The best of us move forward without hesitation. Dave Monks doesn’t operate that way—even though he should.
As the front man for one of Toronto’s biggest bands, Tokyo Police Club, Monks has well over a decade of experience writing and recording and releasing music to the world, not to mention his own solo work. At this point, Monks should be moving forward without hesitation—musically speaking—coasting past any resistance that might surface in the form of fear or doubt.
Instead, the idea that materializes again and again in our conversation with Monks is one of permission. Despite his experience, Monks says he’s still reticent to put out music that might defy expectations. He’s hesitant to bring something to his band that might be left of center. He’s uncertain whether it’s okay to, once again, carve out time and space to pursue other musical interests away from the band—even as he also knows they will be 100 percent supportive of him.
If these sort of doubts sound familiar, it’s because they plague the majority of us who long to obey the fragile impulses that call to us in our most honest moments. Somewhere we feel the impulse to follow the business idea, the writing prompt, the musical influence and yet we’re frozen, looking to those around us for permission to actually follow through with it.
This latest episode of The Resistance opens up a raw conversation about permission that’s so relatable. Instead of looking to others for approval, what if we could learn to obey those impulses without contemplation of what others might say or think? Sometimes our greatest fear might be pointing to the change we need to make the most.