Welcome Week is a time of new beginnings, a time to meet your peers and immerse yourself in the Trojan lifestyle, a time to truly become one of the family. To do so, multiple activities are lined up for you to familiarize yourself with your fellow students and with USC. There’s one event in particular that stands out: the highly anticipated Welcome Week concert.

Headliners · Canadian indie-pop group Tokyo Police Club will headline the Welcome Week concert, jump-starting the fall semester with an evening sure to be filled with energy and high-spirited tunes. - Photo courtesy of Canvas Media

On Saturday at 7 p.m. in McCarthy Quad, you can look forward to a carnival put on by Program Board fully equipped with games and food trucks, followed by Y Luv, Pepper Rabbit and headliner Tokyo Police Club.

Y LUV

Y LUV, comprised of Freddy Janney (vocals, guitar), Sam Nardella (guitar, backup vocals), Luke Hanna (bass, backup vocals) and Marcello Dubaz (drums), will make an electrifying appearance at this year’s Welcome Week concert.

One of the most exciting appeals of Y LUV is that it is a variegated crew of fellow Trojans. Janney, Hanna, and Dubaz graduated last spring, and Nardella is a graduate of the class of 2010. Musically speaking, Y LUV emits pure, sonic energy and successfully puts its own original spin on familiar rock influences and sounds, like those of Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon and Bloc Party.

Pepper Rabbit

New Orleans natives, Pepper Rabbit, is an experimental duo (Xander Singh and Luc Laurent) that has been making itself known in Los Angeles.  With two albums and a handful of national tours under the group’s belt, Pepper Rabbit is proving it is not your typical, run-of-the-mill indie, hipster group.

Pepper Rabbit still has a peculiar creativity and audacity, however, that makes it an intriguing band to listen to.  Its sound, especially from the newer album, Red Velvet Snow Ball, semi-adheres to a generic pop music structure embellished with psychedelic motifs, multi-layered loops and a wide array of instruments — including everything from synths to ukuleles.

Pepper Rabbit is sure to be a new and enthralling experience.  For a preview of its music, check out the debut album Beauregard and the group’s latest, Red Velvet Snow Ball.

Tokyo Police Club

On top of Degrassi and Drake, Canada can add another sure-to-be hit to its extensive resume, Tokyo Police Club. This indie pop group comprised of Graham Wright (keys, percussion), Greg Alsop (drums), Josh Hook (guitar) and David Monks (vocals, bass) emerged in 2005, gaining instant notoriety and popularity.

Beginning its EP A Lesson in Crime, with its hit song “Smith,” Tokyo Police club got its name on the map. Immediate success spurred the full-length album Egg Shell, released in April 2008. Then came the sold-out tours in Los Angeles, Toronto and New York, along with late-night talk show appearances, including The Late Show with David Letterman.

Monks prefers not to label the group’s sound, stating, “There’s really not one thing to sum it up. Musically, we didn’t follow any kind of framework or preferred kind of song. Any direction we went is a direction that just felt fun.”

Whether you’re a dedicated fan or you haven’t even heard of them, Tokyo  Police Club has an undeniably catchy quality sure to leave you humming and tapping your feet along. Ring in the school year the right way with this fun, light summer concert.