TOKYO POLICE CLUB
Tokyo Police Club comes back with new music after releasing first album in four years
The four-piece wrote 50 songs for their new album but only nine made the final cut.
T hough Tokyo Police Club has never stayed off the road for long, its current tour marks something special. The band’s 2014 dates, including a fall string of shows in Canada, are part of a tour in support of the band’s first new album in four years.
Champ was released in June 2010 and the band toured it relentlessly until the end of 2011. With Forcefield, which was released in March, Tokyo Police Club thought more about its goals and ambitions, including writing songs that would get on U.S. radio and take the band’s career to a new place. The band kept writing until it had 50 possible songs. Vocalist and bassist David Monks said it became hard to know where the finish line was. The recording process was no quicker, with the band taking an eight-week break between sessions.
“You don’t anticipate it, but then life throws all these curve balls at you and all of a sudden it’s four years,” he said in an interview during a day off in Whistler.
Though the creative gestation period wasn’t meant to take so long, it did offer an added perk. As time passed, the 50 songs narrowed themselves down. As a result, the record is tighter, Monks said.
“Everything sounds cool the moment you write it and then a month later, or a few months later and definitely a year later you can be like ‘Wow, this one’s good and that one I don’t have to worry about.’ ”
The right songs made themselves known, but Monks said he gets a little sad when he scrolls through his iPhone and hears an old demo that didn’t get used. He wonders if anyone will ever hear the songs. They’re not bad, after all, they just didn’t fit with the album. It’s possible four or five of the songs will be released as B-sides, but Monks said it’s important for the band to keep moving forward with songwriting.
“For every song we’ve ever put out we’ve always put out a few others and you have to have that. It’s like a by-product of the good stuff. The ratio changes over time. On Champ there was maybe like five songs that I threw away. On this record there’s like 45 that I threw away. Oh damn,” he said, as if suddenly realizing how many songs might get left behind on the next album.
But creating Forcefield was a learning experience for the Toronto four-piece. Instead of making an “earthshattering single release,” in the future, Tokyo Police Club plans to release smaller things, like EPs, more often. Monks admits the album has never been a form that comes naturally to the band. It’s lucky the music business happens to be shifting in the same direction.
Monks said it’s been fun to play the new songs live. While the band has been playing the song Argentina from the new album since 2012, there are still plenty of new live songs for audiences to hear. Though Forcefield really embraces a crisp pop sound, Monks said the concert still sounds like a rock show.
Tokyo Police Club also recently released the first episode of its online show Web Based Content. Fans can add their questions for future episodes to the blue skull at the merch table. In the video, the members promise to answer them with “ferocious accuracy.”