Las Vegas Weekly

Three questions with Tokyo Police Club keyboardist Graham Wright

Wright, far right, and his TPC bandmates

You’re playing Beauty Bar for the second time, how was the first time?

That show was really good. The other time we played [Vegas was] at the Hard Rock Hotel, and there were girls dancing on tables while we played, which is not normal for us, believe it or not. But I remember having a good time at the Beauty Bar.

What was the benefit of setting aside nine full months to write and record your latest album, Champ?

Everything. It was the best decision we’ve ever made. You need that in order to be creative in a way that’s worth anything. We’d get together every day, but sometimes we’d work for four hours and it’d be great, and sometimes we would work on a song for 30 minutes, just not be feeling it, and we could just say, “Okay, stop.”

In conjunction with the title, Champ, you’re having fans challenge you to various competitions. What sort would be ideal for you?

We’re sort of keeping street hockey as the ace up our sleeve. We play street hockey with each other all the time just for fun, and we bring hockey sticks on the road. We’re practicing up a little bit so at some point we can bust it out, hopefully when it’s not so hot.