Read Crossfade's review of Interpol's August 2010 show in Miami.
Back when Paul Banks and Interpol first crawled out of the NYC indie underground in the very early Aughts, the whole post-punk revival thing seemed seconds away from completely conquering pop music.
But the hugely hyped, grunge-level takeover never really happened. The Strokes stuck out. The Rapture disappeared almost as quickly as a fart. And the rest got lost in a flood of second-generation wannabes.
So 2001 wasn't the year post-punk broke. And ten years later, everyone's still waiting -- Interpol included.
In fact, Banks and his band are sorta stuck in the last decade. And it's not even that they've wasted time trying to resurrect the post-punk past. Both 2007's Our Love to Admire and 2010's self-titled album were real attempts to ditch the matching goth-y getups and go beyond that initial Joy-Division-meets-the-Chameleons formula.
But the critics, corporate types, marketing wizards, fans, and even the group itself don't seem to be fully buying into Interpol's evolution. Just consider the first, middle, and last paragraphs from the band's bio, clipped directly from the official Miami concert announcement:
Interpol rose to international attention as part of New York City's post-punk revival ... Matador Records signed the band and by the end of the year, the independent label had issued both a three-song single and the band's debut LP, Turn on the Bright Lights. The album turned Interpol into a successful indie rock act, providing further proof that New York City had become a hub of marketable post-punk revivalism in the early 21st century ... The band also opened for the Cure as part of that band's Curiosa Festival; soon after, Interpol released its second album, Antics. Three songs entered the Top 40 charts in the U.K., where the record later went gold.
So ... Notice how this mini-history ends circa 2005?
Interpol. Friday, April 29. Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. The show starts at 8:30 p.m. and tickets go on sale January 21 for $35 via livenation.com. Call 305-673-7300 or visit fillmoremb.com.
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