Tokyo Police Club
by Kristen Swanson
This interview is from our December 2011 issue. The full issue is available for download.
If Tokyo Police Club isn’t one of your favorite bands already, they will be. These Ontario, Canada natives are shaking up the music scene with their catchy beats and infectious lyrics. If their name sounds familiar, you might remember them from last month’s concert, held on our very own Carnegie Mellon campus (a special shout-out to AB Concerts for setting up the event). The Cut had a chance to hang out with vocalist/bassist David Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, drummer Greg Alsop, and guitarist Josh Hook before their Carnegie Mellon performance. Check out this interview with the band as they discuss their current music projects, their growing confidence as musicians, and their ambitious plans for the future.
The Cut: I read that the name Tokyo Police Club was created as a combination of the most famous band names. I’d say it’s working out pretty well for you guys so far. What else do you think has helped with your success?
David Monks: We’ve always been friends for a long time, so that was an easy start. [pauses] I’m sorry, I have goldfish in my mouth.
Graham Wright: Actually, you have organic cheddar bunnies in your mouth with no affiliation to the trademark goldfish brand crackers! Seriously though, we wrote good songs and toured a lot.
Greg Alsop: And we were in the right place at a lot of the right times.
The Cut: TPC is pretty consistent with releasing new material and touring. Do you guys ever feel like you’re going to burn out soon?
DM: We definitely verge on it sometimes and definitely do a lot of work.
GW: It works pretty good. When you burn out touring, it’s usually around the time you’re done touring anyway, and then you write songs, which is exciting and different. Then when you burn out writing songs, it’s time to tour again.
GA: There’s enough variation that you don’t get too exhausted. We’re at a privileged place where we can make our own schedule sometimes.
The Cut: Your latest release was the 10x10x10 project. Can you talk about how this project started and why you choose some of the songs that you did (songs by Miley Cyrus, Jimmy Eat World, Kelly Clarkson, The Strokes)?
GW: It was our label’s idea, and then we did it eventually once we burned out on tour and we thought, “Let’s go record covers, we’ve never done that before.” We picked songs that we liked, then our manager was like, “Now go pick songs that you like and that people know.” It was kind of a headachey process, and there were a trillion emails sent around, but by the time it was finished it just kind of all made sense.
The Cut: Did you have to check with the artists if you could use their songs?
GW: I don’t even know if we did. I think we tried to, to be nice, but you don’t have to. As long as you pay them, they can’t stop you. I read this article about how Kid Rock didn’t want to put his songs on iTunes, so people would cover Kid Rock songs and put them on iTunes!
GA: That’s how you can find Garth Brooks on iTunes. His stuff is not on iTunes, but there’s a million karaoke versions and tributes to Garth Brooks on there.
GW: It all happened in one encapsulated thing, though, where we were doing it and talking about it a lot, and then as soon as it ended it kind of left my brain forever.
The Cut: Do you guys ever play any of the cover songs live?
GW: We talk about it a lot, but we haven’t really gotten our act together to do it.
DM: It seems like a prospect of learning the songs again, because I don’t remember them.
The Cut: Too bad! So there’s no “Party in the USA” tonight?
GW: Oh, there will be a party in the United States tonight!
The Cut: For the album Champ, you guys set up an open time period to complete the record. Are you planning to do the same with the current record you’re working on?
DM: The new record seems to be that way. We want to get it out there.
GA: We started this last week, and we’re making really good headway on it. I think our writing process has changed a lot, and we’re just a lot more confident now out of the gate.
GW: That being said—we did say that when we were writing Champ.
GA: Did we?
GW: Yeah, we were like “We’re just more confident now!”
The Cut: You guys are just going to keep getting more confident. Unless there’s a limit to this confidence?
GW: Well, I figured it out. Greg and I were talking about this yesterday, because our first two records we just wrote basically verses and choruses, and that was it all the time. Then for Champ we started using bridges, and breakdowns, and stuff like that. It was like when you get drunk for the first time and you don’t know what to do, so you just get wasted and fuck everything up. We were like, “There were 20 bridges in this song and it was awesome!” Now we kind of learned how to moderate ourselves and put things were they belong.
The Cut: Then the more confidence you have as a musician, the more you’re willing to break your own rules. Is there new stuff you guys are going to try with the new material?
GW: I feel like every song we’ve ever done, we try something we haven’t done before. It’s probably too negligible for anyone to even notice. I’m pretty easily bored, so I try to change stuff up as much as I can. Then sometimes you change it up too much and you have to go reel it in—it’s part of the process.
The Cut: Your music is extremely catchy, and the lyrics aren’t like anything I’ve heard—which is a good thing. What’s your writing process like?
DM: It’s weird. Normally the lyrics all come out, and then I take it to the the band and we write the song around it. This time it’s been both at the same time, the lyrics are coming out with the music. Then one day we’ll go in and decide, “Oh, what we actually need here is a part that feels like x or y.” We run through Monday to Friday three hours a day, so it’s really short practices. Then you go home, think about the music, and reflect.
The Cut: TPC has played with a ton of bands and toured a ton of places. What are some things you still want to do as a band, but haven’t gotten to yet?
GA: I would love to go to Hawaii and Australia.
GW: We did Australia once, but we want to play there again. It’s the best because it’s not big enough that you can play that many shows – it’s just impossible – but it’s expensive enough to go there that you have to spend time there. So, you end up having a lot of time off consequently. And Australians are extremely fun people, so it just ends up being non-stop enjoyment. And you see animals that don’t exist. And you’re being poisoned by everything.
GA: Wait, which Dakota has Mount Rushmore?
GW: We wanna play near or on Mount Rushmore.
GA: Yeah, right on Lincoln’s face!
GW: And Eastern Europe!
GA: Eastern Europe would be amazing to visit. I don’t know what our draw would be there, though.
GW: They kidnap sound guys over there. Our friend had a friend who did sound, and he was there on tour with the band and he got kidnapped, taken to another show, forced to do sound, and then returned. I think it was in Russia. Isn’t that awesome? Russia is such an awesome country.
The Cut: I think bands are sometimes viewed as “rock gods” or put on a pedestal by fans. Have you guys ever experienced this skewed perception?
DM: We’re pretty good at just being normal. I think we try to break that down, because I feel like the “rock star” idea seems outdated. It’s just not there anymore, which is cool.
GW: And I can’t imagine that would be fun. It’s fun for me to say dumb bullshit on the Internet. It would not be fun for me to maintain an illusion all the time.
GA: It’s easy to be yourself, just a person.
The Cut: Some of you dropped out of college to pursue music fully, and tonight you get to perform for an entire university. Did you ever hesitate when you made the decision to pursue your dreams, and if so, what made you just go for it?
DM: I think I was the one who dropped out with bravado. Looking back, I was in freshman year and it was as fun as school is when you would rather not be doing schoolwork. That’s how fun it was. When I left I was like, “I really should have thought about that more,” but then the band got going and stuff, which was fine. But even then, I’m surprised by myself that I did that. A year ago, that was my opinion. And the last year I’ve been like, “No no, it was for the best.”
GW: We were pretty headstrong about it. I think that ties into your first question about keys to success. In the beginning we just charged forward with no regard for common sense or anything. We probably made a bunch of rash, stupid decisions that were only proven to be not stupid by a lot of hard work and being good, but also by a few lucky strokes. That’s part of it—I feel like if you’re crazy enough to try and be in a successful band, and pull punches and go balls out and do it, it’s actually pretty good odds. Most people aren’t crazy enough to do that. Once you have to get beyond that cliff, and you’re still running in the air without looking down, the field narrows really quickly.
