Life as a rock star isn’t always glamorous. Tokyo Police Club singer/bassist Dave Monks, on the line from Minneapolis, was having issues finding a decent lunch.

“I just spent an hour walking around trying to get a salad with some real vegetables in it. Some spinach and avocado, not just iceberg lettuce with mayonnaise. It is impossible. It means another day of dealing with not the greatest nutrition,” he said.

 The road has been the home for Monks, along with guitarist Josh Hook, keyboardist Graham Wright and drummer Greg Alsop, since they formed in 2005. In addition to their own headline shows, they have performed at world-renowned festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Roskilde and Rock am Ring. They’ve been on shows that included heavyweights like Metallica and Faith No More, and opened for Weezer on their tour.

 “Festival Lineups are really crazy. We just played Outside Lands in San Francisco. Right before, on stage was Levon Helm, the drummer of The Band, and next on stage were Cat Power and The Strokes. We played a festival in Belgium and on the main stage Metallica was playing and half a kilometer away we were playing at the same time. Our tent was packed but you could hear them faintly in the distance and see their huge video screens. It was kind of funny to be playing against Metallica. But at a festival, for every metal fan, there would be a fan of something else.”

 They’ve also appeared multiple times on the David Letterman show.

 “We have done Letterman three times now. Going back the last time it wasn’t a weird, nervous experience we were pretty us. People said it was good to have us back, it was cool.”

 It is a testament to their hard work and constant touring that has brought the band international success. A lot of Canadian “indy” bands still have day jobs, but not Tokyo Police Club.

 “I only know one experience, which is ours. I feel like the Canadian music scene feels different from place to place. Looking back in a broad sense, when we were putting out our first EP and record it felt like the reward of a lot of hard work that paid off. Now, the more I look back at it, it was 50% hard work and 50% luck. We are really lucky that so many serendipitous things happened to get to the place where we are a sustainable band. It is hard to appreciate that when you are in the moment, but it is cool to realize it now.”

 They have brought their experiences from touring the world with 2008’s Elephant Shell into their new album Champ, released in June.

 “Creatively the writing part started right after Elephant Shell  before we mixed it. I wrote a couple of songs that came out of there. We toured Elephant Shell and left it. By December of ‘08 we realized that we had some songs that had casually crept up in the off time, not that there was much of that.  In March of 2009 we decided to make that our last tour and to flesh out our songs. We had 8 or 9 months off to write, which was awesome. We were living lives and doing our thing on our own wavelengths instead of trying to scramble together some kind of semblance of a life. Going into Elephant Shell we had written 11 songs and recorded them all. We had 20 songs going into this one and really played with ideas. Some songs were like Mr. Potato Head: an eye from one song, an ear from another. The creative part was really free. When we went to record, we had a new label and were able to talk to some new producers. We went to LA in December of ‘09 and started recording. As much as the writing process was different with this album, so was the recording process. We had three weeks last time, this time was three months. We had new wisdom thrown into the mix and could record in different studios. It was a really great recording process. We have always found ourselves recording in the winter, going to LA was comparatively beautiful weather so that was a real plus for us.”

 Tokyo Police Club seems to be in Calgary fairly regularly. It speaks to the loyalty of their fans and the quality of their shows that keeps people coming back. They play the Sonic Boom Festival in Edmonton September 4th and Macewan Hall in Calgary September 29th.

 “It has been amazing, the fact that people keep coming out. On the first tours we made a big effort to make direct contact with a lot of people. I don’t know what kind of effect that has, but it seems to be contributing positively. I feel like people know and like us and are more likely to come back. We put on a good show and don’t hold back so they know they will get some real rocking,” he said, adding that this tour features some exciting new additions.

“I am really happy how it’s going. We are bringing lights and have a great set list and some bonus covers going on. I feel it’s the best our show has ever been. I am excited for Diner Delux in Calgary, and their Macaroni!”