They are still not very well known even over here but they have great vocals, lots of individuality and the music is fun. Not to mention they put on a great show live!!!
(Adam Spark, Anthonny Jackson, Ian Kenny, Adam Weston)
Wikipedia describes them as Alternative Rock... which is fair enough I suppose. The stuff of their 1st album (Day One) is a lot more light hearted than the songs on Universes (their most recent album) but I prefer the second for it's rousing themes.
They won "Favourite Newcomer" and "Best Male Vocalist" (Ian Kenny) at the 2007 Western Austalian Music Industry (WAMi) Awards.
Also in 2007 they were named "Artists To Watch" by Rolling Stone.
They were nominated for 2 awards in the 2007 AIR (Australian Independent Record Association) Awards for 'Best Performing Independent Album' and 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist'.
They won WAMi Awards for "Most Popular Album" (Day One) and "Best Rock Act" in 2008 and were nominated for "Best Guitarist" (Adam Spark), "Best Male Vocalist" (Ian Kenny), "Best Drummer" (Adam Weston) and "Best Instrumentalist" (Glenn Sarangapany- the keyboardist who only plays live gigs).
I've seen them live 6 times, soon to be 7! Ian Kenny has an interesting voice and has no trouble with both low and high notes. He is also the lead singer of another Perth band- Karnivool which I reccomend if you prefer harder rock/borderline metal. They sound a lot more epic and I like them too but slightly less so. I prefer the more playful music of Birds Of Tokyo.
Birds of Tokyo based their name on the fact that the population is so dense in Tokyo that there are no birds living there.
I've met all but Ian Kenny in person (incl. Glenn Sarangapany) and they are really nice guys. I chatted to the Bassist Anthonny Jackson for a long time that night and he was really friendly and easy to talk to.
I reccomend listening to:
-Wayside from Day One (The first song of theirs I remembered from seeing them live before I knew anything about them, and still my favourite off that album)
-Stay from the EP One Way/Stay (This is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser at live gigs and was awarded WAMi "Rock Song Of The Year" 2005)
-Silhouettic from Universes (The most spirited song on their 2nd album and I will never stop loving the vocals in the chorus!!!)
-White Witch from Universes (A fun-loving song with really catchy vocals and guitar)
-Believer from their self-titled demo (Perhaps my favourite song of theirs, it makes me cry sometimes if I'm sad, but the vocals are empowering and make my heart soar!)
Please check them out and tell me what you think!
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/birdsoftokyo
Official Website: http://www.birdsoftokyo.com/ (Watch the Broken Bones/Silhouettic video!!!)
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_of_Tokyo
(Adam Weston, Ian Kenny, Adam Spark, Anthonny Jackson, Glenn Sarangapany)
(At the WAMi awards, this is also the only picture I can find featuring Glenn Sarangapany too!)
