Skyscrapers

Interpol shares ITS view of the world through a New York City sensibility

By Chris Nixon
San Diego Union-Tribune
February 17, 2005

"We ain't going to the town, we're going to the city," chimes Interpol lead singer Paul Banks in his trademark baritone on "Next Exit," his voice resonating through the opening notes of the New York City quartet's sophomore album "Antics."

Seven years ago, Banks along with bandmates Daniel Kessler (vocals, guitar) and Carlos Dengler (bass, keyboards) found each other in the big city to create the phenomenon known as Interpol (drummer Sam Fogarino joined the band in 2000). Cloaked in stylish suits and designer shoes, the foursome oozes urban sensibility in both their clothing and music.

"I think we're all very passionate about New York City," says Banks from his N.Y.C. home. "We love it and it's home. Carlos was born here and everyone else came here because we were drawn to it. It's where we've made our home and this is where we started our band."

The band rocketed into public perception with the 2002 debut disc "Turn On the Bright Lights," powered by a syncopated rhythm section and Banks' thoughtful lyrics and distinct vocals. Musically, the band's brand of indie rock emits a more methodic approach than most new rock bands, opting for tight compositions over punk rock mayhem.

Delving into minor keys and moody subjects, Interpol owes more to the Smiths and the Cure (with whom the band toured last summer on the Curiosa Tour) than to the Sex Pistols or the Ramones.

Lyrically, the 26-year-old singer's words focus on the intersecting lives of people, be it in the town, the city or beyond.

"People always ask about New York City affecting the songs," said Banks. "It definitely informs who we are as people and it definitely informs us artistically. I write about people, so if the city comes up it's more because of the density of people.

"For me, there are a lot of themes of travel, but it's also about relationships, and the city is the end-all, be-all as far as relationships and interaction. 'Public Pervert' (from the album 'Antics') is actually a story about two lovers who leave the physical realm and are traveling through space as bodies of light. So that's got nothing to do with the city; it takes place in space."

After the success of "Turn On the Bright Lights," Interpol returned to the same studio (Tarquin Studios in Connecticut) and used the same engineer (Peter Katis) to record its second album.

"We went back to the same studio that we did 'Bright Lights' for the purpose of using the experience that we'd already had so we could pick up where we left off," said Banks. "Instead of trying to familiarize ourselves with a new studio and a new engineer, we thought it would be a good idea go back to what we were familiar with and almost have a head start. I think the second album sounds better. I think it was a good idea to go and take everything we learned the first time and go even further with it."

Released in September of last year, "Antics" is generally considered to embrace a more optimistic outlook. While Banks' lyrics and the band's music cover more emotional territory on "Antics," to call the album "more optimistic" would be a misnomer.

"Lyrically, there are passages that definitely have an optimistic or spiritual feel," says Banks. "Musically, I think people sometimes think this is a little bit of a happier record, but I think it's just that the quality of the production is a little more clean.

"The style of the first record, it worked that the production quality was a little murky and low-endy. On this record, the sound came out a little sharper and a little more crisp and clear. So I think the fact that there's a little less murk makes it seem more upbeat, or brighter. But I don't look at it as more optimistic. I don't even think the songs are brighter.

"I was an older person when I wrote the second record, obviously, so it's a little more broad," continued Banks. "There's more of a spectrum."

While Interpol may be proud of its ties to the Big Apple, Banks and his crew also find solace when they travel to our city and play shows in San Diego.

"San Diego has always been particularly good actually," says Banks, who will perform with Interpol at SOMA Sunday night. "I think everyone in the band is excited to go back to San Diego. It's one of those cities that we look forward to because the crowd is cool. There is good energy always in San Diego. It's a standout. I'm not just saying that. It really does stand out on the West Coast for us."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer. To listen to sound clips from Interpol's 2004 release "Antics," log on to SignOnSanDiego.com at entertainment.signonsandiego.com.


THE LOWDOWN ON INTERPOL
Lineup:

Paul Banks – vocals, guitar

Daniel Kessler – vocals, guitar

Carlos Dengler – bass, keyboards

Sam Fogarino – drums

DISCOGRAPHY:

"Turn On the Bright Lights" (Matador, 2002)

"Antics" (Matador, 2004)

Five artists on Paul Banks' mind

Death From Above 1979

"You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" (2004, Atlantic Records)

File under: Fuzz-tone guitar riffage and frenetic vocals, along with the Futureheads and Arcade Fire, Death From Above 1979 is one of the indie rock buzz bands of 2004.

