Tokyo Police Club
Encyclopedia
Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario
, Canada
. It consists of vocalist and bassist
David Monks (born December 22, 1987), keyboardist
Graham Wright, guitar
ist Josh Hook (born May 11, 1987), and drummer
Greg Alsop (born March 21, 1985).
festival, and soon after they signed with Toronto label Paper Bag Records
; Monks and Alsop dropped out of college to become professional musicians.
Since their formation the band has appeared in numerous festivals. In 2006 they appeared at Edgefest
and the inaugural Osheaga Festival
; however, could not play that year due to other conflicts. In 2007, they performed at Coachella
, Lollapalooza
, Bumbershoot
, the Glastonbury Festival
, and the Reading and Leeds Festival. In 2008 the band played the Roskilde Festival
, the Rock am Ring
-Festival, and Street Scene
. In 2010, the band played at Bonnaroo, the largest outdoor music festival in the U.S. They also played at San Francisco's 2010 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
.
In the fall of 2008, the band played on the last 6 weeks of Weezer
's Troublemaker Tour along with Angels and Airwaves. In the same year, they released their first album, Elephant Shell
.
Their second full-length album, Champ, was released on June 8, 2010.
On June 18, 2011, the video for "Wait Up (Boots of Danger) was nominated as best Indie video of the year by Much Music. The video was directed by Mike Juneau and Kyle McCreight, and produced by Jesse Ewles
and Chris Cunningham.
Summer 2011 sees Tokyo Police Club in a project they like to call "10 Days. 10 Covers. 10 Years.", in which they release a new cover song from one of the last 10 years, going in order from 2001 to 2010.
.
On April 22, 2008 Tokyo Police Club made their second appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing the lead single "Tessellate" off their debut LP Elephant Shell.
On November 16, 2008 they appeared on the television show "Desperate Housewives
" in the episode "City on Fire
" as "Cold Splash", a band competing in a battle-of-the-bands contest. They performed "In A Cave" from their album Elephant Shell.
On December 10, 2008, they played "Your English is Good" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
on CBS.
On June 28, 2010 they appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing the single "Boots of Danger (Wait Up)" off of their second album, "Champ".
On March 27, 2011 Tokyo Police Club performed their single "Bambi" at the 40th Juno Awards in Toronto, Ontario.
, A Lesson in Crime
, in 2006 on Paper Bag Records, with Smith EP
arriving the following year. During a July 20, 2007 show in Omaha
, Nebraska
the band announced it had signed a deal earlier in the day for Saddle Creek Records
to release their debut LP.
The band have also recorded two previously unheard songs for the Daytrotter Sessions, which are available online. A single, now on their album Elephant Shell
, entitled "Your English Is Good" was released on July 9, 2007.
Responding to criticisms that their debut EP A Lesson in Crime is too short (16:22), Graham Wright had this to say in an interview with Ukula
:
The band released their first LP, Elephant Shell
, via their new label Saddle Creek on April 22, 2008 in North America, and May 5, 2008 in the U.K. and Continental Europe via Memphis Industries. It was pre-released via the US iTunes Music Store on March 25, 2008.
or for $5
at higher bitrates. He has also participated in a project called "Novels" with musicians Luke Lalonde (of Born Ruffians), Will Currie (of Will Currie & The Country French), Dean Marino (of Ex~po), and Jay Sadlowski (of Jay Sad) in which these musicians wrote and recorded an entire EP in 24 hours. The CDs were not released in stores, nor on the internet, but were given out to random people or placed in random places. His debut solo album, Shirts vs Skins, was released on June 27, 2010.
Greg Alsop has posted comedy sketch videos online, Drumsters and Novelty T-Shirt College.
Newmarket, Ontario
Newmarket is a town in Southern Ontario located approximately 50 km north of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area and is connected to Toronto by freeway, and is served by three interchanges along Highway 404. It is also connected to Highway 400 via Highway 9...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It consists of vocalist and bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
David Monks (born December 22, 1987), keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Graham Wright, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Josh Hook (born May 11, 1987), and drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Greg Alsop (born March 21, 1985).
History
Tokyo Police Club formed in 2005 while playing for fun in a basement after the four had disbanded from a previous group called Suburbia. The band started to gain attention and played some small shows throughout the Toronto area. Tokyo Police Club were asked to play in the city's Pop MontrealPop Montreal
Pop Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 acts are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, mostly located in the Mile End area...
festival, and soon after they signed with Toronto label Paper Bag Records
Paper Bag Records
Paper Bag Records is a Canadian independent record label and artist-management company, founded in 2002 and based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:...
; Monks and Alsop dropped out of college to become professional musicians.
