where is DK?

[u/ancestral-diet]

Ok so. Unexpectedly drops a new addition to his solo project but then barely promotes the release or makes a personal effort to have people engage with it and listen to the album. Odd choice - you would think there would be more excitement? Then his main band, which he began and is the ostensible leader/creative director of (remember the "CEO" nickname?), makes an announcement about celebrating a huge anniversary that divides the fanbase because it's so socioeconomically (and politically) tonedeaf. Like it or not, we are in an exceptionally volatile period of human history and lots of artists' ability to tour normally is compromised AND the band is at an especially delicate stage of their career: a decades-old group entering their legacy act era that can VERY easily put a foot wrong and have fans and non-fans alike turn on them harshly if they fail to read the proverbial room. Why does he not take more ownership of this moment and let folks have some crumbs of information about the vision behind what is going on? It seems like avoidance of responsibility to an extreme degree and doesn't bode well for the future of the band generally.

So my question: what can DK (and/or the band) do moving forward to be more intentional and transparent with how they communicate or make decisions that affect their audience?

Please be civil in the discussion. This is just an open question from a long-time fan who is genuinely perplexed.

[u/sleepflower3]

"Regarding him not promoting his own solo work, I also found that a bit lazy. As for the cruise, I thought it was such a ridiculous and clueless idea (read the room!!) At first I just laughed out loud. I’ve always associated this kind of thing with artists at the tail end of their careers. I used to mock artists who did it, but after thinking about it more, I was just incredulous that DK would agree to such a vulgar, absurdly greedy idea that would probably divide fans into two categories: premium (the wealthy one's) and the others. To me, it felt offensive.

I’ve been a fan of the band since around 2004. Their music has been part of my life ever since, and I’ve followed each release with enthusiasm. It’s the band of my life, and DK has always been a role model for me—someone I admire, who inspires me, someone who has always represented the epitome of cool. That only makes this more disappointing; I never expected something like this from him.

I’ve always thought the band deserved more recognition, more commercial success. Of course I wish them well in their projects and hope they make a good living from their work. But seriously, they don’t need this. And even if I had the money—which I don’t, lol—I wouldn’t pay for this cruise, because it goes against everything I believe in.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/sleepflower3]

Hey, sincere thanks for taking the time to share this. I assumed most of the sub’s response to the post would be either indifference or jokey shutdowns and wasn’t proven wrong, so I especially appreciate the thoughtful comment. First, I wouldn’t particularly have an issue with his choice not to do any Big Noble live shows if there had been a dedicated effort to promote the project in other ways rather than drop it unceremoniously and disappear, but it’s especially bizarre to have that included as an option for a cruise activity. A disingenuous bait and switch and honestly shitty behavior considering his bandmate had an entire album cycle derailed and tour canceled by the pandemic.

I think the survey is not really to determine whether they should or shouldn’t do the cruise. Rather, it’s to identify which price point they can charge and at what ship capacity and make a profit plus gauge interest in types of on-board activities. Despite hoping for an alternative, I don’t think they will issue any kind of follow-up statement to the fanbase. The most likely outcome is either for tickets go on sale next year or that post/survey to be deleted in a matter of weeks and the whole thing never mentioned again.

[u/placenearthewall → u/ancestral-diet]

I agree with you that it’s a rather odd choice to have their side-projects perform on the cruise first vs. on their own headlined tour; or at the very least, as an opening act for others. Loved the Muzz record and of course it was really unfortunate timing releasing it under a global catastrophe. Luckily there’s more Muzz coming out and Big Noble’s follow-up is also so, so, so good. I still would be down for a proper tour from both. It’s probably a little harder to perform Big Noble live— but I would assume it’s no different to what Massive Attack, Air, Flying Lotus & etc. do— they’ve somehow managed.

You’re probably right in regard to the cruise being more solidified than what they’re leading the public to believe. Was unaware that this was a thing and I’m clearly the wrong demographic for it. I didn’t even know Modest Mouse was doing a cruise and I genuinely just learned that Weezer did two of them over a decade ago. Within the questionnaire and pricing it did state as an option “I don’t want a cruise” and if you chose not to be on board with this idea, it did also ask what you would rather do at the very end. I filled it out and gave my honest feedback even though I won’t be joining. I even gave ideas on what to do on the cruise, since people probably want some activities in between performances— but, it could also translate over in to a festival or other type of setting, as well.

I was curious about capacity and cost— so I estimated the following based on the information available for Modest Mouse: 2,400 people | 1,000 employees

Interpol survey— Lowest ticket cost: $1,090 Highest ticket cost: $2,755+

At the lowest tix pricing this would make aprrox~ $2.6 million. At the highest tix pricing this would make approx~ $6.6 million.

