The rapture: I think Tony Hawk got weirded out by us

Thrasher Magazine, April, 2005 by Dan Whiteley

The Rapture play the disco-punk-funk (or whatever you want to call it) that makes the sportcoat-wearin' nerds and chicks in leg warmers freak out. It's the type of band you wish you could see at a raging party in your friend's basement but instead have to shell out mega-bucks to see on a mega-tour at a baseball stadium. Way up in the nosebleed section, frontmen Luke and Matt pitch a few words to the mag they grew up on.

Does it bother you when people compare you to the Cure?

Luke: Not really. We have one song that's pretty obviously Cure influenced. A friend of mine told me he thought it was their new song when he heard it on the radio in England. I like the Cure, so I'm stoked to be on tour with them.

Aren't you guys originally from California?

Matt: Half of the band is. Me and Gabe are from DC.

Luke: I grew up in San Diego reading Thrasher, so I was pretty psyched when the interview came through.

Are you still skating?

Luke: Just badly every once in a while.

Matt: I was terrible when I was a kid, but one of the ways I got to know Gabe better as a teenager was by going and watching him skate. He's really good. He used to skate Freedom plaza with Dave Chappelle.

Luke: There was this guy following us around for a while who was a video director for Tony Hawk, and he kept calling us, saying, "I'm going to put on the soundtrack to the video game, even though you don't fit with any of the other bands." But I think Tony Hawk got weirded out by us, and it never happened.

I read that you always wanted to be a rock star.

Luke: No, I wanted to be a professional baseball player.

Matt: I wanted to be a jazz musician, but then it got boring, and I realized that most people who did it were sucky people to hang out with.

Are there any misconceptions about the Rapture that you'd like to clear up?

Matt: One misconception about the album and "House of Jealous Lovers" is that we came in with these garage rock songs and then DFA brought in the electronic element. That wasn't the case. Some of the programming is them, but a lot of it is us.

Do you ever hear a remix and say, "No, I don't like it; don't make it"?

Luke: If you asked Pushead to draw something for you and it comes out like shit, then it comes out like shit. You're constantly wasting your time if you're like, "Draw something different, draw something different." It's better to just move on. It's a lot healthier that way.

Matt: The best thing we can do is choose our collaborators well and hope that it turns out for the best.

What's it like being on a major label?

Luke: Ultimately, it's kind of insane to come from an indie rock background and have the DIY mentality. But it can be pretty fun, actually--we probably got on the Cure tour and met David Bowie recently just because we're on a major label. It's good exposure for people to be aware of us on another level. You have to take it all together as a package.

What's the stadium tour like?

Luke: It's pretty rad to be on this tour. Most of the time we play for 5,000 people in a 20,000-person venue, and it's kind of rad to just imagine what it would be like if it were full. We're really kind of a party band, so if there's not a party atmosphere, then we get bummed. We're not the kind of band that stands up on a stage and demands to be worshipped. We really enjoy interacting with the crowd. Our best shows are the shows where the crowd is the best, kind of like going back to Black Flag shows or punk shows, where it's more about the audience than it is about the band. That doesn't get to happen too much on this tour.

Any really bad crowd experiences?

Luke: We generally fare pretty well. One time the Libertines played after us and got hit with a bottle of piss. Matt and Gabe get mad sometimes if there's too much aggro going on, but I think that's probably the worst we've encountered.

Aggro?

Luke: Like a dude with his shirt off, pummeling some fourteen-year-old girl. It's just a bummer, you know.

Do you remember the last dream you had?

Matt: I wrote a love letter in my dream last night.

Did you send it?

Matt: I think it was delivered, yeah. Good reception, too.

Luke: That's a good sign.

Check out The Rapture and other "party bands" on DFA #2.