I think our music sounds like music made
by music fans a band comprised of
already prominent musicians and artists
could end up a diva disaster but somehow
they make it work
I’m mihaela Kamen and welcome to
watchmojo.com today we’ll be speaking
with the New Pornographers
can you tell us how the name the New
Pornographers came about there used to
be a band called the New Seekers and I
thought it was funny to just take an old
name and put the new in front of it
there was a movie called the
pornographers that I really like there’s
a Japanese movie and I thought why don’t
we be the New Pornographers can you tell
us how the band started and how long ago
I think we first really started playing
in 1998
we’re very very part-time like it wasn’t
until October of 2000 that we finished
our first record our career just took on
a life of its own we didn’t know that we
would still be around ten years later
that that’s shocking to us all
and is there a mission or a motto behind
the stunt I want it to be very faceless
and selfless you know a lot of bands
have like one person he’s the center
like u2 is Bono and Coldplay’s Chris
Martin I wanted us to have a lot of
different singers and I wanted it to be
like the band more than a person that
has a band behind them and that’s why we
have different people singing and that’s
why we have you know people joining in
and harmony and then a different person
start singing so for someone who’s never
heard your music can you describe it a
little bit we’re very much a pop band
it’s a little glam II a little like you
know 7/8 British glam there’s some new
wave in there I don’t know we would take
a lot of things people call us an
alternative pop band or an indie rock
band I don’t know what we are
our pop sensibility came from growing up
in the 70s been listening to the Monkees
back when the radio was very pop I
started out as a music fan
before I ever picked up an instrument
like I didn’t start playing guitar until
I was 18 so I’ve always approached music
as a fan of music more than a musician
how does the writing process work we
collaborate on the arrangements when we
go into the studio everybody just
records parts and you want you want to
get everybody’s ideas then at the end we
have to step through them and figure out
what works and what does so a lot of
things get cut that’s why our records
are very dense they’re very musically
dense because there’s there’s a lot of
music on a lot of input from different
people do you guys make a conscious
effort to give everybody their moments
on the album or does it happen
organically it’s a combination it is
pretty organic but yeah sometimes
there’s no space for somebody they just
don’t play there if the song is most
important you know you can’t just put
somebody on the sound just because you
want to include you know it’s not like a
second grade school play or you know you
put somebody in the tree costume you
know it’s just because you want them to
have a job you know our careers have
have grown as the new printer ographers
have you know before the New
Pornographers get more popular and so
does everybody else and their own
separate music they make we’ve been
lucky
well thank you so much for your time it
was a pleasure thanks for having me
you
by music fans a band comprised of
already prominent musicians and artists
could end up a diva disaster but somehow
they make it work
I’m mihaela Kamen and welcome to
watchmojo.com today we’ll be speaking
with the New Pornographers
can you tell us how the name the New
Pornographers came about there used to
be a band called the New Seekers and I
thought it was funny to just take an old
name and put the new in front of it
there was a movie called the
pornographers that I really like there’s
a Japanese movie and I thought why don’t
we be the New Pornographers can you tell
us how the band started and how long ago
I think we first really started playing
in 1998
we’re very very part-time like it wasn’t
until October of 2000 that we finished
our first record our career just took on
a life of its own we didn’t know that we
would still be around ten years later
that that’s shocking to us all
and is there a mission or a motto behind
the stunt I want it to be very faceless
and selfless you know a lot of bands
have like one person he’s the center
like u2 is Bono and Coldplay’s Chris
Martin I wanted us to have a lot of
different singers and I wanted it to be
like the band more than a person that
has a band behind them and that’s why we
have different people singing and that’s
why we have you know people joining in
and harmony and then a different person
start singing so for someone who’s never
heard your music can you describe it a
little bit we’re very much a pop band
it’s a little glam II a little like you
know 7/8 British glam there’s some new
wave in there I don’t know we would take
a lot of things people call us an
alternative pop band or an indie rock
band I don’t know what we are
our pop sensibility came from growing up
in the 70s been listening to the Monkees
back when the radio was very pop I
started out as a music fan
before I ever picked up an instrument
like I didn’t start playing guitar until
I was 18 so I’ve always approached music
as a fan of music more than a musician
how does the writing process work we
collaborate on the arrangements when we
go into the studio everybody just
records parts and you want you want to
get everybody’s ideas then at the end we
have to step through them and figure out
what works and what does so a lot of
things get cut that’s why our records
are very dense they’re very musically
dense because there’s there’s a lot of
music on a lot of input from different
people do you guys make a conscious
effort to give everybody their moments
on the album or does it happen
organically it’s a combination it is
pretty organic but yeah sometimes
there’s no space for somebody they just
don’t play there if the song is most
important you know you can’t just put
somebody on the sound just because you
want to include you know it’s not like a
second grade school play or you know you
put somebody in the tree costume you
know it’s just because you want them to
have a job you know our careers have
have grown as the new printer ographers
have you know before the New
Pornographers get more popular and so
does everybody else and their own
separate music they make we’ve been
lucky
well thank you so much for your time it
was a pleasure thanks for having me
you
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