We had the slumber party first with Tokyo Police Club. Then we got around to recording their insanely catchy music. This isn’t the normal order of business, but this past November, it was. What was another night? We had to delay gratification for this session as the first time the four lads from Toronto were set to stop by fell through, as impossible logistics intervened. This time around, the black clouds once again began circling the wagons, as a drive from Cincinnati turned adventurous. A shaky van (we’re always dealing with shaky vans in indie rock and roll) threw the threat of a tantrum at the band of college-aged youngsters all the way from Ohio, after a trip to the mechanics that they feared would last longer than it did. If it’s not one thing with these indie rock and roll vans it’s another, but the TPC’s set of wheels was deemed road-ready after a delay and onto to us they drove. We received updates through the prime time and Conan hours, finally reaching us at 2 a.m., ready to crash for the evening. They assumed their places on the open floor and what’s been proclaimed by everyone from Sunset Rubdown members to the entire Dr. Dog collective – as an exceptionally comfortable couch, even for an inter-family hand-me-down. One thing you may have noticed about this band and its debut EP – A Lesson In Crime — is the impulse to jitter and move appendages in rhythmic motions. You break into a sweat seconds into it, sensing that it got hotter spontaneously. You feel flames coming out of your feet and your nostrils and your ears. It’s like the rest of you picks up on it and then you’re off, getting all wooly wherever you may be – in the kitchen, in the car, in your private headspace – taking your seizure with you, your little pocket seizure. The record’s good for burning calories and it’s a smarter alternative to getting your stomach stapled. Rip through this record five times daily and you lose three sizes in a month. How does Tokyo Police Club rouse the energy to pull off such a feat at 10 in the morning, a day after making a long drive from Cincinnati and experiencing automotive headaches, you might ask? On this day, they chose some bagels, bagel sandwiches and the like and some assorted fruit juices for a brunch-type meal. We had some free time in the studio because of a newscast taping next door, at which point lead singer Dave Monks fell madly for a stray mandolin. He rocked out on it. He really did. Hopefully, the two brand new songs – neither of which the band had been playing for very long at this point – will be satisfactory in feeding the beast until the band releases its debut full-length sometime soon. What’s not to like in a new song entitled “New Song”? It’s as honest as the day is long. – Sean Moeller

First song
New Song (Tokyo Police Club) [2.25MB] [13041 downloads]


– unreleased
This was the first song we put together after recording our EP. At the time, we named it “New Song” and reckoned we would change it later, but we have been playing it for months now and it is still just “New Song.” I guess if it ever shows up on a record we will come up with a title. There was a huge keyboard that was sitting in the Daytrotter studio which we used for the organ sounds and it sounds great.

Second song
Be Good (Tokyo Police Club) [1.85MB] [9853 downloads]


– original version appears on A Lesson In Crime
This song was really easy to write and seemed to fall into place over the course of a couple hours as we wrote it. All the parts are really simple. When I was writing the lyrics, I slipped some
really inane words into the third verse just to see if anyone would notice. This was the only live session where the “Hey!‘s” at the end of the song sounded good. They usually sound really jarring and abrasive when we shout them into the microphones at live sessions but in the Daytrotter studio they had a cool room mic that picked them up perfectly.

Third song
La Ferrassie (Tokyo Police Club) [2.49MB] [9253 downloads]


– original version appears on A Lesson In Crime
I wrote this song while I was living in Montreal away from the other guys in the band. Graham had put some instrumental stuff together on his computer and sent it over to me. I took a few seconds of drums and keyboards from the very end of the MP3 he sent and slowed it to half speed (which caused the pitch to drop exactly one octave) and then recorded it as it played back through a guitar amp. This is what I used to make the demo version of “La Ferrassie” and it sounds pretty much the same on our EP. I hated playing this song at first cause it was slow but I’ve gradually come around to liking it. At the start of the Daytrotter version, I’m strumming a mandolin which causes the bass to ring in harmonics which gives a neat start to the song. I was actually having a big Animal Collective phase.

Fourth song
Graves (Tokyo Police Club) [1.45MB] [10726 downloads]


— unreleased
I gave this song to my mom for her birthday (which is a wicked copout from getting a present that songwriters are entitled to). It’s really new and the arrangement will likely change before it’s on the record. I’m really proud of the lyrics though. It has another verse/bridge part to finish it off, but we haven’t arranged it yet. This is the only recorded version of this song that I like so
far.