When a co-headlining tour featuring Tokyo Police Club and Two Door Cinema Club was announced, I was mildly bemused by the appropriate matching of the band names on a bill. However, my excitement peaked in hearing one of my first "indie" bands and a new favorite resurgence in my old love for UK-based indie electro/punk/alternative bands that tuck in their shirts.
My first all-ages show at the Paradise Rock Club, I was taken aback by not being ID'd, and was prepared to incur the wrath of a bitter college student when the first 16-year-old yelled something that might annoy me. I was pleasantly surprised by the venue filling up with attentive fans, even with the doors opening earlier than usual, to witness openers Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. The Missouri-based band already has three solid albums under their belt, playing no-frills indie rock music with some heartfelt stage banter. I can best describe SSLYBY as the band you see play at your friend's house party in high school, set up in the corner with their half stacks and drum kit, that you incessantly tell your friends about how big they'll make it one day. Well, SSLYBY is well on their way, an album produced by Death Cab's Chris Walla and an energetic 30-minute opening slot that they used to its fullest.
Two Door Cinema Club was up next, relating to Tokyo Police Club only in the sense that they like high pitched tremolo picked guitar parts in their choruses. Everything else was very different. Opening with "Cigarettes in the Theater," the band shook awake the crowd. Their music was frenetic and fast paced, inciting dancing and jumping that you see on Glastonbury live videos and rarely in the States. The bassist thrashed around while playing complicated galloping riffs, and bouncing back and forth between his side of the stage and a sampler. Guitarist Sam Halliday played bouncy, stacatto notes over verses, and distorted screeches over the choruses. The set did not lose any energy, Alex Trimble's vocals were spot on, and the band was able to turn songs from Tourist History and a couple of new tunes into phenomenally rendered live songs, complete with thunderous breakdowns and audience responses to match. It seemed like most of the audience was there for Two Door Cinema Club, as the crowd started to filter out after they'd performed.
Perhaps they started to filter out because for 45 minutes, "What's New Pussycat" played over the PA until Tokyo Police Club took the stage. Compared to Two Door Cinema Club, the energy was lost. However, they were far more playful, throwing tambourines around the stage and calling on the audience to clap along. Then again, bands that continuously urge the audience to clap annoy me, and Tokyo Police Club attempted to every other song. Vocalist Dave Monks took a third of a set to find his voice, and his characteristic, clunky bass tone was lost to a rounder background noise. They played a set of a good majority of their songs, but many of them seemed hollow and lacking. It would take away from the charm to add another member, but despite Josh Hook's unique guitar techniques(such as using multiple delay pedals at once), while he was playing his part, it felt as if nothing was holding them up. It seemed that only a few songs felt complete and adjusted for live performances.
Tokyo Police Club and Two Door Cinema Club reunited on stage, perhaps to justify the billing of the two bands together. They claimed they were going to play a song they actually wrote together ten years ago, as they burst into a cover of the Strokes' "Last Nite," complete with alternating verses and a perfectly replicated guitar solo.
Oh, right, it was in the Paradise Rock CLUB, too. Ha.
