FOUR TO THE FLOOR
They’re smart, they don’t like to repeat themselves and they describe history as “rose-coloured”. Meet Parquet Courts, Brooklyn’s maverick heirs to the Velvet Underground throne.
Words: Max Bell
EBRU YILDIZ/PRESS
Late November 2020. New York City is in lockdown. The President from Queens has gone rogue following an election that gripped the world, and Brooklyn-based band Parquet Courts are on tenterhooks. Thanksgiving? Not so much. Singer and guitarist Andrew Savage assesses the mood. “America is palpably fragile,” he says. “It’s like we’re down with the sinister overlords. I’ve been out cycling in the city and Long Island. It feels strange.”
Boundary-melting rockers Parquet Courts formed in 2010, and prior to the paralysing events of 2020 had been on the road for much of the time since. At this point, frustration and cabin fever are infecting them. “I’ve never wanted to play live music so badly as I do right now,” says Savage. “I’ve got lots of new material, and I’d love to be playing it for actual people.”