Tap any face to see why they're in the photo

Who shaped them

Interpol

Interpol

Since 1997 · United States

Interpol were, in 2002, transparently influenced by Joy Division and the post-punk revival that the UK was then pursuing — and they made something of the transparency rather than hiding it. Their story

Full songs onSpotifyApple MusicYouTube
See them on the map

Press ▶︎ to play

Loading…

It really plays! Press the middle

Who they shaped

Behind them, left to right: Fugazi, Bad Brains, Nirvana, Aphex Twin, The Smiths.

In front, left to right: Geese.

Not in the photo: , . Often assumed; they've said no.

The bigger the face, the stronger the proof: they said it themselvesreporteda critic, or widely accepted

Turn On the Bright Lights cover

Start here

Turn On the Bright Lights (2002)

Hear it onSpotifyApple MusicYouTube

Interpol arrived fully formed with an album that absorbed Joy Division's aesthetic completely and then made something original from the residue — Paul Banks's baritone, Daniel Kessler's clean guitar, and Carlos Dengler's melodic bass created a sound recognizably post-punk but too controlled and too American to be mistaken for a pastiche. 'Obstacle 1' is the signature: a rolling bass figure and ascending guitar line that creates forward motion before the verse resolves it into something darker and suspended. The record proved that post-punk's emotional vocabulary could survive transplant to a different geography and decade with its power entirely intact.

Sleeve notes

Interpol

Turn On the Bright Lights · 2002

Interpol were, in 2002, transparently influenced by Joy Division and the post-punk revival that the UK was then pursuing — and they made something of the transparency rather than hiding it. Paul Banks's baritone was not trying to be Ian Curtis's baritone, exactly, but it was clearly in the same tradition: controlled, slightly formal, delivering lyrics that were elliptical rather than transparent. Daniel Kessler's guitar parts had a mechanical precision that recalled the funk-inspired post-punk of Gang of Four as much as Joy Division's gloom.

Turn on the Bright Lights (2002) is one of the best debut albums in the post-punk revival: every song a well-formed thing, the production by Peter Katis creating a world that was dark without being oppressive. Antics (2004) maintained the quality. The subsequent albums found the band working within their established idiom with decreasing urgency, which is the occupational hazard of a very specific sound. Their first two albums remain vivid in a way that most of the revival does not.

Since 1997 · United States

Played at

Lower East Side

New York · 1999–2005

On the bill

Learned to play live at Brownies and Luna Lounge, booked by Rob Sacher; Paul Banks says the Strokes were hanging out in exactly the same places he was, and he didn't know any of them.

The whole scene