Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, ON, Canada. The ban… Read Full Bio ↴Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, ON, Canada. The band consists of Dave Monks (vocals, bass), Josh Hook (guitar, percussion), Graham Wright (keyboards, guitar, vocals) & Greg Alsop (drums, percussion).

In 2005, Tokyo Police Club started by accident one day in the ordinary suburb of Newmarket when Greg, Josh, Dave, and Graham decided that they missed playing music together, their previous band having broken up several months before. The four gathered in Josh's basement, plugging in instruments and making up songs almost at random, with no goal but to recapture the magic that they felt making music together. By the time summer came, TPC had quietly begun playing shows in the Toronto area, shows at which the very few people in attendance seemed impressed by what they saw. The band seemed likely to end here, with the various members preparing to go their separate ways in the fall, when fate intervened in the form of an invitation to play the Pop Montreal festival. Packing their instruments and girlfriends into a tiny university residence room, TPC spent a week immersed in music, spending days lazily wandering the streets of Montreal and nights rehearsing loudly in the tiniest of spaces, and topping it off in style with a sold out show that saw the band play for the first time to an audience that was actually interested. A few weeks later, all four had agreed that it was time to break their mothers' hearts and pursue that most elusive of pipe dreams: a career in the music business.

The boys got straight to business, playing a series of Toronto shows, and earning a reputation for live shows that were exuberant, lively, and unrestrained. In January, the very day that Dave returned for good from university, Tokyo Police Club signed up with esteemed Toronto label Paperbag Records to release their debut EP in Canada. In April 27, 2006, A Lesson in Crime was released in Canada and U.S (February 12, 2007, UK released), and the band spent the next months on the road, bringing their optimistic brand of wide-eyed post-pop to audiences across Canada, U.S. and Europe, and making many new friends along the way.

Responding to criticisms that A Lesson in Crime is too short (16:22), Graham Wright had this to say in an interview with Ukula: "It's very quick, quick, quick, one, two, three. Some of the songs don't have a lot of space in them and the album doesn't have a whole lot of room to breathe, but I think in the case of an EP this is a really good thing."

The Smith EP came in February 14, 2007. At a July 20, 2007 stop along the tour in Omaha, Nebraska the band announced the inking of a deal with Omaha based Saddle Creek Records during their live show at the Saddle Creek owned venue The Slowdown, to release their debut LP, entitled Elephant Shell, that was released on April, 22nd 2008 to much applause.

So what exactly is Tokyo Police Club? Perhaps EYE Weekly summed it up best when they wrote "[Tokyo Police Club] are undeniably catchy and raw, marrying danceable hooks with talk of robot masters and global emergencies, providing an upbeat soundtrack to our troubled times." Personally, however, I prefer Exclaim's proclamation that "somehow, the deeply innocuous subdivisions of Newmarket, Ontario have hatched a four-headed beast of tunefulness."

Box
Tokyo Police Club Lyrics

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There's a good chance we won't make it to the big dance
They all owe us ticket's for two
So if I may, I will take the first steps
And say I feel like drowning at the end of the month

And the world is warm, so it blows out
And the box is wet, so it falls out
And the ice is cold but it won't melt

'Cause I am a fake who sticks to his guns
It's what I know, son
And it comes easy to a liar like me
Oh hey, and it comes easy

Colors are bleeding into gray
And though you're feeling down
Baby, I want to get down with you
Now if I can say you would look fine
In a frame on my bedroom wall

'Cause I am a fake who sticks to his guns

And lets the bitches run
And it comes easy to a scumbag like me

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Tokyo Police Club's song 'Box' convey a sense of desperation and doubt regarding the future. The first lines suggest a lack of confidence and hope in achieving any significant future success or being able to attend the "big dance." The second and third lines refer to a debt owed to the listener and a feeling of impending failure at the end of the month, perhaps in relation to financial difficulties. The metaphorical language used throughout the song paints a picture of a desperate and isolated individual.

The chorus refers to the futility and hopelessness of the singer's situation. The world is warm, and things are falling apart around them. Although there is still ice (or possibly hope), it won't melt, indicating that things cannot change. The final lines of the chorus reveal the singer's self-awareness of their own fraudulent behavior. They acknowledge they are a liar or scumbag, but it's what they know, and it comes easily to them.

The final lines convey a desire for connection and intimacy in the midst of a seemingly bleak situation. The colors are bleeding into gray, symbolizing the loss of vibrancy and vitality. Still, the singer expresses a wish to be with someone and perhaps even have them in a physical frame as a reminder of better times.

Overall, the lyrics of 'Box' imply a struggle to reconcile the past, present, and future, and the eventual acceptance and resignation to a seemingly mediocre existence.

Line by Line Meaning

There's a good chance we won't make it to the big dance
We may not succeed in our endeavors

They all owe us ticket's for two
Other people owe us something

So if I may, I will take the first steps
I will try to take the lead

And say I feel like drowning at the end of the month
I feel overwhelmed financially

And the world is warm, so it blows out
Things can change quickly

And the box is wet, so it falls out
Unexpected events can cause things to go awry

And the ice is cold but it won't melt
Something stubbornly refuses to change

'Cause I am a fake who sticks to his guns
I am a phony who stubbornly clings to my beliefs

It's what I know, son
It's what I'm accustomed to

And it comes easy to a liar like me
My dishonesty makes it easy to maintain my facade

Oh hey, and it comes easy
It's effortless for me