The Rover

Vocalist Paul Banks explains - “The lyric to that song may have actually just been inspired by the sound of the song, as opposed to me wanting to write a song about a cult figure ” Banks told NME. “I think something in his riff with that drone-y bass part was evoking the California west, or Arizona, Nevada. I just envisioned this kind of dusty landscape and this cult leader figure.” Banks continued: “The idea of that song lyrically is that it’s this character ‘The Rover’ who is basically preaching a doomsday type message – but he’s also just a very charismatic and magnetic figure. Once I had envisioned that as the concept and this character that I wanted to describe, it became fun wavering back and forth between his doomsday prophesying and his manipulative word choice and how he’s basically trying to get people to follow him. “I find that’s a very fascinating dynamic: the fact that there are one in a billion people who want to assume that role, and that people can react to the cult of personality like that. Just follow someone unhinged. That idea of the cult of personality and buying a line of BS to get people rallied up can happen small scale and strange in cults, but as history shows it can happen with great numbers of people.” Banks says the video for the song that it is the “origin story of the character described in the song”. As for the ‘very ambitious project’ of the accompanying film, Banks revealed: “The story to the video became when we decided that we were going to shoot it in Mexico City where we did the press conference. There was going to be this kind of meta-art-happening during the press conference. The idea is that the character of ‘The Rover’ is with the band as get down to Mexico City. He’s kind of this hipster bro.” Falling out, the ‘unhinged kid’ gets taken in by some local youths before having a ‘spiritual awakening’ with a shamen. “The general idea is that it’s the prequel to the birth of the character that would then be showcased in the song,” he added. “This is what happens before the guy becomes a cult leader. This is the birth of ‘The Rover’.”

My summary is that it's about a cult type leader who everyone follows blindly though he's clearly delusional & unhinged he somehow has everyones unwavering allegiance.

It seems to me, our narrator is actually the alcohol.

"Come on, open up take a sip. You'll have to pay to get the fluid excitements and maybe you 'll die if you keep meeting me; It really is just an incremental end." "Just take a look on this man. He thinks he can walk on his feet. Thinks he doesn't need anyone. He totally fell for my promises of excitement and independence. All it took is stumbling on me while walking the wrong streets."

I can't relate directly if that's what it's about, but I admit it's a very powerful song. With the Interpol delicious taste.