Since their formation the band has appeared in numerous festivals. In 2006 they appeared at Edgefest
Edgefest
Edgefest, a yearly outdoor rock concert festival that primarily promotes Canadian rock music, began in 1987 as a thank-you gesture to the listeners of Toronto radio station 102.1 the Edge and as a birthday party to commemorate both the station's tenth birthday, and the coinciding Canada Day...
and the inaugural Osheaga Festival
Osheaga Festival
The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival is a multi-day rock festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held annually at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène every summer. The 2006 festival attracted a crowd of around 25,000 people. The second edition was held on September 8 and 9, 2007...
; however, could not play that year due to other conflicts. In 2007, they performed at Coachella
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
, Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
, Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend at the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Seattle Center includes indoor theaters,...
, the Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
, and the Reading and Leeds Festival. In 2008 the band played the Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
, the Rock am Ring
Rock am Ring
The Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals are two simultaneous rock music festivals held annually in Germany....
-Festival, and Street Scene
Street Scene (San Diego music festival)
Street Scene was a music festival that was held each summer in San Diego, California from 1984 to 2009. Street Scene was one of America's largest annual music festivals, growing to include over 70 musical acts covering different musical genres and styles on multiple stages.-History:Beginning in...
. In 2010, the band played at Bonnaroo, the largest outdoor music festival in the U.S. They also played at San Francisco's 2010 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is a music festival held annually in San Francisco, California at Golden Gate Park. The first edition occurred August 22–24 in 2008, and included over 60 musical acts from around the world, as well as several art installations...
.
In the fall of 2008, the band played on the last 6 weeks of Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
's Troublemaker Tour along with Angels and Airwaves. In the same year, they released their first album, Elephant Shell
Elephant Shell
Elephant Shell is the first LP to be released by Tokyo Police Club. It was released in the United States, Canada and Australia on April 22, 2008 on Saddle Creek Records, and in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe on May 5, 2008. "In a Cave", "Juno", and "Tessellate" have been posted on the...
.
Their second full-length album, Champ, was released on June 8, 2010.
On June 18, 2011, the video for "Wait Up (Boots of Danger) was nominated as best Indie video of the year by Much Music. The video was directed by Mike Juneau and Kyle McCreight, and produced by Jesse Ewles
Jesse Ewles
Jesse James Ewles is a Canadian independent visual artist in Toronto, Canada.He has directed music videos for the bands Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal and Owen Pallett. In January of 2010, he completed his first short film for Bravo! TV entitled Kingdom of Frogs...
and Chris Cunningham.
Summer 2011 sees Tokyo Police Club in a project they like to call "10 Days. 10 Covers. 10 Years.", in which they release a new cover song from one of the last 10 years, going in order from 2001 to 2010.
Televised Appearances
On April 19, 2007, Tokyo Police Club made their first US TV performance on The Late Show with David Letterman. They played their single "Nature of the Experiment", along with a tambourine accompaniment by the CBS OrchestraCBS Orchestra
The CBS Orchestra is the house band, led by Paul Shaffer, that plays for David Letterman's CBS late-night talk show, Late Show with David Letterman...
.
On April 22, 2008 Tokyo Police Club made their second appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing the lead single "Tessellate" off their debut LP Elephant Shell.
On November 16, 2008 they appeared on the television show "Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
" in the episode "City on Fire
City on Fire (Desperate Housewives)
"City on Fire" is the 95th episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the eighth episode of the show's fifth season and aired on November 16, 2008.-Plot:...
" as "Cold Splash", a band competing in a battle-of-the-bands contest. They performed "In A Cave" from their album Elephant Shell.
On December 10, 2008, they played "Your English is Good" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
on CBS.
On June 28, 2010 they appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, performing the single "Boots of Danger (Wait Up)" off of their second album, "Champ".
On March 27, 2011 Tokyo Police Club performed their single "Bambi" at the 40th Juno Awards in Toronto, Ontario.
Discography
The band released its debut EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, A Lesson in Crime
A Lesson in Crime
A Lesson in Crime is an EP by Tokyo Police Club released April 27, 2006. It reached #194 on the Canadian album charts. The single "Nature of the Experiment" is featured as the opening to the Comedy Central's sketch comedy show, Nick Swardson's Pretend Time....
, in 2006 on Paper Bag Records, with Smith EP
Smith EP
Smith EP is a four-track EP that was released by Canadian indie group Tokyo Police Club on October 23, 2007 in Canada and November 6, 2007 in the US....
arriving the following year. During a July 20, 2007 show in Omaha
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
the band announced it had signed a deal earlier in the day for Saddle Creek Records
Saddle Creek Records
Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Conor Oberst and Justin Oberst in 1993 . Conor soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel...
to release their debut LP.
