About Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club was an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and 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 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, in 2011 for Champ and in 2019 for TPC. They announced their breakup in 2024.
David Monks , Graham Wright , Josh Hook , and Greg Alsop 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 festival, and soon after they signed with Toronto label Paper Bag Records; 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. The recording was less than seventeen minutes long, and some of the songs were quite short. 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. The single "Your English Is Good" was released in July and later included on their album Elephant Shell. That year the band performed at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, the Glastonbury Festival, and the Reading and Leeds Festival.
In 2008, Tokyo Police Club released their first album, Elephant Shell, 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. 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. That fall the album appeared on the !Earshot National Top 50 Chart.
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