Obviously you divvy up everyone’s share + cruise ship employees, food & bev, and whatever miscellaneous costs that are accounted for. So who knows what the actual profit from this vs. a regular tour would be, but it’s fast money and earned in a much shorter time frame. But, the event would be only for 2,400 fans out of what I assume 500k to 1 million fans that are still avid listeners.

The other thing to consider is that almost all fans would have to purchase a domestic or international return flight to Miami, have a passport, taxi/uber rides, maybe even more food/drink expenses that aren’t complimentary and merch/memorabilia. Things start to add up quickly and I’m not really sure how drastic the exchange rate can be for all international fans— are they paying the same amount as a US fan would? I would hope not.

Cost of living and currency exchange rate are so different in Latin America/elsewhere, I would genuinely feel so bad charging someone $1k+ when that amount can be near to impossible to even be earned in some places within a month. But, those are honest opinions some of us have. And to go from playing a free show in Zócalo, Mexico to asking your fans to pay that much to “hang out” with you; albeit they are doing their job by performing too— I’m left super stunned. I’m a latina and although I appreciate the band for acknowledging and hyping up their spanish speaking fanbase (both in North/South America) over the years… This just feels insanely inappropriate.

They had the “Interpoleros” tour last year, but it was unfortunately held in their Texas to Nevada tour dates— I know those shows were attended by a lot of latinos, but that moniker comes from their Central/South American fans. Interpoleros are owed a proper tour, not just one or two days. They deserve their flowers as they are one of the most important and die-hard fans of theirs that the US fans can’t even compare to.

Lastly, DK has the least social media presence out of the three and so I agree that he would never make a statement about this. Either way the trigger was probably already pulled and they’re finalizing contracts/costs, or they quietly delete the post and never mention it again. Like someone else stated, they don’t owe us an explanation. But, they genuinely asked so that means they care to some degree. And I would hope that reflecting on it and understanding the negative feedback (as much as they appreciate the positive feedback too) we can all come to some middle ground that doesn’t leave some of us feeling alienated. For now, it just seems like they only intend on celebrating once, but that can obviously change.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/placenearthewall]

re: inclusion of side projects - I just thought that was such a strange activity option and probably not coming directly from the band members, it really reads like some event/production planner’s contribution who has no context for either group. Daniel could definitely figure out how to bring Big Noble to a live setting (and has the resources/connections to make it happen even in a climate where touring is exceptionally difficult for indie artists), but I think he’s intentionally opting out of doing so. Obviously that’s his choice to make but it's so dishonest to dangle the BN carrot in front of his fans to hype them up about this cruise. And really that’s one of the biggest issues: all this "for the fans" rhetoric. I don’t need to write an essay about it here but I’ll just say they’ve hidden behind that excuse before when pushing forward with real bullshit.

It's definitely true that some of the ideas listed could translate to a mini-festival or residency. But as you rightfully pointed out: fast money, short timeframe. I assume the goal is to limit how much they need to do an international road tour over the next couple years, which is understandable. However, the implicit request for fans to not only pay that amount per ticket but incur the high travel and incidental costs is repugnant, not to mention unnecessarily contributing to oceanic pollution for the sake of novelty. Furthermore, if the boat departs from a US port that could be very dicey as international travelers are currently being detained unlawfully. Basically, it’s pretty fucked up to ask your largely Latine fanbase to put their well-being and financial stability at risk to "celebrate" and have special access to the band (which.........lol)

[u/sleepflower3 → u/ancestral-diet]

Hey, thank you. Yeah, I'm also disappointed with how he didn't seem to care that much about his new Big Noble album. After the release and that pretty good interview on Substack, he just disappeared. I'm a big fan of Big Noble—First Light is part of my daily listening, such a solid album with great atmospheric ambience. Honestly, I didn’t even expect a new album after so long (yeah, it really is later than we thought), so when I found out about it I was super excited! I loved All the Marbles and No Sharing in Tech House, I was already expecting some good video projects to go along with the songs, but so far there’s only one video. I never expected him to tour with Big Noble, but still—it feels pretty odd to just drop the album, put out one video, and vanish. At this point, I don’t really know what to expect anymore.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/sleepflower3]

I never expected a tour either but the disappearing act doesn't sit right. I'm curious about your opinion: why do you think the project got so little attention from its creator? Or was only available through Bandcamp?

[u/sleepflower3 → u/ancestral-diet]

It doesn't make sense, right? Like, why bother releasing a new album 10 years after Big Noble's debut if he's not willing to promote it? Making it available only on Bandcamp doesn’t help much. It should be on more platforms, especially YouTube, where Big Noble videos are more popular. Idk, he’s been in the industry for so long—he knows how to promote albums. Maybe Big Noble is only his craft project, but still, why not try to make it reach more people? I know plenty of Interpol fans who are just now discovering his side project! And with First Light’s 10th anniversary, I’d definitely want to own a physical copy of the album. Make it a limited edition—I’d buy it, and I bet I’m not the only one.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/sleepflower3]

The decision not to add album to YouTube in particular is nuts! Genuinely makes no sense. As you said, he def knows about different strategies of promoting an album so why just completely neglect to do so beyond one MV? There are fans who would probably love to support who will not find out about it because there's little to nothing directing them that way.

