Interpol - Ian Curtis reincarnated?

Interpol are a band from New York.

I have heard them on the radio tonight on two different radio stations.

There have been many bands over the years that have tried to eliminate Joy Division. But Interpol are closest clones I have heard in sometime.

The vocalist is a complete carbon copy of Curtis, and the band music is very much in Joy Division tone.

Anyone else heard Interpol - (they were featured in last weeks NME.)

To broaden the question out - Which have been the best and worst Joy Division inspired bands over the years?

(correction - It is getting late)

There have been many bands over the years that have tried to: eliminate Joy Division

Should have read emulate Joy Division

Eliminate too... Oh, as for the question, Interpol sound more like Bedhead to me than anything else. Crossed with a touch of Karate emo-core.

Mhz's singer Patrick Mills sounds a lot like Ian Curtis, although his music is pretty much on the synthpop side.

One day I want to read a crazed piece of pop writing that really does begin "There have been many bands over the years that have tried to eliminate Joy Division". I imagine it appearing in a badly translated French encyclopaedia of rock.

After the fifth or sixth listen to the Matador single, I honestly don't think they sound that much like Joy Division. The tone is similar, there's lots of tension, and it's somewhat evident that the band has those records in their collections. Beyond that, I don't understand why they're being called clones. (Actually, I think "NYC" sounds more like Unforgettable Fire-era U2 -- albeit with the pomp siphoned off the top -- than anyone else.)

The singer's voice, at least as far as this single is considered, doesn't remind me all that much of Ian Curtis. Sometimes the delivery or the phrasing is a little reminiscent, but I have to make a conscious decision to look for those similarities. This guy's voice sounds more nervous than Curtis' and it's not nearly as deep.

To me they sound like a mannered indie rock band inspired by UK '79- '82. They have that spirit to them. I think I like them quite a lot. I haven't been impressed by many guitar bands lately, so this makes me very happy.

Best Joy Division inspired band was 9353 who were a band of DC area jokesters who popped up around the same time as Rites of Spring. Each of their live shows featured an aborted attempt (or multiple aborted attempts) at covering "She's Lost Control". Apparently there was one live show where they got it right. I don't have it on my live bootleg so I can't confirm.

The single is now out and Interpol are riding incredibly high in my personal estimation. I am increasingly baffled as to why people keep hurling Joy Division derivations at what is quite possibly the only band in the world with the good sense to be influenced most prominently by Kitchens of Distinction.

! If THAT's the comparison I must hear this band posthaste.

Well, Ned, it's the same sort of balance-point between mid-80s British indie on one side and shoegazing touches on the other -- (cf Death of Cool -- and the same sort of focus on really cracking execution. Plus if Ian Curtis must be involved it's that they've both taken his vocal style in the same direction. Here's what I just emailed someone in an effort to tease out whether they might actually have heard KoD or just coincidentally patched something similar together from common influences:

"What makes me think twice is that while their singer is definitely Curtis-influenced, there are a lot of bits where he sounds *exactly* - - and I mean *exactly*, down to the melodic components -- like Patrick Fitzgerald from KoD. (Like: listen to "What Happens Now?" or other bits of The Death of Cool and then listen to how he sings "sleep tonight" on PDA. He even does an *exact* Fitzgerald thing when he sings it as that descending "to-ni-i-ight.") Fitzgerald was also a little Curtis-influenced, possibly, and Chameleons-influenced too, but when you add it all up it seems slightly easier to imagine they heard KoD at some point than imagining that they recreated a quintessentially KoD chorus by common-influence accident. (And KoD *did* have a minor US college-radio hit with "Smiling" -- I'd like to imagine that a decent number of people remember them, although I may just be deluding myself.)"

Someone needs to ask them. Yes, Ned, don't be distracted by "NYC," download the whole single. I'd get it to you myself but for some reason I couldn't get it ripped to mp3s today.

Nabisco's dead on with the KoD reference. I don't know why I didn't immediately think of them upon hearing the slower songs for the first time. I also hear some Versus too. And some Sound and some Josef K.

The album is fantastic.

Well, hurrah for DJ Martian for starting this thread all that time ago, I have to say. :-) And for N****h and Andy for confirming all this goodness. Yay! I shall indeed investigate.

It was one of those nights ! Peel had a session on Radio 1, followed by John Kennedy on Xfm Xposure had a live session.

It seems that Interpol have picked up a strong following in France too, with an interpol fansite for all the latest info An Interpol Fansite

The album Turn On the Bright Lights - is released August 19th UK, August 20th USA.

