New Pornographers, new material, new album
Vancouver-based band hits the road after a big burst of creative energy
The New Pornographers is like a machine. The Vancouver indie band just spits out songs, leader Carl Newman says.
“I thought of the band as a sort of computer program,” Newman says. “I would feed music into this program and on the other end would be The New Pornographers.”
Newman’s computer program of a band is a revolving-door group of eight members that features some Vancouver’s best, such as stalwarts Neko Case and John Collins, and has produced eight albums since 2000. Their newest, In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, is due out on Sept. 27.
Highlights in between include 2014 album Bill Bruisers — reaching No. 13 on the Billboard 200 album charts — and the single High Ticket Attractions, which went to No. 6 on the Billboard adult alternative chart two years ago. The band’s current (mostly U.S.) tour trots out the new album in Vankleek Hill, Ont., on Sept. 20.
Newman says he knew he wanted to be a musician after he walked off stage at his first gig decades ago.
“If that show had gone horribly, maybe my life would’ve taken a different turn,” said Newman, 51. “But I got off stage and thought ‘I like this.’ Lots of bad shows would follow, but it was, I don’t know, I guess I was just drawn to it.”
Still, long tours can be gruelling in an age when streaming has limited income from record sales. “Sleeping in a tour bus is like sleeping in a coffin inside a jail cell inside a submarine — like the bunks are basically coffin-sized,” he says.
One good thing about having multiple band members is that more ideas percolate — different points of view can be refreshing. The first single, Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile, wouldn’t have made the album if it were up to Newman, but the band convinced him. “There was a point toward the end where I was like, ‘This is going on the record only because you say so,’” he says. “And then we ended up with the finished song and I think it’s great. It’s one of my favourite songs on the record. I just had to step back.”
The band hopes to have more Canadian tour dates, but with musicians juggling timetables and logistics, he’s not sure when.
Newman says he always wanted the band to be faceless. He got his wish: He says people recognize his music but not him.
“I guess in that respect life is going great,” he says. “The band as a computer program is going really well for me.”