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Interpol’s Daniel Kessler talks films, 2000s NYC bands and former bandmate Carlos D
After 20 years of music writing and performing, Interpol guitarist Daniel Kessler still taps into movies, mostly classics, as inspiration for new song writing. And no, the band is not going to stop anytime soon.
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Still fresh: Interpol, comprising (from left) drummer Sam Fogarino, guitarist Daniel Kessler and frontman-bassist Paul Banks, released its seventh album 'The Other Side of Make-Believe’ in 2022, showing a new soundscape for the band after two and a half decades. (Courtesy of Matador Records/Ebru Yildiz)
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even hours before the seminal United States rock band Interpol performed in Jakarta for the first time, the band’s guitarist Daniel Kessler was already dressed to the nines.
“I’ve heard from friends in other bands that Indonesia’s audience is one of the best in the world, so I’m very excited to play,” Kessler told The Jakarta Post at a hotel the band stayed in on Nov. 26.
The US rockers were received with loud cheers and a singalong by the packed audience that night at the 2023 Joyland Festival at the Baseball Stadium in Jakarta’s Bung Karno Sports Complex.
It seemed like a huge feat for a band that made its mark in the early 2000s, combining New York’s spirit of indie rock and the ghost of 1970s post-punk. But almost two and a half decades later, Interpol is still in great shape.
“I think we still use the same ingredients, though we try to make a different dish each time,” Kessler said about the band’s musical identity.
Interpol’s latest album, the band’s seventh, The Other Side of Make-Believe, was released in 2022. Kessler, frontman Paul Banks and drummer Sam Fogarino produced the album remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The quarantine reminded us about so many things we took for granted,” Kessler said, noting how challenging it was to write songs remotely and through e-mails.
