Back in 2019, we had a chance to chat with Tokyo Police Club, and at that time, it seemed like the countdown was already ticking on the band. The sense was that they had almost broken up, but had decided to give it one more go. “No breakup for Tokyo Police Club, yet” was the quote at the time. However, that go seems to be drawing to a close, as the band announced they would be going their separate ways after this final tour. Fans were quick to snap up the tickets to their final show in Ottawa, this Friday night at the Algonquin Commons Theatre. And fittingly, Hollerado’s Menno Versteeg will be opening for them, as TPC did for Hollerado’s last shows in Toronto.
We caught up with keyboardist Graham Wright to chat about the closing chapter for the band, and what the future holds for the quartet once they split.
Apt613: First off, how has the U.S. tour been going?
Graham Wright: Great. It’s just been really nice to go on a big tour where tons of people are excited to come out to the show. We’ve done a lot of kinds of tours over the years, and some have been very easy and some have been more challenging. They’ve all been rewarding in their own way. But it’s nice to have one that, every night, I know there’s going to be a great crowd, and I know it’s going to go well, and we’re really good at playing the songs, and it’s nice just to celebrate and enjoy it, bask in it.
Is there any feeling of bittersweetness that it’s the last pass as Tokyo Police Club?
If I really think about it, and if I really try and get there, I can sort of get there. But it’s so familiar to be on tour, and even with the notion that it’s the final tour, that’s so abstract. It’s when you’re walking to get coffee in the morning, or when you’re doing soundcheck, or when you’re playing the show, it just feels like a tour. And I’ve done so much touring that I’m good at being on tour and I find myself just feeling that way, and experiencing it as just a tour rather than it’s the final tour. And I think that that’s probably for the best. I think if I was feeling it all the time, I might not be doing such a good job with that.
Now that you are in the throes of the final tour, is there any second guessing? You all seem to collaborate on each other’s other projects, so there doesn’t seem to be any animosity.
I think if there was that kind of thing going on, I would feel more bittersweet or more regret because it would feel like it was not on my terms or on our terms. We did not come to this decision lightly. It was not an impulse. As you said, we were talking about it even five years ago, and that wasn’t even the first time we talked about it. It comes up when you’re in for a long time. One of the options for what you can do next is to stop. So if it was a big bitter falling out then there would be something to patch up and it would almost make it more likely, like an “Oh shit, maybe we could solve this” conflict without ending the band. But in the absence of that, it just feels like the right thing to do. Actually, I wondered before the tour started if I was gonna be in the middle of it, wondering what the hell I was thinking, or have I made some sort of huge mistake, and on the eve of announcing it back in January, I did have a moment of thinking “are we crazy? What are we doing?”
But the more we’ve been out doing it, the more we’ve been celebrating what the band is and has been and what it’s meant to people and to us, the more it makes me feel like it’s exactly the right thing. It’s going great, and it’s really satisfying and fulfilling. I’m honestly loving it.
Of anyone in the band, I think I held on the tightest. I was the most “this is my thing! This is what I want more than anything in the world!” So it took me a minute to even conceive of life outside of it. And indeed, I still can’t actually conceive of life outside of it.
But, now that I’m on my way there, I find it’s just a really appealing destination. It’s really cool to know that I’m going to get to find out a whole new version of myself and a whole new version of what life can be.
There’s a parallel with someone retiring, and facing the fear of freedom, but at the same time, the anticipation of it, and being able to do whatever you want.
Although this tour is more successful than some other tours we’ve done, I won’t quite be able to retire forever at the end of it. And so I actually might be heading for less freedom, comparatively. Someone asked me earlier this afternoon what I would miss the most. And I think I was probably supposed to say like the fans, but I said farting around. When I’m not on tour, having every day to fart around and just experience life and the world and follow my little ideas where they lead me. A great gift that I’ve had in my life is that kind of freedom to be idle and to run my errands on a Wednesday afternoon, to go to the grocery store when it’s not busy.
Everybody seems to have other stuff going on, which can be challenging, but at the same time, it gives you all something else to already start thinking about. In your case, will you be hitting a new gear with Girlfriend Material, or are you going to do more solo stuff?
Girlfriend Material will have some Christmas stuff in December. We made a whole Christmas album. We cut all the bed tracks in the summer and then everyone just got too busy to finish it. So it’ll come out next year. But we’ll have a few songs this year. But it’s not really going to go into another gear beyond that, because everyone in that band has jobs and children. And it’s still a new band, which means we have to really bust our asses to get it going anywhere.
And I don’t think anyone’s trying to leave to get back in a band. So, all of which goes to say, although I have a lot of music that I’m actively making, a lot more that I’m excited to get to making in some format or another, I’m also really trying to reserve judgment on how much of my life that’s going to take up.
Tokyo Police Club will be playing their final show in Ottawa this Friday night at the Algonquin Commons Theatre, Nov. 22, with Ottawa’s own (and close friend) Menno Versteeg opening. Very limited tickets remaining, available here.
Look for our interview with Menno Versteeg also available today!
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