Graham Wright Loves Back Bacon

Yesterday April 10th, 2008 I interviewed Graham Wright, keyboardist for Tokyo Police Club. The interview went well. We both had a love for hockey so that started us off on the right foot. I was able to record the interview, but it was in low light so only the audio came out good. But don’t worry I have something special planned for the audio and I hope to have it done and posted next week.

To give you a taste here are the three moments that stood out to me:

The first moment happened because Graham loved hockey and back bacon. The first 7 minutes of the 15 minute interview that was all we talked about and I loved every minute of it. He says that he likes eating bacon but if he had the choice he would go with back bacon. I don’t know if I agree with him but I was just happy to know that he wasn’t a vegetarian.

The second moment was when I asked about their new label, Saddle Creek Records. He had nothing but nice things to say about them. He also shared a really good opinion on the “label vs. no label” debate. He says it’s all about gaining recognition and to gain that requires you to work with your label to get where you want to go. If you remember we had a debate about that on this blog a few weeks ago. It was nice to get a band’s view on the debate. After I post the full interview next week I will bring this part up again, I don’t want to spoil it all now.

The third big moment was when I asked about the technology he couldn’t live without on tour. Graham said that it would have to be his cell phone and Macbook (he’s a fellow mac fanboy). Without them he said the van feels like a submarine, since you have no outside contact for weeks at a time. He told me he probably would never tour without them.

After the interview was over I waited around for the show to start. I was worried that I might be let down by their live performance. Sometimes bands have trouble reproducing the complexity (random samples and shouts) of their music live. This was not the case with Tokyo Police Club; their live performance blew me away. I would even go as far to say it was better than the CD. Every note, clap, and shout had an energy that the CD didn’t capture. It was the best 15 bucks I spent so far this year.

I would like to thank Tokyo Police Club for putting on an amazing show and taking the time to talk to me. I hope to post the full interview early next week. I also plan to get Elephant Shell, their first LP, once it’s release April 22nd and give it a full review. Graham told me it’s good. Let’s hope I agree.

Also look for more bacon filled band interviews in the future. I am going to try to set more of these up. If your a band, big or small, coming to Pittsburgh give me an email.

Photo Credit: The image of Graham Wright was taken by Todd Dyum.