The National’s Matt Berninger shares update on sitcom and reveals “a catalogue of everything” book is on the way
The National‘s Matt Berninger has provided an update on his long-awaited TV sitcom Das Apes, as well as revealing that he’s working on a career-spanning catalogue book.
The frontman shared the update as part of a recent interview with NME, where he talked about other things he’d been working on outside his new solo album ‘Get Sunk‘. He’s been working on a TV show since 2014, and first teased the long-mooted project back in 2020 when he told us that he was working on a sequel to acclaimed film Mistaken For Strangers, as well as a TV show.
Released in 2013, Mistaken For Strangers followed Berninger’s brother Tom as he joined The National on the road and attempted to document their journey, while also failing in his role as tour manager. Tom also directed the film.
In 2023, Matt told NME that the show was back up and running again, having put it on ice during a period of writer’s block and depression during lockdown – with the premise based on a fictional rock band with original material, “a lot of detail from autobiographical things” and featuring members of The Walkmen.
He’d previously described the “cool, joyful and funny” show as having “DNA that’s very different than anything I think that exists” and featuring his brother Tom as “essentially the hero of everything” with the siblings cast as themselves.
Now, Berninger has shared with us that the project is still moving but evolving. “I did put down the TV show, and that was going to be me in it,” he told NME. “I’ve realised that I don’t want to be an actor, but Tom is a genius. It’s still bubbling and ain’t dead yet. I don’t think it’s going to be called Das Apes any more, but the concept is still alive.”
He continued: “I don’t want to use a real band, but I also don’t want to use a fake band – so I have an idea on how to do it. Half of my ideas just freeze and die. I built a house in Venice that took me six years. Me and the architect levelled and built on this tiny little plot. We finished it in the first year of the pandemic. Because The National wasn’t touring or anything, I had to finish but I never lived in it.
“I spent more time on this house than anything I’ve ever worked on, but I never once spent a night in it. But it’s a beautiful house and the people who own it, love it.”
Having worked as a graphic designer before his music career took off – and still with a hand in visual arts, furniture design and architecture as well as film and TV – Berninger also told NME that he was putting together a book to celebrate all of his creative endeavours.
“I’ve been doing a lot of archiving over the last couple of years – especially since The National started slowing down,” he said. “I’ve been asked to do a book of all my collected lyrics. That’s when I started going back and finding all my notebooks and all the songs that my college punk band Nancy made.
“Before I wrote my first lyrics, I was making art; I was a designer for 10 years. There’s all this visual stuff that often coincides with everything. I was working on [The National’s 2007 album] ‘Boxer’ while I was writing ads for MasterCard and had clients like Viagra. I was coming up with new campaigns for MasterCard’s Price List while trying to finish off ‘Daughters Of The Soho Riots’, ‘Gospel’ and stuff like that.”
Berninger told us that the book was set to be “a catalogue of everything” showcasing his “whiteboards, notebooks, the websites I designed, the art I did as a student, my portfolio that I got a job in New York with, but mostly lyrics”.
“I was like, ‘OK, if I’m going to put my lyrics together then I should put all of it together – and not just the stuff that’s published’,” he said. “It won’t be like a coffee table book, but like a catalogue as thick as a phone book. It won’t be one of those expensive fancy ones. I’ve designed other people’s books, but I’ve never made my own.”
Check out the rest of our interview with Berninger here, where he also opens up about the world of ‘Get Sunk’, beating writer’s block and depression, and what’s next for The National.
‘Get Sunk’ is out now with Matt Berninger touring throughout the summer. Visit here for tickets and more information.
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Andrew Trendell
NME