Says Banks: "I'm a big, big fan. They are an exceptional live band and the record is really great."

M83

"Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts" (2004, Mute U.S.)

File under: Mellow, Moog-inspired French electronica duo whose music sounds sweet and pretty in an orchestral way. They play at Coachella on April 30 this year.

Says Banks: "I recently heard the band M83 for the first time. They're really good."

Frank Black

"Cult of Ray" (1999, Sony)

File Under: Classic solo album from Pixies frontman finds the former Black Francis cranking out a lyrically sincere set of 13 tunes.

Says Banks: "There are some records I'm going to go buy for the fourth or fifth time, certain albums I love and have lost. I'm going to go buy the 'Cult of Ray,' the Frank Black album. I've been thinking about that one a lot."

Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen

Any album

File under: Two of the best lyricists from the 20th century.

Says Banks: "I've been revisiting Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan a lot lately. I've always been a fan of those two. That was my bread-and-butter way back. I've always been kind of a folk fan."

– CHRIS NIXON

'American' home companion

Ira Glass lets you peek behind the curtain at the making of his weekly radio show

By Chris Nixon
February 10, 2005
San Diego Union-Tribune

A woman who falls in love with a pet macaw despite its destructive and harmful tendencies, an American man who travels to Iraq as a private contractor to work for a living and a young woman who serves on the USS Stennis stocking candy vending machines for 12 hours a day – all these stories tell us so much about ourselves in an engaging fashion.

But you'll never hear these stories on the 6 o'clock news.

National Public Radio host Ira Glass and his show, "This American Life," grasp the concept of telling stories to tell the news, embracing the retro throwback style of radio's golden age. Modern news sources supply information in brief, small chunks. Glass and his contributors take their time telling a story. Modern news sources use a professional, almost nasal, tone. Glass likes his shows to sound like good conversations.

"When we first began, our motto really was nobody famous, nothing in the news, nothing you'd ever heard of anywhere else," says Glass from NPR's Chicago affiliate, WBEZ, where he produces "This American Life." "Really, it was about applying the tools of journalism to everyday things and everyday situations and everyday people who would never be considered by journalism."

For the past nine years, spanning 280 shows, Glass uses his hour of public radio time to recount stories with a disarming human quality, allowing the subject to run through the gamut of emotions during the narrative.

"This American Life," which is braodcast on San Diego's KPBS/FM, 89.5, at 2 p.m. on Sundays, narrates stories about regular people doing extraordinary things. At times, the show describes ordinary people doing ordinary things, but telling the story in an extraordinary way.

This depth of emotion leaves the listener with a more complete and complex understanding of the story's subject, and what it's like to walk in their shoes. On the radio show's Web site (thislife.org), Glass and his staff simply describe the show like this: "It's basically just like 'Car Talk.' Except just one guy hosting. And no cars."

When disembodied voices were first heard through the airwaves in the early 20th century, the public remained clueless of the mysterious new invention called radio and the logistics behind producing it. In many ways, 100 years has not improved our understanding of radio and how it is made.

Glass seeks to clarify. He's taking San Diego and other stops on a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his weekly radio show during his current lecture tour, which stops at UCSD's Price Center Ballroom this Saturday.

"I talk about what we do on the show that's different from other radio shows," says Glass. "We consciously – myself and the people I work with – set to do things different from the things that other people are doing on the radio. And so I talk about why and how we make the show. The kinds of stories we do – where they are like little narratives, little movies – other people on the radio really aren't doing that. And then a lot of it, I'm sitting in a console with quotes and music, and I can recreate the sound of the radio show in its entirety."

Glass' style harkens back to the old-school storytelling on radio. And so does his promotional methods: "It's basically the form of publicity used in the 1920s in my medium. Hopefully, people who like the show drag along their friends."

When asked if people are shocked at his lecture after putting a person to the voice, Glass says: "The poet-laureate Billy Collins said once, 'There is no experience that is as reliably disappointing as meeting the author.' I definitely think there is a little bit of that when you meet somebody from the radio. Think about the first time you saw Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern. On the radio, everyone is a little bit bigger than life. And when you see people, they are a little bit smaller than life."

Either way, it's American life.

Chris Nixon is a San Diego freelance writer.

Hem of your garment

Hem's Messé uses 'music as a shield'

By Chris Nixon
February 3, 2005

Dan Messé rides through the heartland of America in his tour van, holding his cell phone in one hand and looking across the West's wide-open spaces. You can hear it through the phone lines: the solitude of the plains in his voice and the hum of the Nebraska highway in the background.

