CLEVELAND -- With stateside touring winding down for the New
Pornographers' latest effort, "Challengers," principal member Carl
Newman said he's already looking ahead.
"I think the next Pornographers record will be fairly rock," Newman
said. "I think with 'Challengers,' we moved as far in this
direction as we can go, unless we turn into M. Ward or something.
The songs I find myself writing these days are a little bit more
rock, but that's as far as I can say."
Newman, who said he hopes to have demos ready for band consumption
by the end of the year for a possible 2009 street date, also said
he's writing material for a solo album, which in a perfect world
would be released in the fall. As far as what differentiates a solo
song from a New Pornographers song, that answer isn't
clear-cut.
"That's the confusing part," Newman said. "In a lot of ways they're
similar, but in a lot of obvious ways, they're not similar. The
Pornographers have all of these different people in the band and
different voices, which makes a big difference. On my own records,
I'm kind of left to my own devices. That can be both good and
bad."
The New Pornographers, who are scheduled to perform Monday and
Tuesday in Washington, D.C., have a Pacific Rim tour booked for
Australia and Japan later this year. Newman said the band's current
set, which includes a cover of the Electric Light Orchestra's
"Don't Bring Me Down," is a career retrospective, while showcasing
"Challengers" material in a new light.
