Tokyo Police Club Look Back on 'Champ': "It Was Our Big Swing"
After a hotly buzzed EP in 2006's A Lesson in Crime and a momentum-carrying debut album in 2008's Elephant Shell, the Ontario band were poised to conquer the mainstream. They had producer Rob Schnapf on board, whose credits included Beck and Foo Fighters, and they had a high-powered American label in Mom + Pop Music. And, most importantly, they had a streamlined sound that highlighted sparking pop-rock hooks over the fidgety post-punk adrenaline of old. And so they called it Champ and put confetti on the album cover, as if to throw themselves a victory party for success they hadn't actuall...
Source: exclaim.ca