Interpol with Sarah Lewitinn

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

How do you want to split it?

Sarah Lewitinn (0:01)

Actually, dinner's on me.

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Okay, big money.

Sarah Lewitinn (0:03)

Well, I got a Venmo balance that I can spend with my Venmo Debit MasterCard, so.

SPEAKER_1 (0:08)

Well, I Venmo'd you three times last week, so it's kinda on me, actually.

Sarah Lewitinn (0:12)

Yeah, you send it, I spend it.

SPEAKER_1 (0:13)

Did my money get, like, reincarnated?

Sarah Lewitinn (0:15)

Yeah, it's chicken shawarma.

SPEAKER_3 (0:17)

You want it back?

SPEAKER_1 (0:18)

I can't believe you, like, ate my Venmo.

Sarah Lewitinn (0:21)

Spend your balance instantly with the Venmo Debit Card. No monthly fee or minimum balance. Venmo balance, account required to get a card and use a balance. Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA.

SPEAKER_3 (0:30)

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Sarah Lewitinn (1:09)

Thank you.

SPEAKER_3 (1:41)

Bandsplain!

Yasi Salek (1:46)

Hello, and welcome to Bandsplain. I am your host, Yasi Salek. This is a show where I invite an expert guest on to help me explain a cult band or iconic artist. Today's episode is about Interpol.

My guest today, you guys, the artist formerly known as Ultragrrrl, she has 200 couches. It is Sarah Lewitinn.

Sarah Lewitinn (2:05)

Hello! You know, it's so funny. I actually do have a certain amount of couches.

SPEAKER_1 (2:10)

I do have 200 couches.

Yasi Salek (2:12)

I should also mention she is now a restaurateur, and her restaurant is called Jackaronda, and it is in Los Angeles, and you should go to it if you are here.

Sarah Lewitinn (2:18)

I just got one of the 50 best restaurants in the country by New York Times. Okay.

Yasi Salek (2:23)

That feels like a big deal.

No? I don't know a lot about the culinary world, but I know the big deal. Okay, I saved this for Bob, but I have to tell you that when I, like maybe, God, over 15 years ago, I read Rob Sheffield's book, Love is a Mixtape, and I was like obsessed with it, and he talks about you in it.

Sarah Lewitinn (2:44)

Oh, he does?

Yasi Salek (2:46)

Yes.

Sarah Lewitinn (2:46)

Okay.

Yasi Salek (2:47)

And since then, you've been a celebrity to me.

I've been like, oh my God, Ultragrrrl, she's so cool. I wanna be like Ultragrrrl.

I never succeeded in doing that, but now it's a big day for me that you're here with me.

Sarah Lewitinn (2:58)

Oh, thank you. I really should look at that book.

Yasi Salek (3:02)

It's so good.

Sarah Lewitinn (3:03)

I love Rob, you know? It's one of those things where sometimes I just like, I buy a book, I mean to read it, and then I don't.

Yasi Salek (3:09)

It's like fairly emotionally devastating, so maybe save it for like, you know, a time where you can handle that, but like, wow. Just like also it's like such like pornography of a time that was so much better in my mind, where like it's like the 90s and he's in college and like you're seeing bands, just like, oh, what an incredible.

Sarah Lewitinn (3:29)

And he writes with like such joy and love and like, oh, his like heart goes on the page. It's so beautiful.

Yasi Salek (3:36)

Yeah, it's incredible. Anyways, okay, we're here to talk about Interpol. Before we get started, you're wearing your Interpol OG merch.

Sarah Lewitinn (3:44)

Yes, I think I got this in like 2001 or something, maybe 2000, I'm not quite sure, but I can't believe it's in such good shape, if I can be honest with you.

Yasi Salek (3:57)

The question is, why are you so thrilled to talk about Interpol?

Sarah Lewitinn (4:01)

I mean, okay, so I spent probably around 20-something years, 25 years working in the music industry.

Interpol is basically the only band that I still listen to consistently that puts me in a space where I'm like, I feel good, I feel good. All I want to listen to is typically our love to admire. But the first time I heard Interpol was in, I think, 2000 and I was working in the same office space as a record label, and they used to play demos all the time, and they stuck in one demo CD and within 15 to 30 seconds, I was like, who the fuck is this? This is my new favorite band. And from then on, it's just like, that's it, I was hooked.