Tokyo Police Club

Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It consists of vocalist and bassist David Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop.[1] The band has been nominated for multiple Juno awards, most recently in 2019 for Alternative Album of the Year.[2]

Tokyo Police Club
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)
Websitetokyopoliceclub.com
MembersDavid Monks
Graham Wright
Josh Hook
Greg Alsop

History

Formation and early years

David Monks (born January 21, 1987), Graham Wright (born February 16, 1987), Josh Hook (born May 11, 1987), and Greg Alsop (born March 20, 1985) grew up and attended school together in Newmarket, Ontario.[1][3] In high school, the four played in a band called Suburbia which eventually disbanded. In 2004, the group informally came together again to form Tokyo Police Club;[4] the name of the band comes from a 2000s-era online Band Name Generator.[3]

Early on, the band played some small shows in the Toronto area. Tokyo Police Club were asked to play in the Pop Montreal festival,[5] and soon after they signed with Toronto label Paper Bag Records; Monks and Alsop dropped out of college to become professional musicians.[6]

The band released its debut EP, A Lesson in Crime, in 2006 on Paper Bag Records. The recording was less than seventeen minutes long, and some of the songs were quite short.[7] That year they appeared at Edgefest and the inaugural Osheaga Festival.

The Smith EP was released in 2007. During a July show in Omaha, Nebraska, the band signed a deal with Saddle Creek Records which would release their debut LP.[8] The single "Your English Is Good" was released in July and later included on their album Elephant Shell.[9] That year the band performed at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, the Glastonbury Festival, and the Reading and Leeds Festival.

Debut record and successful follow-up

In 2008, Tokyo Police Club released their first album, Elephant Shell,[10] first via the US iTunes Store on March 25, 2008, and then on their new label Saddle Creek in April in North America, and in May in the U.K. and Continental Europe via Memphis Industries.[11] In the same year, the band played the Roskilde Festival, the Rock am Ring-Festival, and Street Scene. In the fall, they played on the last six weeks of Weezer's Troublemaker Tour along with Angels and Airwaves.

In 2010, the band played the Bonnaroo Music Festival. They also played at San Francisco's 2010 Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. Their second full-length album, Champ, was released in June; it was produced by Rob Schnapf.[12] That fall the album appeared on the !Earshot National Top 50 Chart.[13]

On March 27, 2011, Tokyo Police Club performed their single "Bambi" at the 40th Juno Awards in Toronto. In June, 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 released a new cover song from each of the previous 10 years, from 2001 to 2010.

In December, 2011, the band performed an unreleased song "Beaches" at a live show. In 2012, they joined Foster the People on the North American portion of their Torches tour along with Kimbra. While continuing to work with the band, Wright also hosts programming on CBC Radio 3.

New music

In December, 2013, the band debuted a nine-minute lyric video for "Argentina (Pts. I, II, and III)" on YouTube.[14] Both "Beaches" and "Argentina" are on their album "Forcefield" which was released March 24, 2014. In July the band performed at the 2014 Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta. The band also recorded two songs for the Daytrotter Sessions, which were released online.[15]

Tokyo Police Club continued to record in 2018 in preparation for a fourth album.[16] They released "TPC" on October 5, 2018 and received a Juno nomination for Alternative Album of the Year.[17]

Television

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. A year later the band made a 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. A month later 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".

Discography

Studio albums
Title Album details Peak chart positions
CAN
[18]		 UK
[19]		 US
[20]		 US
Indie
[21]
Elephant Shell 10 128 106 17
Champ 19 186 59 6
Forcefield
  • Released: March 25, 2014
  • Label: Mom + Pop Music / Memphis Industries / Dine Alone
 17 — 120 25
TPC
  • Released: October 5, 2018
  • Label: Dine Alone
 — — — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Cover albums