The band have also recorded two previously unheard songs for the Daytrotter Sessions, which are available online. A single, now on their album Elephant Shell
Elephant Shell
Elephant Shell is the first LP to be released by Tokyo Police Club. It was released in the United States, Canada and Australia on April 22, 2008 on Saddle Creek Records, and in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe on May 5, 2008. "In a Cave", "Juno", and "Tessellate" have been posted on the...
, entitled "Your English Is Good" was released on July 9, 2007.
Responding to criticisms that their debut EP A Lesson in Crime is too short (16:22), Graham Wright had this to say in an interview with Ukula
Ukula
UKULA Magazine was an independent arts and culture quarterly founded in 2004, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was created by co-founders Kevin Renton and Graeme Maclean, who first started out DJing under the now well known UKULA moniker at the city's Andy Poolhall in 2002. Copies of UKULA...
:
"It's very quick, quick, quick, one, two, three. Some of the songs don't have a lot of space in them and the album doesn't have a whole lot of room to breathe, but I think in the case of an EP this is a really good thing."
The band released their first LP, Elephant Shell
Elephant Shell
Elephant Shell is the first LP to be released by Tokyo Police Club. It was released in the United States, Canada and Australia on April 22, 2008 on Saddle Creek Records, and in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe on May 5, 2008. "In a Cave", "Juno", and "Tessellate" have been posted on the...
, via their new label Saddle Creek on April 22, 2008 in North America, and May 5, 2008 in the U.K. and Continental Europe via Memphis Industries. It was pre-released via the US iTunes Music Store on March 25, 2008.
Albums
- Elephant ShellElephant ShellElephant Shell is the first LP to be released by Tokyo Police Club. It was released in the United States, Canada and Australia on April 22, 2008 on Saddle Creek Records, and in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe on May 5, 2008. "In a Cave", "Juno", and "Tessellate" have been posted on the...
(April 22, 2008) #106 US #10 CAN - Champ (June 8, 2010) #56 US #19 CAN
- Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days (2011) #139 CAN
EPs
- A Lesson in CrimeA Lesson in CrimeA Lesson in Crime is an EP by Tokyo Police Club released April 27, 2006. It reached #194 on the Canadian album charts. The single "Nature of the Experiment" is featured as the opening to the Comedy Central's sketch comedy show, Nick Swardson's Pretend Time....
(April 18, 2006, (UK) Feb 12, 2007) - Smith EPSmith EPSmith EP is a four-track EP that was released by Canadian indie group Tokyo Police Club on October 23, 2007 in Canada and November 6, 2007 in the US....
(February 14, 2007)
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
CAN Alt Canadian rock/alternative chart The Canadian rock/alternative chart was first published on June 11, 1995 by RPM magazine under the name Alternative 30. The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was "More Human than Human" by White Zombie... |
CAN Rock Canadian rock/alternative chart The Canadian rock/alternative chart was first published on June 11, 1995 by RPM magazine under the name Alternative 30. The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was "More Human than Human" by White Zombie... |
BEL Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... |
|||
| 2006 | "Nature of the Experiment" | – | – | – | – | A Lesson in Crime |
| 2007 | "Cheer It On" | – | – | – | – | |
| "Citizens of Tomorrow" | – | – | – | – | ||
| "Your English Is Good Your English Is Good "Your English Is Good" is a stand alone single released by Tokyo Police Club on July 9, 2007. It was released as a 7" vinyl. The B-side to the single is titled "Swedes in Stockholm". 1,000 copies of an alternate version, featuring the B-side "Our Little Apartment ", were sold at shows... " |
– | – | – | – | Elephant Shell | |
| 2008 | "Tessellate" | 63 | – | – | – | |
| "In a Cave" | – | – | – | – | ||
| "Graves" | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2010 | "Breakneck Speed" | – | – | – | – | Champ |
| "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" | – | – | – | – | ||
| "Bambi" | – | – | – | 39 | ||
| 2011 | "Favourite Colour" | – | 12 | – | – | |
Solo projects
In November 2008, Tokyo Police Club keyboardist Graham Wright released a solo EP called The Lakes of Alberta online only, available as a free download at 128kbit/sBitrate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
or for $5
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
at higher bitrates. He has also participated in a project called "Novels" with musicians Luke Lalonde (of Born Ruffians), Will Currie (of Will Currie & The Country French), Dean Marino (of Ex~po), and Jay Sadlowski (of Jay Sad) in which these musicians wrote and recorded an entire EP in 24 hours. The CDs were not released in stores, nor on the internet, but were given out to random people or placed in random places. His debut solo album, Shirts vs Skins, was released on June 27, 2010.
Greg Alsop has posted comedy sketch videos online, Drumsters and Novelty T-Shirt College.