Tokyo Police Club with Beast Make Bomb
Friday, March 25
The El Rey Theatre
I’ve never crowd surfed. But crowd surfing came to me when I was knocked to the floor while listening to Beast Make Bomb and headliners Tokyo Police Club play for a wildly enthusiastic full house Friday at the El Rey Theatre.
Spunky Brooklyn natives and recent winners of the Rolling Stone, Journeys and Converse-sponsored “Get Out of the Garage” band competition, Beast Make Bomb started the night off with plenty of upbeat punk-pop. Equipped with driving guitar riffs and eerie surf rock baselines courtesy of bassist Sam Goldfine, Beast Make Bomb had a catchy sound. However, even in a bowler hat, lead singer Ceci Gomez’s repetitious lyrics dedicated to revelry and hangovers fell short of captivating.
Maybe it was chatter of prom date gossip, but in between sets, I couldn’t help but feel I was on the older end of the attendance age scale. With the exception of a head-bopping John Lennon look-alike to my left and a few scattered parent chaperones, my 21 wristband was a neon marker of displacement.
But the sea of seemingly innocent youth in the audience let loose as Tokyo Police Club opened with “Favourite Colour” from their June release, “Champ.”
The Ontario, Canada-based quartet confessed they were glad to be “out of the land of cold and snow” and back in Los Angeles as lead singer Dave Monks introduced an untitled new song he dedicated to “motorcycle driving weather.”
The band delivered polished melodic hooks highlighted by keyboardist Graham Wright’s signature echoed synths and Monks’ reminiscing lyrics of faded love and old times ““ “I remember when our voices used sound the same, now we just translate / “˜Cause I’m still amazed you made it out alive after what you did,” he crooned in crowd favorite, “Breakneck Speed.”
Monks and the group played an energetic mix of fan favorites from previous records “A Lesson in Crime” and “Elephant Shell,” as well as a healthy dose of their latest tracks ““ including standouts “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)” and “Bambi.”
And while the band’s relatively tame indie pop rock doesn’t typically bring mosh pits to mind, the audience thought otherwise. Slam dancers and crowd surfers were happy to share their excitement, even if it meant knocking a few down along the way.