Turn On the Bright Lights released

After self-releasing several EPs between 1998 and 2001, the band signed with Matador Records , a member of the independent Beggars Group , in early 2002. The first release, an EP titled simply Interpol , containing re-recorded versions of “PDA” and “NYC”, was released in June 2002. Turn On the Bright Lights was released on August 19, 2002. Recorded at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut , the album’s sound drew comparisons to post-punk groups of the early 1980s and late 1970s, particularly Joy Division , Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths . The record was a slow-building success, selling 300,000 copies by 2004.