Buffalo Place

Thursday, August 4th

Tokyo Police Club
www.tokyopoliceclub.com 

This playful indie rock quartet was formed in Toronto in 2005.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the groups signature sound is like “being in love for the first time, in musical form - that kind of rush.”  In an interview with Spin Magazine, drummer Greg Alsop speaks of getting their start playing in the Toronto battle-of-the-bands circuit.  Alsop says, “We played these showcases where you really had to work to grab people's attention, so we handed out cupcakes.”  After getting a call from a local DJ to play in the Montreal Pop Festival in 2005, the group decided to make their music efforts full-time.  

Shortly after Dave Monks quit college and, the group signed with local record company, Paperbag Records in 2006.  That same year the group released their first EP, A Lesson In Crime.  In 2008, Tokyo Police Club put out their first full length album, Elephant Shell and A Lesson In Crime was re-released with wider distribution.  This expanded their fan base of fellow power-emo tune lovers.  A hit off their first album, “Be Good” was featured on a season three episode of MTV’s The Hills.  During their first appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in April of 2007, Letterman accidentally announced them as “Toyota Police Club.”  The group was thankful that the Late Night Musical Director and fellow Canuck, Paul Shaffer corrected him.  The group has since made two subsequent appearances on the Late Show in April of 2008 and June of 2010.  

The group made a special appearance on the November 16, 2008 airing of Desperate Housewives in the episode titled, “City on Fire.”  They played the role of a band named “Cold Splash,” at a battle of the bands competition.  After touring to promote their first album, the band put out their sophomore piece, Champ in June of 2010.  At the 2011 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic held in Calgary, Alberta, Tokyo Police Club played during the first intermission.  Prefixmag.com talks about their most recent album saying, “Skittery garage-new-wave-punk this is no longer, but this is as about as good as pop punk can get.”


Opening for Tokyo Police Club…

The Sheila Divine
www.thesheiladivinearchive.com 

According to IndieMonkey.com, The Sheila Divine have been compared along the likes of ‘80’s rock groups including, “The Smiths, Radiohead, U2, Stereophonics and the brilliant Belle and Sebastian.”  This alternative rock, 1980’s post-punk inspired group played their first gig July 4, 2007 at The Middle East, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The band name was inspired by the Australian term, “Sheila” meaning “pansy” or “wimp” and a college friend named Sheila Devine.  Their solid fan base is often referred to as “the three B’s”: Boston, Buffalo and Belgium.  Perrino met Sears while in a music theory class at Oneonta State University in New York.  Sears went on to manage Perrino’s band, the Waverly’s, until the group disbanded after a move to Boston.  Soon after the demise of the Waverly’s, The Sheila Divine was formed with Perrino as the lead vocalist and guitarist, Jim Gilbert on bass and Sears on drums.  The group signed with Roadrunner Records and released a 5-track EP in 1998, followed by their first full length record, The New Parade in 1999.  2001 marked the release of their second album, Where Have My Countrymen Gone and in 2002 the group released their second EP, Secret Society.  Guitarist Colin Decker was added to the group during the making of their second album to broaden the groups sound.  Drummer Shawn Sears soon left the band to spend time with his new born child, and Ryan Doyal took his place.

After the 2002 album release, the band embarked on a world tour including China, Europe and the United States.  This tour lead to the bands demise, as in April 2003 The Sheila Divine band mates announced they were going their separate ways.  They played two farewell shows in Boston in 2003.  The band united three times for a reunion performance, once in December 2005 for a show at Bill’s Bar in Boston, again in 2007 for a Saint Patrick’s Day performance at Boston’s TT The Bear’s Club and in March 2008 for a show in Antwerp, Belgium.  In 2010, the original band members, Aaron, Jim and Shawn reunited and have since performed in September 2010 in Belgium and January 2011 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.  One reviewer states these post-1980’s rockers are, “Highly recommended to those who miss the British Bedsit bands, or those who missed them.”