Browse these Citysearch® Categories for products & services in your area.
Support Even & Butcher Birds
Sponsored Links
The New Pornographers
Editorial ReviewEvent Details
Music Type:
Indie/Alternative
Event Type:
Gig
Editorial Review
The New Pornographers like 1970's power pop. Love it, can't get enough of it, would marry it if it wasn't a crime against God. Okay, so we're exaggerating, but the Canadian eight-piece is certainly fond of the sub genre. While most indie bands are name dropping super obscure garage bands, The New Pornographers site The Cars and Cheap Trick as influences.
The band may have a thing for slightly dodgy power pop, but they're all about the music and song structure. According to Carl Newman, who writes most of the band's material: "My main influences were Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, and Brian Wilson. Those were the guys I kinda looked at their music and went, 'What the hell are they doing here?' I was just fascinated by the structures and the harmonics".
The band's name is of far less concern. Apparently Newman came up with it after watching some Japanese movie called The Pornographers. Not that exciting ... Still, that hasn't stopped them enjoying considerable international success. New York's Village Voice loves them and has placed the band (or one of their offshoots) in the annual Top 40 list every year since before time began. Meanwhile, Blender magazine named their debut the 24th best indie album of all time.
Challengers, the group's fourth studio album, was released late last year and had them touring throughout North America and Europe. Having gotten those places out of the way, they're now in Australia profiling their own brand of indie-power-pop-rock. Or whatever you want to call it.
Mikolai, July 2008
Newsletter