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Jul 11, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Interpol (Daniel Kessler, Paul Banks, and Sam Fogarino) are releasing a new album, Marauder, on August 24 via Matador. The album was announced via a live-streamed press conference from Mexico City. Previously they shared its first single, “The Rover” (which was one of our Songs of the Week), and then they performed the song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Now the song has a music video. Gerardo Naranjo (Narcos, The Bridge) directed the clip, which was shot in Mexico City around the time of the press conference. The press conference was briefly interrupted by actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Girls, The Punisher) and now in the video we get to see the full story of why that happened. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Paul Banks had this to say about the video in a press release: “I like to describe the video for ‘The Rover’ as a prequel. It’s the origin story of the character described in the song, the birth of a cult leader. When we meet him he is partly unhinged. He’s a man on the verge, an artist subjected to great pressures, and beset with existential frustrations. A distracted hipster who enjoys psychedelics, let’s say. The events that take place in Mexico City, be it a bump on the head, a visit to a shaman, or the influence of his rescuers (the street gang known as ‘Los Locos’) trigger the birth - the eruption - of this new figure, ‘The Rover.’ His rescuers become his first followers. In the end of the video he exacts his ‘revenge’ on Interpol with a mischievous act of disruption during the press conference. He grabs me by the head - to save me? Forgive me? Or simply as a gesture of his new independence - the butterfly becoming.”

Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Mogwai) produced the album, which was recorded in two-week spells from December 2017 to April 2018 at his Tarbox Studios in Upstate New York. A previous press release promised that the album is louder than previous Interpol releases, relating a story where the police were called to their practice space while working on the album due to a noise complaint from a neighbor. “It seemed like you’re picking on the wrong rock band,” joked Fogarino in the press release. “It’s not like we’re Mastodon. I mean, in certain circles, we’re considered wimps!”

Previously Banks’ lyrics have been more observational, but for this album he turned inward. He explained in the press release: “This record is where I feel touching on real things that have happened to me are exciting and evocative to write about. I think in the past, I always felt autobiography was too small a thing for me to reference. I feel like now, I’m able to romanticize parts of my own life.”

The album cover is a Garry Winogrand photo of former Attorney General Elliot Richardson. In 1973 he resigned after refusing President Nixon’s orders to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox because Cox was leading an investigation into the Watergate scandal. “A lot of being accountable has to do with being honest,” said Banks about both the cover art and his lyrics on this album. Of course the Watergate scandal also has modern parallels to our current president and the Russia investigation.

It’s been four years since Interpol’s last album, 2014’s El Pintor.

Interpol Tour Dates:

8/13 - Mexico City, Mexico - Teatro De La Ciudad Esperanza Iris
8/14 - Mexico City, Mexico - Teatro De La Ciudad Esperanza Iris
8/23 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer - w/ Honduras
8/24 - Brooklyn, NY - House of Vans
9/11 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/12 - Montreal, QC - Olympia Theatre - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/13 - Toronto, ON - Rebel - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/14-16 - Chicago, IL - Riot Fest
9/16 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Theatre - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/17 - Columbus, OH - Express Live! Indoor Stage - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/27 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/28 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall - w/ Sunflower Bean
9/29 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall Lawn - w/ Sunflower Bean
10/1 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren - w/ Sunflower Bean
10/4 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl - w/ The Kills, Sunflower Bean
10/5 - San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theater - w/ The Kills, Sunflower Bean
10/6 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre - w/ The Kills, Sunflower Bean
11/6 - Tokyo, Japan - Akasaka Blitz
11/14 - London, UK - Royal Albert Hall w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/16 - Manchester, UK - O2 Apollo - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/18 - Dublin, Ireland - Olympia Theatre - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/23 - Hamburg, Germany - Mehr! Theater - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/24 - Copenhagen, Denmark - TAP1 - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/25 - Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/27 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli Vredenburg - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/28 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National - w/ Nilüfer Yanya
11/29 - Paris, France - La Salle Pleyel w/ Nilüfer Yanya
2/16 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden - w/ Car Seat Headrest, Snail Mail

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