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Tokyo Police Club

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Tokyo Police Club
From left to right: Josh Hook, Greg Alsop, David Monks and Graham Wright.
From left to right: Josh Hook, Greg Alsop, David Monks and Graham Wright.
Background information
OriginNewmarket, Ontario, Canada
GenresIndie rock, post-punk revival, alternative rock
Years active2005–present
LabelsUniversal Music Canada
Paper Bag
Memphis Industries
Saddle Creek
Dew Process
Mom + Pop Music
Dine Alone Records (Canada)
MembersDavid Monks
Graham Wright
Josh Hook
Greg Alsop
Websitetokyopoliceclub.com

Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It consists of vocalist and bassist David Monks (born January 21, 1987),[1] keyboardist Graham Wright (born February 16, 1987),[2] guitarist Josh Hook (born May 11, 1987),[3] and drummer Greg Alsop (born March 20, 1985).[4][5]

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 Pop Montreal festival,[6] and soon after they signed with Toronto label Paper Bag Records; Monks and Alsop dropped out of college to become professional musicians.[7]

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 the Bonnaroo Music Festival. 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. produced by Rob Schnapf (Saves The Day, The Vines, Sweet Thing)[8]

On June 18, 2011, the video for "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" was nominated as best indie video of the year by MuchMusic. The video was directed by Mike Juneau and Kyle McCreight, and produced by Jesse Ewles and Chris Cunningham. In 2011 the band also released 10 Days. 10 Covers. 10 Years., a project in which they recorded and releases a new cover song from one of the last 10 years, going in order from 2001 to 2010.

In 2012, the band joined Foster the People on the North American portion of their Torches tour along with Kimbra.

In addition to his work with the band, Wright also currently hosts programming on CBC Radio 3.

On December 8, 2011, the band revealed an unreleased song "Beaches" at a live show. On December 11, 2013, the band debuted a nine-minute lyric video for "Argentina (Pts. I, II, and III)" on YouTube.[9] Both tracks are on their new album "Forcefield" which was released March 24, 2014.

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 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 "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 "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" 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. On July 7, 2014 the band performed at the 2014 Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta.

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.[10] The band have also recorded two previously unheard songs for the Daytrotter Sessions, which are available online.[11] A single, now on their album Elephant Shell, entitled "Your English Is Good" was released on July 9, 2007.[12]

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".[13]

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.[14] It was pre-released via the US iTunes Store on March 25, 2008.[15]

The band's fourth full-length LP, Forcefield, was released on March 24, 2014.

Albums

Album details Peak chart positions
CAN
[16] 		UK
[17] 		US
[18] 		US
Indie
[19]
Elephant Shell 10 128 106 17
Champ 19 186 59 6
Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days 139 — — —
Forcefield 17 — 120 25
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

EPs

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
CAN
[20] 		CAN
Alt
[21] 		CAN
Rock
[22] 		BEL
(FL)
[23] 		BEL
(WA)
[24]
2006 "Nature of the Experiment" – – – – – A Lesson in Crime
2007 "Cheer It On" – – – – –
"Citizens of Tomorrow" – – – – –
"Your English Is Good" – – – – – Elephant Shell
2008 "Tessellate" 63 – – – –
"In a Cave" – – – – –
"Graves" – – – – –
2010 "Breakneck Speed" – – – – – Champ
"Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" – 7 – – –
"Bambi" – 5 – – 89
2011 "Favourite Colour" – 12 – – –
2014 "Hot Tonight" – 7 17 137 – Forcefield
"Tunnel Vision" – – 20 – –
2015 "Gonna Be Ready" – – 36 – –
2016 "Not My Girl" – 8 17 – – Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness Pt 1
"My House" – 13 24 – – Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness Pt 2
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released

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. 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 Papermaps), 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. In June 2015, lead singer Dave Monks released his first solo EP on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play called "All Signs Point to Yes", with two singles having been released prior to the release of the album.

References

  1. ^ "Dave Monks' Twitter". Twitter.com. 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  2. ^ "Happy Birfday Graham". www.tokyopolicclub.com. 2010-12-22. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  3. ^ "Happy Bday Josh « Tokyo Police Club". Tokyopoliceclub.com. 2010-02-16. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  4. ^ "Tokyo Police Club". SPIN.com. 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  5. ^ "Happy Bday Greg « Tokyo Police Club". Tokyopoliceclub.com. 2010-03-21. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  6. ^ "an Interview with Tokyo Police Club". Brooklynvegan.com. 2007-05-17. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  7. ^ "Tokyo Police Club performs in The Current studios | The Current from". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  8. ^ "Tokyo Police Club Reminisce About Coachella, Prep for New Album". Spinner. April 28, 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  9. ^ "Tokyo Police Club Return With An Epic Lyric Video for Argentina, Parts I, II, III". December 11, 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  10. ^ "Pitchfork Article".
  11. ^ "Daytrotter Sessions".
  12. ^ "Pitchfork Article".
  13. ^ "Article at UKULA".
  14. ^ "Article at Pitchfork".
  15. ^ "The Album on iTunes". Phobos.apple.com. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  16. ^ "Tokyo Police Club Album & Song Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  17. ^ "UK Charts". Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com/.
  18. ^ "Tokyo Police Club Album & Song Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  19. ^ "Tokyo Police Club Album & Song Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  20. ^ "Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Tokyo Police Club". Billboard Media.
  21. ^ "Canadian Active Rock & Alt Rock Chart Archive: Alternative Rock - June 21, 2011". America's Music Charts. Retrieved June 24, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "Billboard.biz - Tokyo Police Club - Canadian Rock". Canada.biz. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  23. ^ "Discografie Tokyo Police Club Vlaanderen". ultratop.be/nl/ Hung Medien.
  24. ^ "Discografie Tokyo Police Club Wallonie". ultratop.be/fr/ Hung Medien.
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