Sometimes in the UK, we can pick things up quicker than the USA, because the media is more concentrated and the country is smaller. However this sometimes is bad thing, we had to suffer Andrew WanKer last Autumn, whilst the states had a delayed hype in the Spring of this year.

well, interpol had a following in france way before they became well known in the uk. they played st. malo festival in august 2001, and the show was broadcast on the national fm station (although its true they played for john peel in april 2001)

i taped them a lot in new york in 2000-02. one of the shows had like 15-20 people inside....

as for the influences...i hear lots of things, wedding present, the smiths, jam, pixies

John Kennedy on Xfm had Interpol on Xposure live - April 2001 - Brits were at the forefront first!

just heard a track off the album on John Kennedy's Xfm show, right on with the Kitchens of Distinction reference ! also a touch of The Chameleons and Modern English !

I'm really looking forward to the Interpol record. These next 20 days will be pure torture.

John Kennedy on Xfm

Nice to see that problem in Dallas hasn't slowed him up.

I listened to them this morning on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic (real audio).
I really dug the first song (What's it called?). Dark and powerful. Atmospheric. Building up slowly. The singer's voice and way of articulating the words rather thoughtfully and gravely reminded me a lot of John Cale. The other tracks on the programme could not live up to the first song. I found it funny that the band members did not cite Joy Divsion as a favourite but mentioned lots of other bands in the interview section in the middle. I have the feeling they are already a little overhyped though I definitely prefer them to bands like BRMC, The White Stripes and The Strokes.

i think interpol has a sound that is quite mature and developed in comparison to either the strokes or the stripes. sure there's a song that sounds uncannily like "this charming man" on their album, but is that a bad thing?

i think interpol is a crafty band for wanting to use atmosphere as a tool again in rock -- something that's fallen by the wayside the past couple of years.

I found it funny that the band members did not cite Joy Divsion as a favourite but mentioned lots of other bands in the interview section in the middle.

Yeah, an "influences" type question is never more useless than when asked of the band themselves. Except in the sense that the band they glaringly neglect to mention is always the one they are directly ripping off.

The only Interpol track I know is NYC but there's no Joy Division in that at all!

Listening to realaudio stream linked upthread - this sounds exactly like a less happy Patrick Fitzgerald singing over early, In Debt era Disco Inferno.

(ie there's two lines of Joy Division heritage but they're both slightly obscured)

I just listen to Interpol for frist time tonite and sounds like late 70's early 80's herion band. Looking forward to seeing how big they git. No joy in this band.
later

Actually the singer sounds more like Harry Chapin or the guy from the Blue Nile, but the Curtis thing is clearly there... but the music is so lightweight and predictable that the vocals come off as horribly pretentious... its like a Postcard band crossed with Crispy Ambulance... its good that bands are discovering the postpunk period, but rather than copy the styles, they should take their cues from the ideas behind postpunk, which was to do something different and true to yourself... a band in 2002 which was truly inspired by Joy Division or The Fall or Gang Of Four would be making music which sounded nothing at all like any of the above...

Well a day of listening to these guys and I have to admit... once you get past the obvious references, this is a very, very good record... at the end of the day, good records came out in the 80s and good records come out in 2002... this is one of those

This is a sham! These are ex-members of Funny Dragon and La Sexorcista doing a joke side-project a-la Mr. Bungle. Pretty
damn good though.

As i was the first person to post about Interpol on ILM, another first

The Departure are Britain's answer to Interpol

The Departure = The British Interpol

New band alert: The Departure are from Northampton, have signed to Parlophone records. Their debut single: All Mapped Out is released on August 2nd.

Sam Harvey – lead guitar
Lee Irons – guitar, backing vocals
Ben Winton – bass
Andy Hobson – drums

The Departure are Parlophone’s latest signings and one of Britain’s most exciting new bands. Destined to appeal to both hearts and minds, theirs is a sound which unites rock’s capricious guitars and funk’s sentient bass with lyrics fated to be scratched into diaries up and down the land.

All Mapped Out, the single reminds me of Interpol and early Echo & the Bunnymen: Crocodiles era.

BBC Berkshire interview The Departure

Rockcity interview The Departure

Mapped Out’ is coming out on August 2nd, the second single we’re aiming to get out in October and then the third single will be in January of next year…
Ben: …with hopefully an album to follow in February.

Can we skip to the part where they hang themselves?