You used to associate crickets with silence. But since you bought a house in the suburbs, you know.

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