Tokyo Police Club Tell Canadians to Vote Today

Posted on May 2nd 2011 9:30AM by Jessica Lewis
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Mom and Pop Music Co.

With the Canadian election for Prime Minister coming to its final vote today, musicians have been abuzz with getting the word out to their fans. Though they've been on tour during the election campaign, Toronto-based Tokyo Police Club have still found the time to urge Canada's eligible voters to do their part.

"It's been hard to keep up with the news and everything," keyboardist Graham Wright tells Spinner from a Calgary, AB, tour stop. "Just go vote. I hope people do; nobody ever does, it's so easy not to."

Wright, who is about to release his first solo album, 'Shirts vs. Skins,' says he wishes the band could have planned something more proactive for the election on their tour with recent Juno-winners Said the Whale, such as setting up voter registration at their shows.

"It all happened so fast," he says. "The American election had primaries two years in advance. The Canadian election, they're like, 'Election, tomorrow, go!'"

Still, Tokyo Police Club have managed to issue a few political tweets -- though Wright thinks their Twitter strategy might be "about as useless as you can get without doing nothing."

Watch Tokyo Police Club's Video for 'Wait Up (Boots of Danger)'
So who is it that Wright is hoping takes office next?

"I guess I shy away a little bit more from coming out and stating a preference, and I don't know why that is," he says. "I don't think we're going to alienate any fans by being like, 'Guess what? We don't like [Canada's current Prime Minister] Stephen Harper.' Shock of the century: indie rock band not conservative!

"But I think that's not the point. The point is it's a democracy; people should vote for who they want to vote for. Just go do that, and as long as you do that, it's support. Who am I to say who you should vote for?"

"Just go vote, it's pretty simple."

With both the Canadian election and Tokyo Police Club's tour winding down this week, Wright will be turning his powers of promotion elsewhere, focusing his efforts on getting 'Shirts vs. Skins' on everyone's radar. The news that this album (out June 28 via File Under: Music) is the first in a trilogy of discs should certainly help with his sales pitch.