If you owned a Geiger counter that measures rock-star energy instead of radioactive ions (we have one: it’s Japanese, and it’s rad), it would pulse intensely in the presence of the four individuals we’ve chosen to represent 2004’s Next Big Things: the Distillers’ resilient punk heroine Brody Dalle; Geoff Rickly of New Jersey emo saviors Thursday; Justin Hawkins of witty British metallurgists the Darkness; and Paul Banks, the haunted voice of New York City post-post-punkers Interpol.

 

If you owned a Geiger counter that measures rock-star energy instead of radioactive ions (we have one: it's Japanese, and it's rad), it would pulse intensely in the presence of the four individuals we've chosen to represent 2004's Next Big Things: the Distillers' resilient punk heroine Brody Dalle; Geoff Rickly of New Jersey emo saviors Thursday; Justin Hawkins of witty British metallurgists the Darkness; and Paul Banks, the haunted voice of New York City post-post-punkers Interpol.

Even hanging out at a Manhattan photo studio, their eyes crossed with fatigue thanks to jet lag, and, in Hawkins' case, a half hour of grilling by federal officers (apparently, there's another catsuited dude with the same name who's done something very bad), these four radiate the all-important "it" that separates your White Stripes from your White Light Motorcades. Still, you'd need one of those high-tech instruments (ours is pink and covered with kitten stickers) to notice. Although all four bands are enjoying success after years of bubbling beneath the surface, their lead singers, with the possible exception of Hawkins, can still walk down a busy city street without incident. This probably will not last. As their window of anonymity rapidly closes, we asked them about life on the verge of a major breakthrough.

I. THOSE THREE WORDS

JUSTIN HAWKINS: The "Next Big Thing" always makes me think of the "Last Big Thing." What was it again?
GEOFF RICKLY: When I've heard the term "Next Big Thing" applied to Thursday, it makes me feel like there's some kind of strange pressure on us to do something different from what we're doing now. Like we're not a big thing now -- we're gonna be a big thing.
BRODY DALLE: It's always, like, next week. It's always a week away.
HAWKINS: It's always the next drop of water that [the media] are going to lead the horses to. Then you find out whether or not they're gonna drink. It just means we're gonna be in everyone's faces, and then we might stick around, or we might not. The Strokes were the Next Big Thing, weren't they -- for a while? And they're still a big thing.
PAUL BANKS: I think the Strokes and the White Stripes are great. There's a shitload of great bands that keep coming up. I don't know if the new bands are dominating the radio like all the shitty music has been, but there might actually be hope that things are going to get better.
RICKLY: Every so often, I'll hear a record [after reading about the band] and it'll be totally revolutionary to me and I'll be so psyched. Whether or not it has the impact on culture that it's been tipped to have is irrelevant to me. It was just my way of finding out about the music. So even though I feel cynical toward the hype, any time you're introducing something new to people, it's a positive thing.

II. HYPE + MAJOR LABEL $$$$$ = CRUSHING EXPECTATION?

HAWKINS: In the U.K., it's especially bad. The Next Big Thing syndrome is really acute there. Every fortnight there's a new Next Big Thing, your new favorite band. The British market is said to be the tastemaking market, but it's losing a lot of kudos, because a lot of the stuff that's hyped doesn't sell -- people don't like it. The bands get all the exposure they could ever require to sell a record, and it still doesn't sell.
SPIN: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, for example. [At press time, their Fever to Tell had sold 102,000 copies.]
BANKS: Maybe the record labels shouldn't be putting so much money behind it. But in the end, that record got made. From our point of view of making music, it isn't a business venture.
SPIN: But Interpol are on an indie, Matador.
BANKS: We are, yeah. We don't have the pressure of having to sell this or that many records. But from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' standpoint, their record got made. And they're not going to lose any money as individuals. I'd like to believe that [their label] Interscope will be aware that [the musical climate is] changing, but maybe it will be slower than they hoped, and they should stay behind a band like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because they are great.
DALLE: Also, these major labels understand what they are getting themselves into. They understand the type of band that they are signing. When we got signed, the president of our label [Sire's Seymour Stein] was like, "I understand that you've basically built your own culture." It was ours -- that's what it's about, and it's about building your band slowly.
SPIN: Justin, the Darkness have sold a million copies of Permission to Land in the U.K., but you haven't sold too many here, even though the album has been out for quite a few months.
HAWKINS: We clearly don't expect to take over the entire world just like that. I expect a band with longevity to do what it does over the course of several albums, rather than suddenly be in everyone's face, everyone's pocket, and everyone's record collection. That's not going to last. That's when you're a novelty act.
RICKLY: I was very into the D.C. bands of ten years ago. I saw what happened to Jawbox and Shudder to Think [when they signed to majors]. There's definitely something like, "Well, I know how this goes. We'll see how this goes." Maybe we'll get some money, and when we're done, I'll be able to put it into our own indie label and put out our own records again. That's what our producer said: "Don't think about whether the song will be a hit, think about whether you're going to be proud of the record when you get dropped!"

III. EVERYONE IS HIP

SPIN: Thanks to the velocity of pop culture, new bands are getting hyped more and more in the mainstream media. It's increasingly common for the average person to be able to name-check a Next Big Thing without hearing the music.
HAWKINS: Kind of like some of our reviewers. [Laughs]
RICKLY: After being around Brody, I realized that I had seen her face and heard about her for probably two years before I listened to the Distillers. I was already familiar with the sort of style she was representing. I feel like Thursday is one of the less stylized or image-based bands. I almost feel like it's productive for the media to have our images out there before our music, because we don't have a very striking image.
BANKS: [To Spin] The theoretical listener that you are talking about is an empty individual. I don't even want them. The people who count are the people who actually listen and care.

For more on the Distillers, Interpol, Thursday, and the Darkness, visit your local newsstand or subscribe to SPIN.