Aaron Dessner has become one of Taylor Swift’s closest creative partners in recent years, which has prompted some of the more adventurous Swifties to start checking out his long-running band, The National. In a new interview with NME, though, Matt Berninger admits that he has spotted “bewildered” Swift fans at The National shows.
Berninger noted that the Swift association “has been a really, really fruitful thing for our whole band, not just Aaron.” He continued:
“We see a lot of Taylor Swift fans coming to shows and being bewildered by the first 25 minutes or so. We’ve been blessed with demographics that are across the spectrum. Then 10 or 15 years ago, a lot of younger people started coming [to our shows] — more and more women. The first 10 years was kind of a dude-fest at most of our shows, but that’s changed a lot. At our shows we have all kinds of old friends and they’re always different.”
Meanwhile, Berninger doesn’t think the band will ever be a surprise guest at a Swift concert, saying, “Nah, I don’t think so. I don’t think so. […] Obviously, Aaron’s been having such a great time and making so much great stuff with her, and the Taylor Swift bridge has been there for a long time. But no, we’re not.”
Check out the full interview here.