Carl Newman said this to
Chart Attack in 2010:
...."That [Swaggart quote] came after the fact," says Newman. "Somebody told me that and I though it was so good that I was going to make it my new story.
"The truth of it is, I've always liked the Japanese movie
The Pornographers... It's a mid '60s movie. I was so fascinated by the word pornographer — it just seemed like a weird word to me. It seemed like such a clinical word to describe what it is.
"[Also], Dan [Bejar], at around the same time, had a song called 'The Pornographers,' that was on the first Destroyer record.
"I also always loved the name The New Seekers. I always thought it was a ridiculous name. There were the original Seekers and then a few years later, a completely different band showed up and they called themselves The New Seekers. I really liked the 'New.'
"Somehow, in my head one night, it just became The New Pornographers. Before we'd written any songs — before we were a band — I thought, 'We're going to be a band and we're going to be called The New Pornographers.' "
Link:
http://www.chartattack.com/news/2010/05/28/the-new-pornographers-reveal-the-true-origin-of-their-name/
