Interpol celebrate the 20th anniversary of ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ with the release of ‘The Black EP’
August 20th will mark the 20th anniversary of Interpol’s debut album Turn On The Bright Lights. To celebrate the date, the band are celebrating by releasing The Black EP, alongside a 13-minute documentary from 2002, which have both been released today.
The documentary features interview with members of the band, as well as clips of them playing ‘PDA’, ‘NYC’ and ‘Stella was a diver and she was always down’. It has been fully restored in hi-resolution, having originally been lost in the 144p YouTube rips of yore.
The Black EP had originally been released back in 2003, though it was only available on a limited run CD and has been out of print since the mid-2000s. The EP features the album version of ‘Say Hello To The Angels’, an early demo of ’NYC’, as well as alternate “Black Session” takes of ‘Obstacle 1’, ‘Specialist’, ‘Leif Erikson’ and ‘PDA’. It’s a fascinating insight into a band just about to ascend into stardom.
When we spoke to Interpol’s drummer, Sam Fogarino, about the impact that Turn On The Bright Lights had, he said, “I couldn’t be more ecstatic over the fact that it has such staying power. There are other bands that put out a couple of records that nobody really cares about until maybe their third or fourth when they finally get this credibility. That would kind of suck. It’s like it’s part of your effort, which is ignored because it wasn’t perceived as good.”
Fogarino added, “When you put out that kind of powerful debut, that becomes a benchmark, right? And it’s like, that’s not a burden. It’s a beautiful thing. And just the fact that it’s still being celebrated and still considered relevant. I mean, we’re still being accepted as a current band.”
Check out the documentary and a stream of The Black EP below.
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