"We're slowly winding our way down Interstate 80 and stopping at anything that catches our eye," says Brooklyn native Messé between tour stops in Omaha and Denver with his band Hem. "It's beautiful. It's a lot of open spaces and we're used to very closed spaces."

Despite hailing from the bustling center of commerce and consumer lifestyle, Hem comes across like a back-porch folk song sung from a creaky rocking chair in the midst of a cicada-filled night. Or maybe its brand of sweet folk sounds like a long drive across the plains. Either way, it's not the streets of Brooklyn.

"We definitely write music as a shield or a reaction against (the chaos of the city)," says Messé in a quiet voice. "I'm writing music to find comfort in life, and we hope it does that for other people too. But that's our goal: We don't have space in our real lives, so we create it sonically."

The eight-piece folk pop orchestra sculpts quiet, contemplative country tunes revolving around the beautiful simplicity of Sally Ellyson's voice. With the band's 2001 debut album, "Rabbit Songs," Hem joined a group of musicians melding earnest folk and American roots music. Along with such artists as Neko Case, the Sadies and Eastmountainsouth, Ellyson and her bandmates seem to sing in defiance of the standard glitz and glamour of the music industry.

Bandleader, composer and pianist Messé pens most of Hem's songs, including the majority of the first disc's 16 subtle tracks. On the group's follow-up album, he decided to employ a more orchestral feel.

In the beginning of 2004, Messé traveled to Eastern Europe to record with the Slovak Radio Orchestra. No one in the orchestra spoke English; no one in Hem spoke Slovak or Czech. By chance, one person in both parties happened to speak Spanish. So essentially, Messé traveled to Slovakia to converse in Spanish and record American roots music. In the face of massive lingual and technical hurdles, Hem managed to capture the classic folk pop sound they sought.

"Once we decided to do the orchestral folk pop sound, we started looking around for the studios they recorded the classic albums in: everything from Muscle Shoals to CBS Studios. They just don't exist anymore. All those rooms are closed down," says Messé, flashing back to early 2003. "We asked the guy who does our mastering, Greg Calbi, and he had just done a project that had used the Slovak Radio Orchestra.

"We somehow finagled our way over there. It was an absolute nightmare culturally, musically and technologically. A lot of sleepless nights, but it was really wonderful in the end."

The result is 2004's "Eveningland," 16 songs of sweeping strings, hushed acoustic guitars and weeping pedal steel. Despite the intricate intertwining layers, Ellyson's beautiful voice shines through and remains center stage. After creating a multifaceted album, Messé faced the dilemma of reproducing and enhancing the "Eveningland" on the road.

"We're really trying to make a living at this, but all of our decisions in our professional lives have seemingly subverted it," admits Messé. "We could tour as a four-piece I suppose and make a lot of money. But we want to create this beautiful folk orchestra on stage. Ultimately, we've never made any decisions based on money. We're really trying to stay true to that, even if it bankrupts us.

"This whole project was a reaction against irony in general and the whole stance of coolness," added Messé, who performs with Hem at Brick by Brick in Bay Park tonight. "I'd rather be emotionally honest and brave and let the cards fall where they may. I tried to write cool songs and it was not something that came naturally to me. I'm not a cool person. I just wanted to write songs that I could feel good about."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.

To listen to sound clips from Hem, log onto SignOnSanDiego.com at entertainment.signonsandiego.com

Phat Tuesday

Three the Big Easy way

San Diegans have a trio of Carnaval, Mardi Gras fests to attend

By Chris Nixon
February 3, 2005

Attending the Brazilian Carnaval and the last-ditch parties of Mardi Gras is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, evoking images of beautiful people adorned in colorful costumes dancing to the propulsive drums of the samba through the sweaty tropical night until dawn.

Of course, Rio de Janeiro and its legendary Carnaval parties are more than 3,000 miles due south. But getting a taste of the Mardi Gras vibe is a simple trolley ride away.

San Diegans should deem themselves lucky to have three top-notch Carnaval and Mardi Gras festivals to check out: the 10th annual Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp, the fourth annual Hillcrest Mardi Gras Street Party and the San Diego Brazil Carnaval 2005 at 4th & B nightclub.

All three events are 21-and-up parties and not suitable for the kids. So if you have kids, flip on a CD of samba music and have a homespun dance party. Maybe you could even conjure up a little Cajun food.

But for those who yearn to get their groove on Mardi Gras style, San Diego's three different flavors of Carnaval and Fat Tuesday may be just what the doctor ordered for you.


The new kids on the block
The Brazilian Carnaval traditionally begins on Saturday and ends on Fat Tuesday, the last day before the Catholic observance of Lent. Catholic parishioners observe 40 days of penitence during Lent, so Fat Tuesday is their last day to let it all hang loose.

Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp basics
Price: $15 in advance, $20 at the gate
Location: Gaslamp District, downtown San Diego
Time: Tuesday, 5 p.m.
Information: (619) 233-5008 or www.gaslamp.org/mardigras.php

The schedule:

Bourbon Street Dance Stage (6th and G Street)
5 p.m. – DJ Scott Martin
6 p.m. – Danielle Lo Presti & The Masses
7 p.m. – DJ Johnny Johnson
8 p.m. – 80's All Stars
9 p.m. – Knight Fever
10 p.m. – DJ Marc Thrasher
Zydeco Blues Stage (Sixth and Island Avenue)
5 p.m. – Ragin' Cajun DJ Tony Mirador
6 p.m. – Uptown Rhythm Makers
7:30 p.m. – David Patrone's Flat Five Combo
9:30 p.m. – Theo and the Zydeco Patrol
11 p.m. – The Modern Jazz Majestics
Urban Groove Stage (Fourth and F Street)
6:30 p.m. – Atari
8 p.m. – Kid Krazzy
9 p.m. – Scooter and Lavelle
10:30 p.m. – Miss Lisa

Steve Spencer and his partner, Christine Portella, have organized Brazilian Carnaval celebrations in San Diego for the past 13 years. Spencer, a San Diego native who traveled extensively in Brazil, brings together the city's diverse communities to dress up and dance the samba.

This year's festival includes performances by Brazilian reggae band Banda Diaspora and the percussion-driven SambaDa
featuring vocalist Dandha
da Hora, along with dance and costume contests. And, as Spencer has said: "It became my passion to bring some of that happiness, joy and celebration of life to San Diego."

On the more flamboyant and outrageous side, Hillcrest's Mardi Gras Street Party on Tuesday caters to the gay and lesbian crowd. Candye Kane, Babette Schwartz and the ladies from Lips will perform, along with go-go dancers and DJs pumping out electronica.

The Hillcrest event is relatively new, but seems to gain momentum every year. One thing's for sure: Hillcrest festivalgoers take their costumes seriously.


Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp
The biggest festival remains Fat Tuesday's Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp.

With a decade under its belt, the organizers have the production down to a science. The party draws huge crowds now, but the festival comes from humble roots.

Hillcrest Mardi Gras Street Party basics
Price: $15 in advance, $20 at the door
Location: University Avenue between First and Fourth avenues
Time: Tuesday, 6 p.m.-midnight
Information: (619) 299-3330 or www.hillcrestmardigras.org

The lineup
Tootie, Babette Schwartz
Candye Kane
All Worlds Video GoGo Boys
The Monicas
Chad Michaels
DJ Taj (San Diego)

"Mardi Gras has grown from a simple parade inspired by a couple of pioneering people in the Gaslamp on a traditionally slow Tuesday in February or March to help business," said Dan Flores of the Gaslamp Quarter Association. "It has now filled out into a Gaslamp-wide festival produced by a professional event organizer with an attendance of 40,000 to 50,000 people."

Flores also described a few of the new aspects to this year's festival: "This year will include strolling and roving entertainment through the streets of the Gaslamp. Mardi Gras attendees will see performances by the Critical Brass Band, a Cuban ensemble, a Brazilian samba band and the Procrastinators."

Brazil Carnaval
Price: $25 in advance, $30 at the door
Location: 4th & B, 345 B St.
Day and time: Saturday, 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Information: (619) 231-4343 or www.brazilcarnival.com

The lineup
Samba featuring vocalist Dandha da Hora
Banda Diaspora
Jazz & Samba de Alegria
The Riobela Samba dancers

One of Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp's biggest draws is the annual parade, in which locally sponsored floats cruise downtown's avenues throwing out beads and trinkets along the way. Three stages of music will provide the backdrop for the evening's festivities, with performance by Danielle LoPresti, David Patrone's Flat Five Combo, Theo and the Zydeco Patrol and DJ party music from Scooter and Lavelle.

Flores added: "We hope people will come away from the event with a unique experience that only the Gaslamp Quarter can provide and help people embrace the traditions of Mardi Gras in a unique San Diego way."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Look for SignOnSanDiego.com's coverage of Mardi Gras on Wednesday at entertainment.signonsandiego.com, including extensive photo galleries of the night's festivities.