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Tokyo Police Club is an
indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produce ...
band from Newmarket,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of
vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
and
bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...
Dave Monks,
keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player 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 ins ...
Graham Wright,
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six string instrument, strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, w ...
ist Josh Hook, and
drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...
Greg Alsop. The band found early success with their 2006 debut EP '' A Lesson in Crime,'' which they followed with several popular releases including the albums ''
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 ...
'' and '' Champ'' in 2008 and 2010, respectively. During the 2010s, they released three other studio albums. Among other nominations, the band has been twice nominated for the
Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year The Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year is presented annually at Canada's Juno Awards to honour the best album of the year in the alternative rock and/or indie rock genres. The award was first presented in 1995 under the name Best Alternati ...
, in 2011 for ''Champ'' and in 2019 for '' TPC''.


History


2005–2007: 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. 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; the name of the band comes from a 2000s-era online Band Name Generator. Early on, the band played some small shows in the Toronto area. Tokyo Police Club were asked to play in the
Pop 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 bands are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, most ...
festival, and soon after they signed with Toronto label
Paper Bag Records Paper Bag Records is a Canadian independent record label, artist-management company, and music publisher founded in 2002 and based in Toronto. History The label was created to focus on the Toronto-area indie rock music scene. Initial signings w ...
; Monks and Alsop dropped out of college to become professional musicians. The band released its debut EP, '' A Lesson in Crime'', in 2006 on
Paper Bag Records Paper Bag Records is a Canadian independent record label, artist-management company, and music publisher founded in 2002 and based in Toronto. History The label was created to focus on the Toronto-area indie rock music scene. Initial signings w ...
. The recording was less than seventeen minutes long, and some of the songs were quite short. That year they appeared at
Edgefest Edgefest was an annual outdoor rock festival in Canada. It was founded by staff members of Toronto radio station CFNY-FM. From 1987 to 2015, the festival was held every year in the summer (except for 2007). The festival was most frequently hel ...
and the inaugural
Osheaga Festival The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (french: Festival musique et arts Osheaga) is a multi-day indie music festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held every summer at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène. The festival takes place on six sta ...
. The ''
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. A download version of the Smith EP was originally available in the Spring of 2007 with only the ...
'' was released in 2007. During a July show in
Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
,
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
, the band signed a deal with
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 Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...
which would release their debut LP. The single "Your English Is Good" was released in July and later included on their album ''
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 ...
''. That year the band performed at Coachella,
Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
,
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 (leading up to and including the first Monday of September) at th ...
, the
Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...
, and the
Reading and Leeds Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
.


2008–2012: Debut record and successful follow-up

In 2008, Tokyo Police Club released their first album, ''
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 ...
'', first via the US
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...
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. In the same year, the band played the
Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In ...
, the
Rock am Ring The ( German for "Rock at the Ring") and ("Rock in the Park") festivals are two simultaneous rock music festivals held annually. While ''Rock am Ring'' takes place at the Nürburgring race track, ''Rock im Park'' takes place at the Zeppelinfel ...
-Festival, and Street Scene. In the fall, they played on the last six weeks of
Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing ...
's Troublemaker Tour along with
Angels and Airwaves In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
. In 2010, the band played the
Bonnaroo Music Festival The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in Man ...
. They also played at San Francisco's 2010
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 festival is produced by Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and Starr Hill Presents. It is the lar ...
. Their second full-length album, '' Champ'', was released in June; it was produced by
Rob Schnapf Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer (along with Tom Rothrock) of Elliott Smith's albums ''Either/Or'', '' XO'' (on which he also played guitar on the song "Baby Britain"), '' Figure 8'' and '' From a ...
. That fall the album appeared on the !Earshot National Top 50 Chart. 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 Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...
. The video was directed by Mike Juneau and Kyle McCreight, and produced by
Jesse Ewles Jesse Ewles (aka Jesse Yules; born December 13, 1981) is a Canadian independent filmmaker based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ewles has adopted the alternate spelling "Yules", for use on his feature film projects. Ewles has directed music videos ...
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 Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. Its members are singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis. Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in ...
on the North American portion of their Torches tour along with
Kimbra Kimbra Lee Johnson (born 27 March 1990), known mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and se ...
. While continuing to work with the band, Wright also hosted programming on
CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanuc ...
.


2013–present: New albums and anniversaries

After a prolific period, the band was relatively quiet from late 2012 until December 2013, when the band debuted a nine-minute
lyric video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for "Argentina (Pts. I, II, and III)" on YouTube. 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. In 2016, the band released their ''Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness'' project, consisting of two companions EPs titled ''Part One'' and '' Part Two''. The two were later combined and formally released as a full length LP of the same name. The EPs celebrated a more spontaneous recording ethos, similar to their early albums. With this same celebratory nature, the band also released an expanded tenth anniversary edition of '' A Lesson in Crime'' that year. Tokyo Police Club continued to record in 2018 in preparation for a fourth album. They released '' TPC'' on October 5, 2018 and received a Juno nomination for Alternative Album of the Year. A companion EP titled ''TPC DLX'' was released in October 2020, made up of tracks from the ''TPC'' recording sessions and acoustic versions of songs. In December 2020, the band announced that they would be releasing a special tenth anniversary edition of their album '' Champ'', slated for release in March 2021. With this announcement, the band released the single "Hundred Dollar Day."


Television

On April 19, 2007, Tokyo Police Club made their first US TV performance on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production co ...
''. 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 The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production co ...
'', 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'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...
" 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 ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, 2 ...
on CBS. On June 28, 2010 they appeared on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production co ...
'', performing the single "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" off of their second album, ''Champ''.


Members

* Dave Monks – lead vocals, bass guitar, guitar (2004–present) * Graham Wright – keyboards, guitar, vocals (2004–present) * Josh Hook – guitar, vocals (2004–present) * Greg Alsop – drums, percussion (2004–present)


Discography

* '' A Lesson in Crime'' (2006) * ''
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. A download version of the Smith EP was originally available in the Spring of 2007 with only the ...
'' (2007) * ''
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 ...
'' (2008) * '' Champ'' (2010) * '' Forcefield'' (2014) * '' Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness: Parts One &
Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultu ...
'' (2016) * '' TPC'' (2018)


Accolades


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tokyo Police Club Canadian indie rock groups Saddle Creek Records artists Musical groups from Newmarket, Ontario Paper Bag Records artists Musical groups established in 2005 2005 establishments in Ontario Memphis Industries artists Dine Alone Records artists Mom + Pop Music artists