Paul Banks

Guitarists Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler, drummer Sam Fogarino, and bassist Carlos D. are the members of Interpol, much to the surprise of the international criminal community which undoubtedly regarded this as a much larger organization. However, these four fellows are the members of the rock band Interpol, highly influenced by bands such as Joy Division and Sonic Youth, although when it came to picking names it seems like the Police must have been the model. The moods weaving through Interpol's music indeed might be compared to the feelings a career criminal would have when observing the long arm of the law -- be it the police, the Interpol, the FBI, or the Stasi -- about to reach out and apprehend. "English dark-punk" is one description attempting to become a label; critics have also described a "gloomy, stark mood," gleefully thrown around adjectives such as "somber," "claustrophobic," and even "dystopian," detected the presence of "the tragic weltanschauung of prog rock poets Van Der Graaf Generator," and even mentioned "shoegazing tremeloes," the latter state of mind perhaps something only a guitarist, and one with shoelaces, could truly understand.

The group evolved from the musical hobbying of Kessler while still a New York University student. The multi-instrumentalist Carlos D. was a classmate; they apparently struck up a conversation because Kessler liked the other's pair of Doc Martens. This well-shoed, name-abbreviated fellow knew of Banks from a summer session in Paris -- not the ones running along the Seine, but one of those fellows who sat in the dorm rooms playing guitar and singing, perhaps even glancing at his shoelaces. By 1998, this trio, rounded out to a four-piece rock band by a drummer known in band bios as "Greg," began using the name Interpol. Fogarino took over on drums in the spring of that same year. Banks should not be confused with his British namesake, the former frontman from Shed Seven. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide