Yes, I'm hung over. Shut up!

Saw Interpol last night at the Empty Bottle. It was refreshing to see a band that's "breaking" in such a small venue -- the entire first row had cameras, the flashes popping constantly. You won't see that at Metro.

A friend of a friend said after the show (who hadn't heard Interpol), "Wow. That was really derivative." Here's my question, which I won't ponder too long because, like I mentioned, I'm hung over -- is it possible not to be derivative anymore? Is there anything truly original left to do musically? Every musician at this point is going to be compared to other bands, by the media, by record storeowners, and by Kazaa users. Is being derivative a bad thing?

Interpol's music evokes a lot of 80s bands -- Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smiths. I think it mostly stems from the singer's voice -- baritone, melancholy, and sedulous. The arpeggio guitar work, heavy on delay and reverb, also adds to the reminiscent gothic atmosphere of their music. What makes them different from the four bands I mentioned above, I think, is as simple as their nationality. While the bands I mentioned above all hail from Britannia, Interpol is from New York, and Interpol sounds like an New York band. The moodiness of those English bands with the pulse of a teeming American metropolis creating a unique mood and rhythm that makes Interpol stand out.

So is it bad to be derivative? I say not at all. Everyone is derivative. The Greeks swiped ideas from the Orient. Renaissance Europe swiped from the Greeks and the Romans. Even the so-called "New Typography" of Switzerland was simply a conglomeration of Futurism and Constructivism, and Helvetica (along with its "shameless imposter" Arial) is simply a reworking of my all-time favorite font Akzidenz Grotesk. As far as music goes, there is nothing Christina Aguilera* can do that Madonna hasn't already done that Janis Joplin or Nancy Sinatra hadn't already thought about.

Influences are necessary, and it's fine to wear those influences like a badge. So let Interpol sound like whoever they want to, whether they do it intentionally or unintentionally because at least they show the songwriting prowess and craft to grow and explore -- the new song they played last night was fantastic. Besides, U2's first album sounded like a Wire album, and only now, over 20 years after the release of Boy, are they now making bland, derivative music.

*I hope I'm not the only one that thinks Christina Aguilera has a weirdly proportioned body.