Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Spencer Patterson: Indie practitioners Interpol happy to play in the dark

If you're out late Monday night and happen to bump into four young men dressed for a funeral, don't feel as though you have to offer condolences.

It's just indie-rock band Interpol, enjoying Las Vegas the only way its four members know how, in the same dark jackets and ties they wear while onstage.

"That's not a uniform. It's not an image. It's me," guitarist Daniel Kessler explained in a phone interview from his New York home. "It's not like we have a wardrobe case where the jeans go in and the ties come out. So around New York, on tour, off tour, whatever, you'll see me wearing what I wear, because those are my clothes and that's how I feel comfortable."

But just because the quartet dresses in a serious manner doesn't mean they feel somber and grim all the time, Kessler said.

"People only have so much to go on, so they look at us and see the way we dress and the way we are and probably assume things about us," he said. "But the fact of the matter is there is a definite sense of looseness, of joking around and ragging on each other."

If Interpol's only previous Las Vegas stopover -- an October 2003 Huntridge Theatre show -- was any indication, the band leaves that loose attitude behind when it takes the stage.

The four musicians, Kessler, vocalist Paul Banks, bassist Carlos D and drummer Sam Fogarino, thrive on tightness, recreating the precise, angular anthems that comprise 2002's brilliant debut, "Turn on the Bright Lights," and last year's worthy follow-up, "Antics."

Southern Nevada gets its second look at Interpol at 8 p.m. on Monday night, when the New Yorkers play The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. Tickets are $22.

If you're a fan of dark epics such as "Obstacle 1," "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down," "Evil" and "Slow Hands," Interpol's live show should serve you right. But if you're hoping for dramatic detours from the album version, look elsewhere.

"We're still pretty much like, 'These are our songs,' and we'll play them," Kessler, 30, said. "Some nights more intense than others, I think, but we don't experiment too much with the songs."

Multi-instrumentalist Boom Bip (aka Bryan Hollon), who contributed a memorable set at this year's Coachella Music & Arts Festival, opens Monday's show.

Previous Interpol support acts have included Bloc Party, the Secret Machines, the Stills, on!air!library!, Ratatat and the Warlocks. Quality openers all, and that's no coincidence, Kessler said.

"We're quite selective about the whole affair," he said. "One person brings (an act) forward, and we have a huge discussion about it. We've been very fortunate to have cool bands tour with us."

Interpol also had the good fortune to be selected to open U2's June 21 show at Glasgow's Hampden Park, an experience Kessler won't soon forget.

"It was the Scottish national soccer stadium and there were 60,000 people there," Kessler said. "And when we were watching them, you could see every single hand up in the air. It's nice to see a band with that sort of loyalty, and people that into it."

Though "Antics" is barely a year old, a few of its songs have been part of Interpol's live set for several years. It's not surprising, then, that Kessler is beginning to feel the songwriting itch, though he said it could be some time before he scratches it.

"The truth of the matter is we've been touring for a very long time, and it's just not gonna happen for a while," he said. "To do something good, you need to have a healthy mind. So I think we will take a bit of a break, and people will just go off for a little while and do whatever they want to do and just live their lives. And then we'll come back and work on the next record."

As for writing while on the road, apart from "Direction," a track composed for the penultimate episode of HBO's "Six Feet Under" (and included on the show's second soundtrack CD), the band does not pen new material while away from home.

"There's just a difference of being in the playing mind, the traveling mind and being in the at-home, writing mind and collaborating mind," Kessler said. "I think it's been a good and important thing for us, to seal off that pressure.

"And writing in between tours kind of allows stuff to have a natural progression, a natural newness, a natural exploration and a natural want for new things."

Might one of those new things be found during the Vegas stopover?

"I want to get married, so I'm gonna go out there and just find someone and have a wedding," Kessler said with a chuckle, then quickly got serious again. "No, not really."

Music notes

Boards are back in town: The Billboard Music Awards will be broadcast for Las Vegas for the 10th straight year, event organizers announced this week.

The two-hour show will take place on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, going out live to the East Coast and tape delayed in Southern Nevada on Fox.

Performers and presenters have yet to be announced.

Cancellations: Kelly Clarkson called off several West Coast shows last week, including Saturday's scheduled concert at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, reportedly due to bronchitis.

Refunds are available to ticket holders at original points of purchase. A rescheduled date is expected soon.

Sheryl Crow cancelled an Oct. 23 performance at The Joint, just a few days after announcing the show would be part of her upcoming string-accompanied mini-tour. Unspecified "scheduling conflicts" were cited as the reason.

On sale

Social Distortion returns to town on Jan. 15. Tickets are $27 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the House of Blues box office, at Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and at www.ticketmaster.com.

Tickets are on sale now for several other recent additions to the House of Blues box office: Blues Traveler on Oct. 28 ($25-$30); Fear Factory with Soilwork, Strapping Young Lad and Darkane on Nov. 25 ($17-$20); Avenged Sevenfold with Saosin, Death By Stereo and Bullets and Octane on Dec. 2 ($15) and Dierks Bentley with Cross Canadian Ragweed on Dec. 10 ($27-$40).

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