With the upcoming release of Tokyo Police Club’s new album, the timing was perfect to go on a tour to various universities and all over North America with special guests Hollerado. Both headlining musical guests are Canadian bands—the members of Tokyo Police Club are from Newmarket while members of Hollerado are from Ottawa. The event was on Thursday Jan. 9 at the Turret. While it was a new experience for each band to play in the Turret, it was not the first time Tokyo Police Club has been to Laurier’s campus.
This was not the first time the two bands shared the stage, either.
“We played with Hollerado for the first time a couple years ago in Kingston. We’ve played a lot of shows with them in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and we did a proper tour with them once as well. They’re great guys, they rock really hard — great music,” said David Monks, vocalist and bassist of Tokyo Police Club.
The stage presence of each band was incredible. The Turret was a great venue to showcase some of Tokyo Police Club’s new music from their upcoming album Forcefield with a late March release date. Their previous and very successful record Champ was released in 2010; fans have been anxiously anticipating new Tokyo Police Club tracks for quite some time.
“I feel like we have an expectation to do well and we were aware of the opportunity we had with this record. We didn’t take a day off, we just worked on [Forcefield] the whole time; we are pretty confident about the record,” Monks confirmed.
Produced in Toronto, Tokyo Police Club has posted a crossword puzzle on their website in a creative effort to expose their track-list. The record’s first single “Argentina” has over 50,000 hits on YouTube. The track is infused with a pop sound that diverges from their traditional indie-rock sound. Tokyo Police Club has recently announced their albums release date to be March 25. As well, Monks revealed their new single “Hot Tonight” is now available on their website. The new TPC track is upbeat, lyrically creative and instrumentally innovative.
Monks explained the premise of “Hot Tonight” during the interview before the show. “It’s about when things aren’t going great and you have a lot of problems, [then] about leaving them behind. It [highlights] embracing what you have.”
Students that made it to the concert heard the track as Tokyo Police Club played “Hot Tonight” during their performance. The song is brilliant and a great prelude to the direction of the new record in accompaniment with “Argentina.”
During the interview with Hollerado, members of the band exchanged banter and witticisms saturated with inside jokes. Despite being previous Juno nominees, the band is modest and easy-going.
Guitarist Nixon Boyd, of Hollerado, reminded his band members about the first time they encountered the guys of Tokyo Police Club. It was after the loss of a highly anticipated Canadian Juno award years ago.
“The first time [Tokyo Police Club] came to see us was the drunkest, most slovenly show we’ve ever played,” Boyd laughed.
On stage, members of Hollerado were all smiles. Menno Versteeg, lead vocalist and additional guitarist, raved, “We are honestly really proud of our album.” The enthusiasm was incredibly and inarguably authentic. Laurier danced along to “So It Goes” and “Pick Me Up.”
In terms of what is to come for Hollerado, they hinted toward more music, “We are starting our new album. It’s time for that and it’s exciting.”