One of our Record Store Day finds this year was an RSD exclusive 7″ with artwork Shepard Fairey from NYC’s Interpol, a band that survived the indie commercial success of the early aughts followed quickly by the decimation of the industry by the Web.
I was mediocrely into the band when they first hit the scene but I really dig their subtly reinvented sound on this most recent ‘comeback’ album, El Pintor—a Latin-sounding anagram of the band’s name and their first full-length in four years.
The single features a stand-out from the album—”Everything is Wrong”—and a great unreleased B-side—”What is What”.
Here’s Shepard Fairey on the artwork for the 7″:
“The lyrics to ‘Everything Is Wrong’ are open to interpretation, but whether the song is about hard living, relationship failures, wear and tear on the environment, or an empire mentality, regret for poor decisions seems to be the theme. I decided to explore the idea of being complicit in a personal relationship or a relationship with a system that one realizes is unhealthy.”
You can see a shot of the sticker included in the 7″, a shot of the record, and the mural Fairey did around the corner from Acqua Santa in Williamsburg below. Watch the video for “Everything is Wrong” (directed by Paul Banks and Carlos Puga) below too. It’s either a commentary on our collective views of “old” and “new” residents of NYC…or just Interpol hanging out and doing stuff. Or both.
