Interpol's Paul Banks

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While Paul Banks is technically the lead singer of Interpol, he sees himself more as a member of a gang of musicians. Interpol formed in 1997 after lead guitarist Daniel Kessler invited Paul—who was a student at NYU at the time—to watch the band rehearse.

In 2002 Interpol released their era defining album, Turn On The Bright Lights, to widespread critical acclaim. At the time they were lumped together with New York City’s emerging “indie sleaze” movement with bands like The Strokes, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their sophomore album Antics in 2004 surpassed critics' expectations and further evolved their sound. September marks the 20th anniversary of Antics, and to celebrate, Interpol is embarking on an international tour where they will play the album in full.

On today’s episode Leah Rose talks to Paul Banks about how he wrote the lyrics to key tracks on Antics. Paul also explains why he hasn’t listened to rock music in over 20 years. And he remembers watching a boxing match with John Frusciante and RZA from Wu-Tang, and how John forever changed the way Paul thinks about musicality in hip-hop.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Interpol & Paul Banks songs HERE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Pushkin
0:09.0	The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Since it was
0:15.1	established in 1861 there have been 3,317 people awarded with the medal.
0:21.5	I'm Malcolm Gladwell and our new podcast from
0:24.2	Pushkin Industries and I Heart Media is about those heroes. What they did, what it
0:29.8	meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice.
0:35.5	Listen to Medal of Honor stories of courage on the I Heart Radio app, Apple
0:40.5	Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
0:44.0	Sponsored by LifeLock.
0:46.0	Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence.
0:51.0	Back in the late 90s, I was a co-founder of Beatology magazine.
0:55.0	We interviewed people who knew the Beatles and celebrities who collected the Beatles.
1:00.0	We're releasing those recordings for the first time and you'll hear Mark Hamill tell a classic story about meeting George Harrison on a plane.
1:09.0	You'll hear Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg talk about what happened backstage the night John Lennon was
1:14.8	assassinated and why Bill Maher admired Lennon's political incorrectness.
1:20.7	It's a fascinating collection of interviews.
1:23.0	Catch our special Beatles series on the Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly podcast feed.
1:30.0	While Paul Banks is technically the lead singer of Interpol, he sees himself more as a member of a gang of musicians.
1:39.0	Interpol formed in 97 after League Guitarist Daniel Kessler invited Paul, who was a student at NYU at the time, to watch the band rehearse.
1:47.0	In 2002, Interpol released their era-defining album, Turn on the Bright bright lights to widespread critical acclaim.
1:54.7	At the time they're lumped together with New York City's emerging Indie Slee's movement with
1:58.1	bands like The Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pushkin Industries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Pushkin Industries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.