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."
Graves
Tokyo Police Club Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Change of clothes and a face cloth
Meet me where your mother lies
We'll dig graves on both her sides
And lay ourselves inside
And a thousand suns will set and rise
Our hair tangled up in hers
Sharing all her blackened brains
Our blood running through her veins
Leaving as we came
Our bodies are one and the same
'Cause you're trading me for the lump sum
You try but I'll never be a gentleman
You're trading me for the lump sum
You try but you only ever treat the symptoms
'Cause you're trading me for the lump sum
You try but I'll never be a gentleman
You're trading me for the lump sum
You try but you only ever treat the symptoms
The lyrics of Tokyo Police Club’s “Graves” present a rather macabre imagery of death as an embrace, a return to the roots, and a unification. The song starts with a call to pack up essentials like food, clothes, and watch and meet at the spot where the singer’s mother is buried. The tone is nonchalant as he suggests the two of them dig graves for themselves there, each lying on one side of the mother. The metaphorical oneness of their bodies with hers is depicted through their hair getting tangled up with the mother’s, their fingernails digging into the same dirt, and their blood running through her veins. The song is seemingly about death bringing together the people who have been separated in life, or the idea of the reunification of loved ones through death.
The chorus, however, deviates from the contemplative and meditative tone of the verse and seems to talk directly to someone, accusing them of trading or replacing him/her for a “lump sum” or settling for addressing symptoms rather than treating the root cause. The ominous imagery of graves, which picks up again in the second verse, can be seen as a criticism of their approach to life or an attempt to provoke them to deal with the serious issues at hand rather than brushing them under superficial solutions.
Line by Line Meaning
Pack your rations, pack a watch
Prepare necessities and keep track of time
Change of clothes and a face cloth
Bring a set of fresh clothes and a towel
Meet me where your mother lies
Gather at the burial site of a loved one
We'll dig graves on both her sides
Symbolically join the deceased loved one in death
And lay ourselves inside
Accept the inevitable fate of death
And a thousand suns will set and rise
Life will go on despite our mortality
Our hair tangled up in hers
Our physical remains become intertwined with the deceased
Fingernails beneath the dirt
Our bodies decompose and return to the earth
Sharing all her blackened brains
Our knowledge becomes one with history
Our blood running through her veins
Our legacy lives on through future generations
Leaving as we came
Our existence is transitory and temporary
Our bodies are one and the same
We are all mortal and will return to the earth
'Cause you're trading me for the lump sum
You are sacrificing our relationship for material gain
You try but I'll never be a gentleman
I may try, but I am not perfect
You're trading me for the lump sum
You are willing to give up our love for money
You try but you only ever treat the symptoms
You are not addressing the root of our issues
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: DAVID THOMAS MONKS, GRAHAM FRASER WRIGHT, GREGORY JARRETT ALSOP, JOSHUA G HOOK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Sean Thompson
Ahhhh the mid 2000's! The years of the sick three piece indie bands. This was a good one. Glad i rememberd.
Rob Marshall
Caught this on a random much music night. Oh the days
Azoth
I think there's four of em
Katie Smiles
I was 14 years of age when i first heard this song, I am now 20 years of age and I am still in love with this song and this band. <3
Duh Santino
I was 16, now I'm now 28. So much good memories :'(
Nauj1017_
Same i saw it on vh1 around 3ish am on Direct tv, i was in the eighth grade putting me around 13yrs old,i turned 24 this year. Crazy
Leslie Rodríguez
Same here!!! 💕 but now Im 22
Michael Guerra
Katie Smiles some here
Dr. Gainzzz
@Katie Smiles Same here, One of the first CD's I ever bought.
Alco Rebel Cent
okay, by far, the MOST underrated band i've ever seen.