Tokyo Police Club To Go Coast-To-Coast Via Canada

– Tokyo Police Club

Tokyo Police Club will embark on a tour in mid-October that begins in Brooklyn and then rumbles through the band’s native Canada followed by a cruise down the West Coast for shows ranging from Seattle to San Diego before concluding in Phoenix.

Fans looking for Tokyo Police Club in 2017 probably should have checked into a church in rural Ontario where Dave Monks, Josh Hook, Graham Wright and Greg Alsop were hard at work writing new material.  The idea was for the bandmembers to avoid their own hometowns, in this case, Toronto, New York and Los Angeles,  to compose and jam in an environment where they would not be distracted.  Members then spent the winter in Los Angeles working in the studio with producer Rob Schnapf, who helmed the group’s 2010 album, Champ.

All of that activity is fanning the flames of anticipation for the band’s first album of all new material since 2014’s Forcefield. Touring as the opener for Matt and Kim earlier this year gave the band plenty of chances to road test the new songs.  Already available for purchase is the single “New Blues,” released on Record Store Day.

“It was exciting to hear ourselves in such a big space like that, the drums ring out, the guitars blend and swirl,” bassist / vocalist Monks said. “I think it really affected the arrangements and songwriting.  We started to favour simple rhythms, slower tempos (relatively speaking) and energy over details.  It was really liberating.”

Tokyo Police Club’s 2016 April-June tour of North America resulted in a wide variety of box office results.  The band sold all 510 tickets available for its June 18 gig at The Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix and grossed $9,690 for a night’s work.  However, a June 4 show at Wooly’s in Des Moines, Iowa,  sold only 232 tickets and grossed $4,640.

Some shows go on sale May 8.  Best to keep an eye (or two) on Pollstar’s Tokyo Police Club page for updates.