Interpol: "Wir lieben unsere Musik"

Hi Sam, where are you right now and how's the tour going so far?
I'm in Athens, Georgia right now. This is where I live. The tour has been great. It's magnificent. Also the fans' reactions were great. We're always quite nervous when we play songs that aren't released yet. It's quite scary because we don't know what the others think. But it feels good when the people come to us after the show and when they say that they really like the songs.

What's the most beautiful thing someone told you?
Well, there are lots of amazing things. It's beautiful when we hear that people are emotionally charged and when they can identify with the music. In general, it's good to hear when our music has an impact on someone else's life.

How happy are you with the new record?
Oh, we like it a lot. We love all our albums and we were quite pleased with all of them but this one's different to the others. I think we've accomplished more than before.

There's a song called "Succes" on the record. What does "success" mean to you?
That's a difficult question. Well, I would say it's what I do. I mean, I'm sitting here in my living-room talking about what I like to do. That's great. Success is not an end point for me, it's something that happens on a daily basis. We love playing our music around the world. We love that we're able to do what we like most. We're never satisfied anyway.

Do you always want more?
Yes, in a way. But it doesn't mean that we only want to do stadium shows. We're happy with where we're at right now. The size of the shows is not important, there's no ideal size, we enjoy everything. It's great when you play different venues on a tour, this keeps things fresh. I like theatre-size shows but also to play in front of thousands of people.

What do you think about all the comparisons with R.E.M., The National or Editors?
Comparisons are unavoidable. It's tiring on one hand, but on the other hand it's something we all do. It's fine as a person, but not as an artist. We try not to be influenced too much, especially when we're on the road. We try to focus on Interpol when we're working.

When are you coming back to Switzerland? It's missing on the upcoming tour.
As far as I know, there's something in the works. But I don't know exactly when. We'd love to come back, the shows in Switzerland were great, especially the one at the Montreux Jazz Festival where we played with The National. That was quite cool. We'll be touring until next year so I really think that we'll also come to Switzerland again.

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