News Reading 2011: Interpol

DIY catches up with Daniel Kessler from Interpol a few minutes before they take to the Reading Main Stage.

You’re literally about to go on stage, are you ready?
Do I look ready? No, I’m ready. We’ve been touring for the last three and a half weeks and it’s been mostly festivals so I think we’ve got a bit of the rhythm down.

This weekend sees you playing alongside the likes of The National and The Strokes, both of which started out around the same time and in the same area as yourself. How does it feel to be back amongst old friends?
We’ve never played with those guys before. We’ve played festivals with The National but we’ve never played headline shows with either one of those bands but we do all three come from the same city, obviously. They’re great bands. We haven’t played with The Strokes ever so it’ll be great. A long story short, yes!

Are you sticking around tonight? Who are you looking forward to seeing perform?
I am sticking around. I’d like to see Death From Above. I think we just missed Warpaint so that’s a bit unfortunate. Is 2manyDJs tonight? So 2manyDJs will be good too.

You released a self-titled album last year, have you any plans to record new material at the moment?
We’ve been touring so much over the last year. When we tour, it’s really just about touring and writing is about writing so we keep the two separately. We’ll finish up soon enough and we’ll take a little break and start thinking about the next stuff. We have about one more week on this leg and then we just have one more run through South America in November and then we’ll take a break.

You mentioned that you like to keep things separate there, do you write any material whilst on tour or do you leave everything until you get home?
I try to write a little bit but I try not to sweat it, not since the first record. I think we’ve all realised that the road is not a very private place to do things, it’s not very atmospheric. Soundchecks, waking up in a different hotel everyday and sleeping on buses. For me, it’s easier to keep it separate. I’m open to it and I try to play guitar in hotel rooms but I really wait until I’ve got off the road. I like it because you really starve the creativity side and then when you get off the road, you have all this new energy and it comes from a completely new place to the last time you started writing.

Do you find the road quite inspirational then?
Yeah, just on this tour alone, we’ve been to many, many, many new countries, lots of Eastern European countries that we’ve never been to before and that’s been an exceptional experience so I think so. I like travelling, I am a traveller and it is something that I enjoy so that makes it a bit easier for me - it’s a subconscious form of inspiration.

In terms of the audiences you play to, do you prefer a crowd of Reading size or a smaller, more intimate venue?
I like both, honestly! I think it’s great to play your own shows to your own fans. We have the greatest fans ever so it’s always a pleasure and there’s always a very direct chemistry. But then again, it’s always nice to go out. The element of surprise at festivals when you go out there and you don’t know what it’s going to be like and you don’t do a soundcheck and you don’t know if it’s going to sound good, I like those moments. It’s not a day in, day out situation - every day’s a bit different. This stage of touring keeps you on your toes and that’s always great. I’ve been having a really great time on this festival run, I really enjoy playing festivals.

That’s the thing about being on tour, I suppose it can get a little repetitive?
I don’t let it because I don’t think it’s right to do that and that’s when you start breeding a little bit of a malaise and that’s really an enemy on tour when you’re on it for a while. If anything’s tiring on tour, it’s the travelling. Anything in between. Shows are never tiresome. To me they’re always a great moment and we have really tremendous fans so I never feel that way about the shows but the touring can get a little tiring, travelling.

You’re all songwriters in the band, but obviously last year saw the departure of your bassist, Carlos Dengler, how do you think the new dynamic will affect songwriting in the future?
I think any band that any member leaves is going to change the dynamic. But everyone can write and do their own thing in this band, everyone has that capacity so we’ll take a break afterwards and then we’ll start writing again.