Bad Cop/Bad Cop

Bad Cop/Bad Cop [EP] (2013)

Ricky Frankel

Before they signed to Fat Wreck Chords in January of 2014, Southern California punk rockers, Bad Cop/Bad Cop released this three-song, self-titled 7-inch in January of 2013. All three tracks are awesome melodic punk jams. Even after listening to this EP just once, you can hear that they were pretty much destined to be on Fat.

The first song on this EP is called “Sweet Brown Water.” It starts out with a short, but in-your-face drum intro and then the guitars come in with blaring distortion. Lead singer, Stacey Dee, during the first verse sings at a fairly moderate volume, but angry tone. This all changes drastically during the real catchy chorus though. Everything gets louder and bolder. But the most drastic change is in the vocals when Jennie Cotterill joins in with Stacey Dee and both of them sing some really high note harmony parts that make this song stand out from the rest.

The song “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” has the faster tempo of the three. It’s just an overall rowdier song. You still get the complex vocals and dominant rhythm guitar, but the lead guitar plays a cool riff that vaguely follows chorus’s melody (as does the guitar solo). This track also has some very fun, positive, and confident lyrics like, “I've got big dreams/ and I've got big schemes/ About how I'm gonna live my life/ I'm gonna make it: watch me get naked/ We're gonna take on the world/ Alright!”

The final song on this 7-inch, “A Little Wild,” starts out on a more somber note compared to the other songs. As the band plays through the first couple of verses then goes into the pre-chorus, you can feel the tension in the song rising until finally everything peaks: the vocals go from quiet and a little raspy to extremely high and loud, and the guitars transition from palm-muted to full blast during the chorus. The lyrics in this song in contrast to “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” have some self-doubt in them like, “I might be stupid/ I might be dumb or just playing games in my mind” and instances of heart ache like, “Do you think about me now and then/ Like you know I do, about you?/ I’m up til 4 am just wondering.”

I think we can expect great things from Bad Cop/Bad Cop in the future. They clearly have the talent and the potential. This band absolutely kills when they are on stage.