EPs

Singles
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
CAN
[22]		 CAN
Alt
[23]		 CAN
Rock
[24]		 BEL
(FL)
[25]		 BEL
(WA)
[26]		 SCO
[27]		 UK
Sales
[28]
"Nature of the Experiment" 2006 — — 32 — — — — A Lesson in Crime
"Cheer It On" 2007 — — — — — 75 49
"Citizens of Tomorrow" — — — — — — —
"Your English Is Good" — — 39 — — — 61 Elephant Shell
"Tessellate" 2008 63 — 29 — — 93 82
"In a Cave" — — — — — — —
"Graves" — — — — — — —
"Breakneck Speed" 2010 — — — — — — — Champ
"Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" — 7 34 — — — —
"Bambi" — 5 30 — 89 — —
"Favourite Colour" 2011 — 12 32 — — — —
"Hot Tonight" 2014 — 7 17 137 — — — Forcefield
"Tunnel Vision" — — 20 — — — —
"Gonna Be Ready" 2015 — — 36 — — — —
"Not My Girl" 2016 — 8 17 — — — — Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness Pt 1
"My House" — 12 24 — — — — Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness Pt 2
"New Blues" 2018 — 45 — — — — — TPC
"Hercules" — 25 24 — — — —
"DLTFWYH" — — — — — — —
"Simple Dude"[29] — — 30 — — — —
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

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.[30] 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 as well as a song titled ' Losing Our Heads' in 2013 for the Versus Valerie Season One soundtrack.[31] 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. The album "On a Wave" followed in 2019.[32] As of 2018 Dave Monks is also a member of the Canadian Supergroup Anyway Gang, releasing its self titled album in November 2019.[33] On June 24 2020, Monks released a new EP titled On a Wave Goes Wild.[34]

References
  1. "Tokyo Police Club". SPIN.com. 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  2. "The Juno Awards 2019 Alternative Album of the Year Nominees".
  3. Sakthi, Yugan. "Tokyo Police Club visits Grog". The Observer. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  4. critic, Greg Kot, Tribune music. "Tokyo Police Club says sayonara to a lark". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  5. "an Interview with Tokyo Police Club". Brooklynvegan.com. 2007-05-17. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  6. "Tokyo Police Club performs in The Current studios | The Current from". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  7. "Article at UKULA". Ukula.com.
  8. Paul Thompson and Amy Phillips (July 20, 2007). "Tokyo Police Club Sign to Saddle Creek". Archived from the original on 2008-01-03.
  9. "Pitchfork Article". Pitchforkmedia.com.
  10. "A Completely Biased Ranking of the 60 Best Canadian Indie Rock Songs of the 00s Part II". Vice, Cam Lindsay Apr 10 2017
  11. "Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell". Pitchforkmedia.com.
  12. "Tokyo Police Club Reminisce About Coachella, Prep for New Album". Spinner. April 28, 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  13. "The National Top 50 For the Week Ending: Tuesday, October 26, 2010". !Earshot.
  14. "Tokyo Police Club Return With An Epic Lyric Video for Argentina, Parts I, II, III". December 11, 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  15. "Daytrotter Sessions". Daytrotter.com.
  16. Kress, Bryan (July 9, 2018). "Tokyo Police Club Announce New Album 'TPC,' Reveal First Single: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  17. "The Juno Awards 2019 Alternative Album of the Year Nominees".
  18. "Tokyo Police Club Album & Song Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  19. "Chart Log UK 1994–2010 DJ T – Tzant". zobbel.
  20. "Tokyo Police Club Album & Song Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  21. "Tokyo Police Club Album & Song Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  22. "Billboard Canadian Hot 100 Tokyo Police Club". Billboard Media.
  23. "Canadian Active Rock & Alt Rock Chart Archive: Alternative Rock - June 21, 2011". America's Music Charts. Retrieved June 24, 2011.
  24. "Tokyo Police Club - Canadian Rock". Billboard. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  25. "Discografie Tokyo Police Club Vlaanderen". ultratop.be/nl/ Hung Medien.
  26. "Discografie Tokyo Police Club Wallonie". ultratop.be/fr/ Hung Medien.
  27. Peaks in Scotland:
  28. Peaks in UK Physical Singles Chart:
  29. "Stream Tokyo Police Club – "Simple Dude"". consequenceofsound. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  30. "The Hottest Disc You Can't Have". Toronto Star, Brendan Kennedy, Dec. 20, 2009
  31. Michael Kolberg (July 8, 2013). "WATCH: Tokyo Police Club Drummer's D'Angelo-inspired Solo Video". Toronto Standard. Toronto Standard Media Company. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  32. "Releases". Dine Alone Records. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  33. Krewen, Nick (January 15, 2020). "Canadian rock supergroup Anyway Gang plays Toronto on Friday. Don't ask them what to expect". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  34. Gregory, Allie (10 June 2020). "Tokyo Police Club's Dave Monks Announces New EP 'On a Wave Goes Wild'". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
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