The Rapture - A Special Relationship In Reverse

Fresh from their NME Awards Show performance at London's Astoria, The Rapture's Luke Jenner and Vito Roccoforte are caught in reflective mood by The Skinny. Lead vocalist and drummer respectively, they're half of the New York punk-funk four-piece whose Pieces Of The People We Love album reached 18 in the music weekly's Top 50 of 2006; their debut 'Echoes' previously earning similar praise.

"Compared with American music journalism, the NME's got a great sense of humour", observes Jenner. "They just sit around a room and make up a lot of stuff to amuse themselves. Then they print it and people take it really seriously and get mad about it."

Their often throw-away approach to bands makes the publication's lauding of The Rapture's second album particularly impressive. "If you're still around even a year after being hyped up by them, it's an achievement", says Vito. "Looking back at our contemporaries prior to 'Echoes', people like The Datsuns and The Music - where are they now?"

Ideally placed to comment, both talk of the New Musical Express' influence on countries such as Brazil, Japan and Sweden, leading neatly to a discussion on the peculiarities of Britain's music-obsessed culture. "There's a real tradition for collecting in the UK; for documenting and cataloguing things for posterity's sake," says Luke. "America doesn't have the same history and I think it works against us."

"Musically, it's taken Britain to tell America what's important about America," he continues. "No one gave a crap about Delta Blues until guys like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton gave it a spotlight. It's the same with Northern Soul collectors picking up on certain records or UK DJs discovering house… it happens again and again."

Old Blighty has also been first to latch onto numerous American artists before our U.S. cousins, as Roccoforte points out: "Hendrix and Dylan both made it big here before the States."

This is true of The Rapture themselves. "Our success happened way faster and way bigger in the UK, thanks to House Of Jealous Lovers' popularity in the clubs," explains Jenner. "The club scene here is nationwide… in the U.S. it's pretty much non-existent outside cities like New York, Philadelphia, L.A, Chicago and Miami."

The Rapture aren't the only current band to have made a bigger impact here than in America: The Strokes, White Stripes and Scissor Sisters have all been renowned to enjoy greater success on these shores.

Focusing on their British contemporaries' efforts to crack their own country, both agree that many have struggled with the level of touring required to make a real impression on the American consciousness. Having played it twice a year for close on a decade, The Rapture know all about what's involved in an arduous live schedule. "We could just play stateside for a whole album cycle and still not exhaust it. That's what's so crazy and daunting about trying to break America - you've got to tour the hell out of it to be a true success there."

Perhaps it's the band's use of their time while travelling that helps them overcome the particular pressures of being on the road. "Playing live is great on one level, but we like to come up with ideas and work on tracks when touring – it's really important for us to sit down and make some music."

This highlights the element that has been most crucial to The Rapture's success - their love of the creative process, as Luke concludes in his appraisal of their last album. "Pieces… is the sound of four people learning about each other – there's some tentative parts, but there's also new ground being covered and certain kinds of bonds being made. To have that happen between four people is really rare and hard to upkeep, but the efforts are definitely worth it."