New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Tokyo
Police Club premiered a video for new single "Simple Dude" via Consequence of Sound, prior to the track's release this Friday,
September 7 - share via YouTube. The video was created using film negatives shot by bassist/vocalist Dave Monks during the recording of the band's new album TPC, in Los Angeles this winter - scratching lyrics and imagery directly into the film negatives, animated by videographer Anne Douris.
Discussing the single, drummer Greg Alsop stated: "To me -
Simple Dude is a roller coaster... the slow climb of the verse - the drop of the chorus... that lift in the pit of your gut as you pull back up into the second verse and that feeling of just soaring right as the cart slows down towards the end. That's what I felt the first time we played through it and that's what I still feel every time we play it."
TPC is the first full-length album in four years for the Ontario quartet, due to arrive October 5 on Dine Alone Records. Tokyo
Police Club will celebrate with a special North American tour of underplays, kicking off October 16 in New York [all dates below].
TPC was almost not meant to be. By 2016 Monks had settled into life in New York City; he made a solo record and did some co-writing. Alsop was living and working in L.A. Keyboardist/guitarist Graham Wright and guitarist Josh Hookremained in the band's native Canada. Tokyo
Police Club created songs via e-mail, thinking they had enough natural chemistry and experience to make that setup work. But eventually, the lack of friction meant there was less musical spark, and it dawned on everybody that the end was near. There was resignation, not anger, when Wright, Alsop, and Hook told Monks they were done with the band. They didn't expect him to disagree... but Monks said this: "Fuck no."
"Let's make this band feel like a band we would want to be in again," Monks implored his bandmates. "Let's make it about being present for the moments that are important more than about being devoted to some rock stardom fantasy. We at least gotta go make Abbey Road first, and go out with a bang. You don't have to give me five records. Just give me a few more rehearsals and some studio time and then we'll figure it out."
As the old proverb goes: You don't know what you've got 'til it's (almost) gone. After putting aside the idea of splitting up and back-burnering their commercial expectations, there was just one thing left to do: go to church - specifically a church in rural Ontario, where the foursome could recapture the energy of their early years by playing in a room together. Songs that Monks had written were abandoned when they didn't feel right for this new energy, and TPC started to take shape, built on camaraderie and esprit de corps.
When it came time to take these songs in to the studio, everyone felt there was only one person who to capture that energy on tape - producer Rob Schnapf, whom the band worked with on 2010's Champ. They convened at his Eagle Rock studio this winter and in a matter of weeks had the album they wanted.
A first track, "New Blues", was released in April in conjunction with a three-week U.S. tour supporting Matt & Kim. TPCwas announced in July with the double A-side single, "Hercules" w/ "DLTFWYH".
Monks' friends could once again help shape his songs into Tokyo
Police Club songs, and the batch that ended up on the record aren't quite like anything they'd done before. They're through being cool, through doubting themselves, and through wasting time on ancillary things. TPC is self-titled, almost, because it's Tokyo
Police Club circa 2018-scarred but smarter, fully re-energized.
Tour Dates:
10/16 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby's All Right [sold out]
10/18 - Winnipeg, MB @ The Good Will Social Club [sold out]
10/19 - Saskatoon, SK @ Capitol
Music Club
10/21 - Regina, SK @ The Exchange
10/23 - Red Deer, AB @ Bo's Bar
10/24 - Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
10/25 - Calgary, AB @ Commonwealth [sold out]
10/25 - Calgary, AB @ Commonwealth
10/27 - Banff, AB @ Rose and Crown
10/29 - Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret [sold out]
10/30 - Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret [sold out]
10/31 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza
11/01 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza [sold out]
11/02 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge [sold out]
11/03 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
11/05 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill [sold out]
11/06 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
11/07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge [sold out]
11/08 - Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
11/09 -
Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
11/10 -
Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room [sold out]
11/16 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah
11/17 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
