Thursday, January 3, 2008

Lost Philadelphia - The Interpreters

Before The Hives, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, Interpol and oh so many other revivalists who've enjoyed a moment or two in the sun was a band from Philly called The Interpreters. A few weeks ago I was rummaging through an old box of mix tapes and found their demo, a collection of high energy classic '60s Brit-pop, that at the time it made the rounds was the latest rage. The Interpreters debuted as one of the most hyped new bands in the late Nineties and included singer & bassist Herschel Gaer, guitarist Patsy Palladino and drummer Branko Jakominich. When the band started in 1996 the buzz was deafening. They became stars in Philly and soon became the focus of a major-label bidding war. An early single, "I Remember," was produced by Shel Talmy; and in 1998 they released their one and only album Back in the U.S.S.A.. The album went nowhere quickly, despite a rave review in Rolling Stone and the quick demise of the band was unfortunate. Not even the band's surreal appearance at the Republican Convention in 2000 could help. I've heard that Gaer is in NYC, making movies and still playing music, but I haven't seen him since one glorious rocking night at the Khyber Pass here in Philly many years ago. Here's a couple songs from their debut, which sounds as fresh now as it when it came out a decade ago.

Glorious - The Interpreters
Dogskin Report - The Interpreters

3 comments:

mr said...

A couple of them are now apparently in the Branko Band. They have a Myspace page.

DenX said...

Easily one of the best records of the 1990s - my belief is there are a ton of people that heard this record, and started bands the next day.

hard to believe it's been 10 years.

Gaer has a couple of new songs that rock on his myspace. Don't tell him I said so. Or do.

Unknown said...

Gaer gets too much credit for that record. I believe the drummer, Branko, and guitarist, Patsy, wrote most of the songs.