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Tokyo Police Club is a Canadian indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, consisting of singer and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop.

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.Chris Golding (UK) was the vocalist for 2 months, before moving to the band The Wombats. The band started to gain attention and played some small shows throughout the Toronto area. With a buzz forming in Montreal, Tokyo Police Club was asked to play in the city's Pop Montreal festival, and soon after they signed with Toronto label Paper Bag Records. According to an interview article: "The band’s Pop Montreal performance was a pivotal moment, even if they didn’t know it. Tipped off by another of their roster, Paper Bag Records checked out TPC’s performance, but the young band didn’t know what to expect. “[We] assumed that [labels] would see you once, bring a contract and a blank cheque, and say, ‘You guys are great! Now you are stars!’” Wright says. “So when they left before we were done we thought they hated us because they didn’t sign us on the spot.” The record deal came eventually, but not before Monks and Alsop told their parents they were dropping out of school to pursue their dreams." ^[1] In an interview, Graham said, "playing Pop Montreal was the only thing that made us be a band. In all seriousness, if it wasn't for that Pop Montreal festival, we wouldn't have done anything. Ever. I cannot overstate the importance of Pop Montreal." ^[2]. Nadia heart Samuel.. soooo much

Since their formation the band has appeared in numerous festivals. Notably, in 2006 they appeared at Edgefest and the inaugural Osheaga Festival. In 2007, they performed at the Coachella music festival in Indio, California, at Lollapalooza in Chicago, at Bumbershoot in Seattle, at Glastonbury Festival and Reading and Leeds Festival in England, in 2008 at Roskilde Festival in Denmark and at Rock am Ring-Festival in Germany, and Street Scene in San Diego.

In the fall of 2008, the band played on the last 6 weeks of Weezer's Troublemaker Tour along with Angels and Airwaves.

In terms of writing songs while on the road, Wright said in an interview: "We're really bad at writing on the road. We've been trying to write new songs since the summer, and just because we've been touring so often and everything's been so busy, it's been a struggle to find that time and find that groove that we have to get into to successfully write songs." ^[3]

Tokyo Police Club has been nominated for a Canadian Juno award for their 2008 album, Elephant Shell.

Appearances

Jack Whitehaed/Bernie Show 2009 - Perforing Tesselate 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 Orchestra.

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 on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS.

On December 12 - 23 they were a part of the "Jingle Bell Rock Tour", a tour across Canada benefitting local charities. Other acts on the all-Canadian the tour were The Dears, Metric, Sebastian Grainger & The Mountain.

On November 17, 2007, they appeared at the mtvU Woodie Awards, where they were nominated for best breaking artist. They performed two songs, "Cheer It On" and "Nature of the Experiment."

On January 26,2008, they played at Winter City festival, from Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto.

David Monks and Greg Alsop appeared on Much on Demand, April 4, 2007.

On May 3,2008, they played an in-store performance at record store Criminal Records in Toronto.

On August 1,2009, they appeared at All Points West music festival.

Discography

The band released its debut EP, 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.^[4] The band have also recorded two previously unheard songs for the Daytrotter Sessions, which are available online.^[5] A single, now on their album Elephant Shell, entitled "Your English Is Good" was released on July 9 2007.^[6]

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:

"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."^[7]

The band released their first LP, entitled Elephant Shell, and released the album, via their new label Saddle Creek, on April 22, 2008 in North America and May 5, 2008 in the U.K. and Continental Europe.^[8] It was pre-released via the US iTunes Music Store on March 25, 2008 ^[9].

LPs

Elephant Shell (April 22, 2008)

EPs

A Lesson in Crime (April 18, 2006, (UK) Feb 12, 2007)
Smith EP (February 14, 2007)

Singles

Year	Single	Album
2006	"Nature of the Experiment"	A Lesson in Crime
2007	"Cheer It On"	A Lesson in Crime
2007	"Citizens of Tomorrow"	A Lesson in Crime
2007	"Your English Is Good"	Elephant Shell
2008	"Tessellate"	Elephant Shell
2008	"In a Cave"	Elephant Shell
2008	"Graves"	Elephant Shell

B-sides

Tokyo Police Club have released three singles, all three of which have B-sides.

"Cheer It On"
Side A: "Cheer It On" − 1:59

Side B: "Citizens of Tomorrow" (Space Ballad) − 2:55

"Nature of the Experiment"
Side A: "Nature of the Experiment" − 2:01

Side B: "Box" − 2:31

"Your English Is Good"
Side A: "Your English Is Good" − 3:08

Side B: "Swedes In Stockholm" − 1:47

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 128kb/s or for $5 at higher bitrates.

Greg Alsop has posted comedy sketch videos online, Drumsters and Novelty T-Shirt College.

References

External links

[1] ttp://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=120&csid2=778&fid1=30514

[2] ttp://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/05/an_interview_wi_19.html

[3] ttp://www.avclub.com/articles/tokyo-police-club,14089/

[4] "Pitchfork Article".

[5] "Daytrotter Sessions".

[6] "Pitchfork Article".

[7] "Article at UKULA".

[8] "Article at Pitchfork".

[9] The Album on iTunes

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 ==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''.Chris Golding (UK) was the vocalist for 2 months, before moving to the band The Wombats. The band started to gain attention and played some small shows throughout the Toronto area. With a buzz forming in Montreal, Tokyo Police Club was asked to play in the city's [[Pop Montreal]] festival, and soon after they signed with Toronto label [[Paper Bag Records]]. According to an interview article: "The band’s Pop Montreal performance was a pivotal moment, even if they didn’t know it. Tipped off by another of their roster, Paper Bag Records checked out TPC’s performance, but the young band didn’t know what to expect. “[We] assumed that [labels] would see you once, bring a contract and a blank cheque, and say, ‘You guys are great! Now you are stars!’” Wright says. “So when they left before we were done we thought they hated us because they didn’t sign us on the spot.” The record deal came eventually, but not before Monks and Alsop told their parents they were dropping out of school to pursue their dreams." <ref>http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=120&csid2=778&fid1=30514</ref>
-In an interview, Graham said, "playing Pop Montreal was the only thing that made us be a band. In all seriousness, if it wasn't for that Pop Montreal festival, we wouldn't have done anything. Ever. I cannot overstate the importance of Pop Montreal." <ref>http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/05/an_interview_wi_19.html</ref>
+In an interview, Graham said, "playing Pop Montreal was the only thing that made us be a band. In all seriousness, if it wasn't for that Pop Montreal festival, we wouldn't have done anything. Ever. I cannot overstate the importance of Pop Montreal." <ref>http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/05/an_interview_wi_19.html</ref>. Nadia heart Samuel.. soooo much
 Since their formation the band has appeared in numerous festivals. Notably, in 2006 they appeared at [[Edgefest]] and the inaugural [[Osheaga Festival]]. In 2007, they performed at the [[Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival|Coachella]] music festival in [[Indio, California]], at [[Lollapalooza]] in [[Chicago]], at [[Bumbershoot]] in [[Seattle]], at [[Glastonbury Festival]] and [[Reading and Leeds Festival]] in England, in [[2008]] at [[Roskilde Festival]] in [[Denmark]] and at [[Rock am Ring]]-Festival in [[Germany]], and [[Street Scene (San Diego music festival)|Street Scene]] in [[San Diego, California|San Diego]].

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