Dark men on duty, my ass: Paul Banks & Co. composed their sixth album "Marauder" while chilling on tropical beaches. It goes without saying that it still doesn't sound really cheerful.
eclipsed: The cover of your new album features a photo of Elliot Richardson, former US Secretary of Justice who helped uncover the Watergate scandal in 1973. Actually a positive figure and not a marauder, not a looter. What's the title?
Paul Banks: That's right, he was a good one! One with a backbone. It goes without saying that he adorns the cover, but the political connotation comes to the fore - that he played a decisive role in the fall of Richard Nixon. And that we need someone like him, someone with courage and civil courage, today more urgently than ever - to usher in a better future. I like the photo because of its aesthetics: it shows a man sitting alone at a table, completely isolated, and who could be attacked by a lion the next moment. Anything seems possible here. This fits the character of the lyrics and corresponds to a part of my personality of which I am not proud. To my younger self, who has lived as if there was no tomorrow, and who has only become more responsible with increasing age.
eclipsed: So you've lived without regard for loss, like a real rock star?
Banks: Well, everyone carries several personalities. And when I sing"I try to be a faithful man", it shows that I am purified. That I grew up. That I have built a distance to the person I once was.
eclipsed: That bad?
Banks: I certainly didn't get an"A plus" for everything I did back then, that much is certain. I didn't leave anything out and definitely liked the role very much. Especially since I had the idea that my music could trigger a mental, spiritual change or even a radical change.
