"I’d just had enough," sighs Sam Fogarino in the current issue of Hot Press.
With suave New York outfit Interpol having just released El Pintor, their fifth album and first as a three piece, their drummer talks to Craig Fitzpatrick about the turbulent few years since their last.
It was 2010 when their former bassist, the larger-than-life Carlos D, left the band followng the recording of Interpol.
"He’s a very self centred person, very narcissistic," says Fogarino today. "When you’re around someone who just doesn’t seem like they care about anything but themselves and their own well being, it creates a really stagnated situation. It doesn’t feel inspired. You feel like you’re just being slapped in the face all the time and that was just... enough. I’d just had enough. It became a drag to not like somebody you care for. That was the bottom line, because I don’t hate the man. It’s quite the opposite and when you’re not being extended the same courtesy that you give, it’s painful."
Fogarino says that the band feels revitalised in 2014, and that he feels like he has a brotherly bond with lead singer Paul Banks and guitarist Daniel Kessler.
"And Carlos? I don't know if he's capable of it; of possessing or receiving that exchange."
Fogarino also opens up about recording El Pintor, David Letterman's love for the band, getting bored of the drugs, why he'd "kill" himself if he ended up like Leonard Cohen and everything else in 'The House Of Interpol'.
Quite a lot then. It's all in the new issue of Hot Press (Hozier cover), on sale now. Click here to purchase online.
Interpol play The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on February 10 –11