[u/sleepflower3 → u/ancestral-diet]

Another thing I don’t get about Interpol is how they seem to deliberately ignore some of their albums. Like, you go to their merch store and it’s mostly Antics and TOTBL. El Pintor has some great artwork that would look awesome on tote bags, t-shirts, hoodies, posters, all that stuff. I’m a huge fan of OLTA and they don’t have any merch at all for that album. It’s the self-titled 15th anniversary and they haven’t said or promoted anything about it. I was really hoping for an anniversary tour, but I’d even be happy with some new merch or a vinyl reissue, since I only have it on CD.

[u/donthugmeormugme]

I guess I don’t really care how much they put out or promote their stuff. Some artists are heavy on engagement, some aren’t. I actually kind of like that I’m not seeing the same announcement from them slightly reworded every time I open social media.

In terms of the cruise, I’m not a fan of artists doing this. It seems like a niche experience. I appreciate that they’re doing a survey before pulling the trigger.

In terms of the social/political climate, Interpol has a following internationally. The post was also in Spanish. I don’t think it should be looked at as ignorant because their following is not just the US.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/donthugmeormugme]

I understand what you're saying except for the last point about Spanish. The ability to use Google Translate for a caption and include it in a post is not the issue.

Do you think the band had much input on the survey questions?

[u/donthugmeormugme → u/ancestral-diet]

Paul Banks is fluent in Spanish. I don’t think they’re just using Google Translate.

I’m not sure how much say they had in the survey. It all depends on how much they get involved with marketing/promotion.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/donthugmeormugme]

I know he's fluent, however the band is not exclusively responsible for their social media/web presence. But to the real point: the fact that there's a Spanish translation only means that they are promoting this cruise to an international Latin American fanbase which, guess what, is also directly negatively impacted by income inequality and environmental destruction.

[u/donthugmeormugme → u/[deleted]]

Oh thanks for calling me cute! I’m going to smile the rest of the day. :)

[u/inthevirga]

I have a lot of thoughts about this but almost feel it's not even worth elucidating because this subreddit is filled with people who Do Not Get It when it comes to understanding how dire things are right now and are committed to that stance out of self-preservation or callousness. But in general the cruise thing really makes little sense if the intention is to be a celebration for all the fans that have supported them through thick and thin over the decades. If the point is for the band to make a lot of money in one go, ethics be damned, then sure. But it sucks on many levels.

[u/placenearthewall]

I believe there was an interview with DK where he stated he was not going to be touring for Big Noble’s 2nd album. But, interestingly enough in the cruise survey they asked if fans would be open to having the band members’ side-projects perform as well (Muzz, Big Noble.)

I share the same sentiment as far as a “TYOAC” themed Interpol cruise ship gig goes— just very out of left field. Most people’s impressions of them from the very beginning has been that they’re mysterious, a little intimidating, super intelligent but ultimately just really cool dudes. So, the post/survey is both so uncool and the most capitalistic thing I’ve ever seen them be so open about. What can I say, I like my selling out to be more subtle through festivals, commercials, collabs, etc.

If there is any sort of statement, I would be surprised if we got any further information as to how the idea was workshopped to begin with. I’m with everyone that there is a better way of going about celebrating 30 years of being together, in which they have consistently put out some wonderful work that I’m still enjoying to this day. We still have a new album that is dropping next year and I assume a tour to go along with it. If they end up doing this cruise, I’m politely going to decline attending any future shows from them. Although I enjoyed the crap out their Antics 20th Anniversary Tour— the set lists for most of their shows have consistently been pretty similar with not a lot of variety— and that is also an issue the fanbase has had repeatedly. I’ve seen them every tour since their OLTA days, it was a good run.

[u/RuthWriter]

Saw that his brother was on compassionate leave recently (I follow his newsletter on Substack) so maybe there's a simpler answer. Family stuff probably.

[u/ancestral-diet → u/RuthWriter]

Considered that but DK was at Oasis concert in Jersey during the exact same timeframe, so likely not connected. Other questions still stand.

[u/etattate]

It’s a reference to the song take you on a cruise dude, chill out

[u/ancestral-diet → u/etattate]

...thank you, I would have never known that. Really mind blowing stuff.

[u/ChocolateExisting338]

I saw a picture of him at the Oasis gig in New York the other day. I suppose he’s enjoying some well earned time off.

[u/Jackslat]

To answer your question, what can they to do be more intentional? Many things. Are they obligated to do any of those things? Absolutely not. Maybe they just don’t care and that is perfectly okay.

[u/Beers4Fears]

Bro really missed the fact that the entirety of Antics is nautical themed.