ACL FEST 2007

An overnight sensation since 1999

Band mixes Midwestern humility with British sensibility and creates word-of-mouth momentum

By Joe Gross
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, September 14, 2007

It can take a long time to become an overnight sensation. Just ask Matt Berninger, lead singer for the National. His band's 2007 album, "The Boxer," has received critical kudos around the globe, but the band has been kicking around since 1999.

"It's always funny to see us called the latest hip band out of Brooklyn," Berninger says. He's in a cabin in upstate New York when we talk, taking a few days off between tours to relax and recharge. "We've been doing this since before the Strokes. It was something to do on the weekends to escape from our day jobs. We sure don't feel like an overnight success."

While the band formed in Ohio, Berninger doesn't think of the National as an Ohio band. "But you know, we've never thought of ourselves as a New York band, either," he adds. "I've been influenced by lots of British bands and that wasn't really a Midwestern musical sensibility at the time."

Appropriate, then, that after years on Brassland Records, which the band co-owned, the National signed to the legendary British label Beggars Banquet's U.S. division. Thanks to the label affiliation, Berninger's stately voice and the piano/guitar interactions that undergird these mopey tunes, many thought they were British.

But there's a Midwestern work ethic and humility to the National that's hard to miss.

"We never expected to be a known band, and I think that might have sustained us," Berninger says. "The idea of being a popular band was utterly foreign."

He's on a roll now. "Sometimes bands that get started in New York look at some of the bands who became overnight success before them and it makes their expectations too high," Berninger continues.

"New York was full of that feeling when the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol were breaking. I'm not saying we would have turned it down if we'd been popular right away, but the fact that we weren't was fine with us."

And they weren't. The National became famous largely by rumor. "With our albums, it's been a very slow, word-of-mouth thing," Berninger says. "It wasn't until our record before this, 'Alligator,' that people really started paying attention to us. 'The Boxer' was the first time that people were waiting for an album from us."

Berninger thinks it didn't help that the band has trouble establishing an identity.

"We've been lumped in with lots of indie trends," Berninger says. "We've been accused of doing Americana, the Joy Division thing, this 'sad core' thing. People have put many different hats on us for a long time."

Berninger pauses. "I've also been told our albums are growers," he laughs. "I've heard that hundreds and hundreds of times. Maybe they are rewarding over many listenings, but I think it just means we're not catchy."

THE NATIONAL 1:30 SUNDAY, AT&T BLUE ROOM STAGE