Randy J. Klodz - Interpol Aims “Bright Lights” at Chicago

Sept. 11, 2003

Interpol Aims “Bright Lights” at Chicago

By Randy J. Klodz

New York City’s Interpol, a band initially known solely by art school students across the world, have jumped into the mainstream and will be making a Chicago appearance while headlining the only local date on the tour at the Riviera Theatre on Sept. 19.

The quartet, which features Paul Banks on vocals, Daniel Kessler on guitar, Carlos Dengler on bass and Samuel Fogarino on drums, released the full-length Matador Records debut “Turn on the Bright Lights” in August of 2002. And although the album has been out for over a year, many people outside the college music circuit haven’t taken notice of the band’s arty rock sound until the music video for “PDA” became a hit on MTV. The video became such a hit with viewers that it was actually nominated for the MTV 2 Award on the “MTV Video Music Awards” program that premiered on Aug. 28.

“PDA,” one of the band’s radio favorites, starts off with a catchy drum beat and slowly rises to a rock anthem with the repeated line: “Sleep tight, grim rite, we have two hundred couches where you can sleep tonight.” The band can go from rocking to mellow at the drop of a pin and with “NYC,” the band drops a box of pins and quietly builds a sharp, yet serene song with light chords and soothing lyrics: “I had seven faces / Thought I knew which one to wear / But I'm sick of spending these lonely nights / Training myself not to care.” Other fan favorites include “Obstacle 1” and “Stella Was A Driver and She’s Always Down” among others.

Riviera Theatre is at 4746 N. Racine. Tickets for this all-ages show are listed for $20 each with a show start time listed for 7 p.m. The Stills and The Broke Revue are scheduled to perform as support for Interpol. For more information on Interpol view www.interpolny.com.